/v/'s Recommended Games Wiki
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PSP Games

Title Genre Description Box Art
The 3rd Birthday RPG / TPS

Square Enix FINALLY makes a new Parasite Eve game. This is really more of a 3rd person shooter than an RPG. Lotsa customization to be done (aside from normal leveling you have nice and time consuming DNA modification system based on chips aquired from enemies). Game seems short at first glance but if you want to unlock everything (mainly SHITLOADS of guns and Aya's clothes- you can even get FFXIII Lighting outfit), prepare for multiple playthroughs at the higher rage inducing difficulties.

Be aware that story is cringe worthy and the the main twist basically ruined the series. And for all perverts out there, Aya's outfit can be almost ENTIRELY destroyed (but don't even think about seeing bewbs or vagoo) during battle.

Like with most PSP Square Enix games, there is an undub ISO available somewhere, CFW required for undub and you have to look for it yourself as there is no patch, only the ISO, and we cannot say where to get it because of Wikia's rules. You can look for it in Google.

Gameplay video here

The 3rd Birthday Cover
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception Flight / Combat Fucking epic dogfighting. This game is short. One-sitting short. "Wait, that's IT?" short, but requires at least three playthroughs to hit every available mission. Since every /v/irgin's penis gets hard for AC, I don't even need to talk about it any more.

Gameplay video here

Acx cover1
Ace Combat X2: Joint Assault Flight / Combat Fucking epic dogfighting 2. Now a bit more focused on multiplayer with CO-OPAN MISSIONS which is awesome. A lot more refined and more realistic controls, the planes actually feel quite different. All the planes can be tuned with parts you can buy. Missile and AA gun accuracy is more realistic, get those dodging skills ready! Customizable secondary and primary weapons, customizable looks for the planes. Be prepared to fight lots of huge full wing flying forts. Personally I liked the story on the first one, but the controls are a bit better in this one. Both games have a permanent place on my PSP. 250px-Ace Combat Joint Assault
Adventures to Go! RPG / Roguelike Mixes stuff from classics for a solid RPG. Battles resemble Dragon Quarter (but tiles vs free-flow), magic is combined Light Crusader style, dungeons are random (but you'll influence what's found), and character interactions are amusing. You play as Finn the FABULOUS Fantastic, a greedy badass seeking quick cash at a local adventure agency, which may be out to kill him for his insurance money.
The initial price may have been off-putting for some, but it's now roughly $15 (100 kr). A pretty good deal.
Adventures box
Ape Escape: On The Loose! 3D Platformer A pretty good port/remix of the PS1 classic platformer. The controls have been remixed and usually work better. The voices are different, but not bad, since everyone sounds their age now. The music and graphics have also been touched up a bit. Overall good stuff, especially to kill some time and can be a good challenge for gaming beginners. Incredibly cheap now, making it good for nostalgia, a present, or even if you missed it the first time around. Ape escape on the loose psp cover
Armored Core Formula Front Sim Build giant robots, shit blows up. If you ever played an AC game, you know what to expect: nice graphics, almost too much customization. PSPArmoredCoreFomulaOneFrontCover
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II Fighter Wonderful port of the most awesome fighter of last year, all the effects are still in check, with the exception of the sprite resolution. Wonderful game to practice your combos on the go if you have the 360/PS3 version.

There's a newer version, but it was released in JP only.

617225 205590 front
Burnout Legends/Dominator Racing Looks fantastic and moves at a very respectable FPS, invoking a very good sense of speed. I play it even more than the PS2 version. Burnout-dominator-psp
Brave Story: New Traveler RPG A pretty and full-bodied RPG entry in the Brave Story series. It's also surprisingly small, file size-wise. Unfortunately, due to licensing issues, it had to be taken off PSN. What a crock of bullshit. BraveStoryPSPCover
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles Platformer

The formerly PC Engine exclusive Castlevania classic, Rondo of Blood has been given a 3D makeover for the PSP.   If you love whipping skeletons, this is your game. Includes a new alternate stage five with a new boss, a boss rush, sound test, and a few new tricks to trip up experienced players. Not quite as hard as the NES Castlevanias, but still fairly difficult (unless you use Maria, you babby).

Also includes Symphony of the Night as an unlockable, with a newly translated script, better(less funny) dialogue, and a brand new Maria mode, unrelated to the Saturn version.

The original Rondo of Blood is also unlockable with the minigame Akumajyo Dracula Peke included.

Gameplay video here

Castlevania
Class of Heroes RPG A First-Person Dungeon Crawler inspired Wizardry based around STRATEGY. So think ahead before your ass gets ashed. The meek-willed and meek-brained need not apply. Like old school dungeon crawlers, dungeons are full of traps, loot, and hordes of monsters. There's also a number of side-quests, and helpful shit like alchemy and party-based attacks. If you like these sorts of games and are looking for a fair challenge, you'll love this. Gets notably easier after gaining a few levels, provided your party setup doesn't suck. Note: Has sequels, Class of Heroes 2 is out now but the rest currently JAPAN ONLY. For more info and help, you know where to go. ClassOfHeroes Boxshot us large
Coded Arms 1 & 2 FPS A futuristic FPS. Not the best FPS, but the PSP doesn't have many of them. Plus, it has Wifi support, and deathmatching is undeniably fun. Coded Arms
Crimson Gem Saga RPG An old school (think SNES era) JRPG with the typical Attack-Skill-Item-Run battle system. Simple, fun gameplay with fantastic looking character sprites and decent voice acting. Tends to go for fairly cheap as well. Also on iPhone, if you so desire to play it that way. Crimson Gem Saga Cover
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII RPG An action-RPG prequel to Final Fantasy VII. Features some of the best graphics and cutscenes on the PSP. Mixes real time combat with a “slot machine” for overdrives, summons and leveling. The game also has ~300 side-missions to play from any savepoint, making it perfect for playing in short bursts. The game has far more depth than it would appear from the main story alone. Be ready to cry like a pussy during ending. Leveling may appear to be random chance, but there is a hidden EXP counter which determines leveling.
Also features a “hard” mode, which is genuinely fucking hard. Do not take lightly.

Like with most PSP Square Enix games, there is an undub ISO available somewhere, CFW required for undub and you have to look for it yourself as there is no patch, only the ISO, and we cannot say where to get it because of Wikia's rules. You can look for it in Google.

Crisis Core
Crush Puzzle A very unique puzzler where you 'crush' your world from 3D to 2D and vice versa to navigate and remove obstacles. Pretty good replay value, since some of those trophies take some serious brain-busting. Was recently remixed and the story was made cheerier on 3DS as Crush 3D. Crush Coverart
Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower Fighting A port of Vampire Chronicle for Matching Service (Japan-only game for the Dreamcast), which allows the player to choose a fighting style based on all previous Darkstalkers arcade titles. Includes unlockable endings from the previous games, beautiful sprite-work, and supports multiplayer via WiFi. If you've never played a Darkstalkers game before, this one is worth looking into. This game actually released a week before the PSP in North America. Darkstalkers Chronicle - The Chaos Tower Coverart
Darius Burst Shoot 'em Up Taito's mecha fish shooting series makes a return on the PSP, a perfect fit for it since the resolution emulates the widescreen arcade setup of old rather nicely. With 3 different game modes, 3 different Silver Hawks to choose from and a sizeable gallery of unlockables, there is still lots to do here in spite of only having half the number of stages compared to usual. There has since been a proper arcade release reusing the aforementioned setup, but good luck finding that unless you live in grorious nippon. Darius Burst -PSP-
Daxter Platformer You play Daxter, the sidekick from the Jak and Daxter series, working as an exterminator. Better than it sounds. Beautiful graphics, good old platforming, and amusing minigames that parody movies. Daxter with rating
Dead Head Fred Action-Adventure You're a PI who lost his head getting too close to a big scoop, literally. Now you need to get your real head back (as a zombie!), but in the mean time, you bloodily rip off other zombies and monsters heads, using their powers as your own. Fun Fact: Fred's voiced by Dr. Cox from Scrubs, so think about that when your playing, and shit'll be awesome, yo. 516x5vAb4fL. SL500
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness SRPG Astoundingly addictive turn-based tactics gameplay. Exclusive extras include Etna mode and ad-hoc multiplayer. Despite what you may hear, you only REALLY need to grind in post-game, as it makes the main story stages seem laughably easy in comparison. One of the best ports/remixes that this has gotten, and it's gotten a shit load of them.

Gameplay video here

Disgaea
Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days SRPG Plot isn't completely related to the first so you can easily pick up. Graphics are smooth and nice. Enjoy grindan all those 9,999 levels and reincarnating 90 times all over again, this time with new guys. As an added bonus if you have Disgaea 1 save data on your stick, you get an exclusive loli ronin. Highly Recommended. Has some extra DLC stuff too.

Gameplay video here

Disgaea2psp
Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy Fighting / RPG The sequel/prequel of Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Comes with a shitload of new content. New characters, new story, new moves, improved battle mechanics, new music, new... lots of things. Also comes with the entire story from the first game, so no need to play the first one. Prepare for some extreme grinding post-game, though. Did I mention EXTREME grinding?

Like with most PSP Square Enix games, there is an undub ISO available somewhere, CFW required for undub and you have to look for it yourself as there is no patch, only the ISO, and we cannot say where to get it because of Wikia's rules. You can look for it in Google.

Ddff
DJMAX Portable 1, 2, Clazziquai Edition, Black Square, Fever, Hot Tunes & 3 Rhythm A shameless Beatmania clone you-are-the-DJ-hit-the-keys game that's got the goods. Addictive music, nice background videos, and that same ol' rhythm gameplay. All have songs ranging from easy to insanely hard. Clazziquai is easiest (it was built for music game beginners) and Black Square (built for series/genre veterans), Portable 1 and Portable 2 all offer challenge in some way. Fever and Hot Tunes are west-oriented versions featuring a mixed songlist from both Portable 1 and 2. Fever actually saw a (limited) physical run in the US. Black Square and Fever have a "feature" called autocorrect, which means that pressing the wrong button at the right time doesn't break your combo (but results in a small score penalty) which can't be turned off. Also, don't even bother with DJMAX Portable 3. It has a lousy song selection with both Technika songs and remastered classics, no 8 buttons mode (shut up and change your difficulty to hard mode, 8b is still not there) and the new mode featured, called Remix, suck balls pretty hard breathes new life into old, overplayed songs. Plus, to unlock everything you have to grind like this was a NIS game, which I don't see why would be fun you are missing the point of rhythm games.
tl;dr, get Portable 1 Clazziquai if you're a beginner, Black Square if you're already big into music games, and go from there. (Clazziquai is actually based on a Korean band of the same name; many of their songs are featured on that version.)
Holy shit, I fucking hate you people.
DJ Max Fever Coverart
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai 2 - Another Road Fighting A fantastic DBZ game on the PSP with arguably the fastest, smoothest fighting gameplay system of all Dragon Ball games. Bold statement, but I stand by it.

Great for fans of the series who want a DBZ game for on-the-go fun.

Fighting mechanics are fast and fun, roster is filled with fan favourites, some good replay value, just all around a great DBZ fighting game.

ShinBudokai2
Echochrome Puzzle A highly conceptual puzzler that has you changing the camera's perspective to modify the environment for armatures to escape. The sequel, Echoshift, has you messing around with time to solve puzzles. Echochrome 275x471
Every Extend Extra Shoot 'em Up A shoot 'em up in which your only method of defense is to blow yourself up in a strategic area, trying to take as many with you as possible. Every Extend Extra
The Eye of Judgment Legends CCG (Collectable Card Game) A portable version of the PS3 game, now without camera usage, but with an added story mode and booster packs you don't have to pay for. Now you can DRAW CARD and MANA CHARGE on the go (or a UMD-using PSP). EojEUROPE
Exit Platformer Some like it, some hate it. A very stylish game, where you play an 'escapologist' and help people escape from dangerous buildings. The slow walking and ungainly running may put people off, but it's really like a game of Lemmings, except that you're one of the lemmings it's basically Abe's Exoddus/Odyssey . All of this is done in a sort of cel-shaded, cartoony style.
The sequel, Exit 2 (Kangaeru Exit) is not available on the PSP in North America, but is for PSP in Europe, or downloadable on Xbox Live Arcade.

Gameplay video here

Exit-cover
Fate/EXTRA RPG Text heavy, but well translated. Choose one of three different servants (Saber, Archer, or Caster), and let the adventure unfold as you try to piece together your forgotten past. The game can get a little repetitive in terms of the pacing, which holds it back from reaching its full potential, but is still a decent experience if you have the patience. Ftextra
Final Fantasy RPG A port of the very first Final Fantasy, one of two ports on the PSP that was released in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Final Fantasy series. Combines the art, FMVs, and music of the original PlayStation version, with the scripts of the Gameboy Advance version, along with new dungeons, new bosses, and fancy Gen-7 graphics. The character sprites look all RPG maker, but some of the spell effect animations and monster art are ballin' yo. FFI cover
Final Fantasy II RPG The second of the two ports that were released for the PSP in celebration of the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary, this one being Final Fantasy II. Features an additional dungeon not seen in the GBA remix, which also added a few new dungeons of its own (also on here). Not as widely-liked as the first, but has it's fans. Still, you might want to look at some videos and FAQs to see if you might enjoy it. FFII cover
Final Fantasy III RPG The Third one. Unlike rest of the PSP releases, this one is based on the DS remake with super deformed 3D models. Ff3
Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection RPG Follows suit like FF 1 and 2, but looks a bit better. Also, it's based on the GBA version (meaning newer translations, extra dungeon, and customizable end-game party), but with revamped graphics, a choice of SNES or DS music, and auto-battle. Also has the sequel "The After Years" (now slightly updated) and a new "Interlude" chapter which bridges the two games.
You COULD just get FFIV on the GBA, or its 3D remake on the DS. But since this version adds a little more to the story (being a good or bad thing), which version you decide to go with is really just a matter of preference.
254px-FF4PSP NA Boxart
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions SRPG Ported from the PSX Final Fantasy Tactics game. The stretched widescreen, slower animations and rewritten dialogue (Fixes many of the mistakes of the original game, but is in some sort of verbose theatrical English.) seem to bother those who've played the original more, but this version also have a slightly expended story, 2 new secret characters, a secret new job and a 2-player co-op and VS modes. On the downside, the UMD version has some lag issues. For those who don't care, it's a deep, complex SRPG and one of the best FF spinoffs ever.
A patch has been released that fixes the slowdown/lag issues. There is also a patch that 'unstretches' the aspect ratio, resulting in sharper and cleaner visuals. CFW is required! Patch here Installation instructions here
FFT
Final Fantasy Type-0 RPG Imagine Crisis Core but better with 14 different playable characters, playable summons, A WORLD MAP, chocobo breeding and a fantastic story. The gameplay is difficult and will kill you if you get careless but is fun and faster than Crisis Core because less "slot machine" bullshit.

Only released in Japan but it has a full English translation so rev up that CFW and play the best Final Fantasy since 12.

Ff-type-0 box
Fired Up Combat Almost shockingly fun car combat. However, it's especially notable that the filesize is quite small. PSP-FiredUp-FrontCover
Gachitora!: Abarenbou Kyoushi in High School Being a Badass / Beat 'em Up Imagine GTO+Yakuza. After saving an idol from jumping off the local high school roof, through your very convincing "persuasion" skills, you get hired by the principal to work as a teacher. It's your job as a teacher to help all the students with their problems. You do this by "persuading" them while having a "battle of the minds", that plays out like a standard beat 'em up boss battle. Of course you just don't help students with their teenage troubles, you also get to beat up various delinquents and other scum. Gachitora
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex FPS Fairly standard FPS, with most of the usual drawbacks of being on the PSP. Its most exceptional feature is that you get a customizable partner: A Tachikoma! Ghost in the Shell PSP cover
Gitaroo Man Lives! Rhythm A quirky music game ported from the PS2. Has all original music, representing a wide variety of genres. You fight demons, aliens, and giant robots with the power of rock. Protip: The new Duet songs can be played even without a partner. With a name like "Gitaroo" you might think this is all J-pop and Japanese radio rock, but you would be wrong. Oh, so wrong.

Gameplay video here

Gitaroo Man Lives
Gladiator Begins RPG/Beat 'em up/Being a goddamned gladiator A pretty bare-bones simulator of life as a slave forced into the Roman arenas. What it lacks in level design and mission variety it makes up for in excellent combat mechanics, a metric shitload of customization, and the freedom to punch the helmet off of your opponent's head, and subsequently beat him to death with it. Gained notoriety in Japan for its deliciously underboobed promotional model, who ended up becoming a DLC character. Gladiator begins
Gods Eater Burst RPG The Enhanced North American re-do of God Eater. A decent knockoff of the Monster Hunter series, though probably not as memorable. You get a sweet transforming gun-sword thing, though. The plot is fairly typical anime post-apocalyptic bullshit, though. NA Gods Eaters Burst Cover
God of War: Chains of Olympus Action-Adventure God of War on the PSP, complete with everyone's favorite button-mashing, quick-time-eventing, gory bald albino Spartan. The graphics are amazing and it has the feel of a full God of War title. Protip: This game was the first to use the full 333MHz of the PSP's processor, in order to render the HELLA SWEET GRAFIX (gobbles the battery power, though). God of War Chains of Olympus NA version front cover
God of War: Ghost of Sparta Action-Adventure The second God of War title to be released on the PSP. Picks up where the original God of War for the PS2 left off, and tells the story of Kratos' rise to power as the God of War himself. Gowghostofsparta
Gradius Collection Shoot 'em Up SHOOT THE CORE! SHOOT THE CORE! SHOOT THE CORE! SHOOT THE CORE! SHOOT THE CORE! SHOOT THE CORE! SHOOT THE CORE! Contains the arcade versions of 1-4. Plus Gradius Gaiden (originally a PS1 exclusive released only in Japan.) Note: The Konami Code variant on the PSP (no B or A) is: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, L, R. Gradius
Gran Turismo Racing It's Gran Turismo, in portable format. Perfect for short intervals of gameplay, yet it still features all the content you'd expect from a major release it lacks a simulation mode, which means NO CAR CUSTOMIZATION. The graphics are top notch as always, and the formula hasn't changed a bit. It'll keep you entertained while you wait for GT5. Gt
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Action-Adventure Top-down like 1 & 2 (muh nostalgia) which means its hard to see ahead of you when driving fast. Also its port of DS version, so the touchscreen gimmics have been modified into analog stick wagglan minigames. Despite these flaws it still has the great driving & shooting gameplay, decent story and a drug trading/dealing minigame. Not the best GTA ever made but still recommended for anyone who owns PSP/PPSSPP. Chinatownwars
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories Action-Adventure / TPS It's GTA 3 on the go with an all-new story. What's not to like? Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories box
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories Action-Adventure / TPS In this game you play as Victor Vance, BAD ASS SUPAFLY MUHFUGGA and brother of Lance Vance. FUCK SHIT UP YO! Be sure to set the CPU clock speed to 333 if you're running CFW to maximize your fps, and Vice City Stories Cheat Engine for some crazy shit. (Flying cars, driving on walls, and more) GTA Vice City Stories
Gripshift Racing Fucking addictive. "Zany" tracks, awesome air control, and outlandish physics make this the most fun racing game/platformer I've ever played. PSP-GripShift-FrontCover
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus Fighting The latest update to the GGXX series. Warning, it has a TON of voiced lines for the story mode, so if you want a smaller filesize, go for the older XX. (screen is a little cropped, compared to Wii/PS2 version) GuiltyGearXXAccentCorePlusPSP
Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Universe Mech / Shooter Final entry in the Japan-only Gundam Battle series. If you're a UC Gundam fan, you absolutely have to play this. Fucking addictive gameplay, and has literally every mech from every UC series and movie. Gain skill points after completing missions to enhance your mech. Nothing fancy, but it's serviceable. Unlike other Gundam games, this one plays fast. Fuck walking around like a tool, you're going to be buzzing around like a god damned hornet. Mech models look great.Sadly, Universe is only in moonrunes, but one of its predecessors, Gundam Battle Royale (which is the same game with less content) is almost entirely in English. The first game, Battle Tactics, is also in English, but plays more like the shitty PS2 games. Has a sequel titled Gundam Assault Survive but is generally considered worse than this one. Gundam battle univ psp
Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus Fighting The latest game of the Gundam vs series, and one of the best ones yet. Has a few extras compared to the arcade version like new mechs, more arcade routes, a mission mode, and more Mobile Armor giant bosses. 4 player ad-hoc is possible. Game is Japan only, but not needed to understand the game. Has sequels on the PS3, Gundam Extreme Vs. and Gundam Extreme Vs. Full boost(Arcade only for now, PS3 port coming soon.) Since PS3 is region free, get Extreme Vs. Instead of this one if you don't have it already. GundamVsGundamNextPlus
Gunhound EX Mech/Run and Gun Fantastic port of the 2009 PC exclusive and spiritual succesor to Assault Suits Leynos II. Play as a badass mech blowing shit up all over the place, the more shit you blow up; the better your score gets (which is important if you want to get them sweet upgrades). Very hard and punishing, plus the in-game dialog may become annoying very quickly, since the dialog boxes cover a good chunk of the screen and can hide projectiles/enemies coming at you. JP only, but very gaijin-friendly.

Also, play the "Simulator" first, so you get used to the controls and different mechanics

3069-Kisou Ryouhei Gunhound EX JPN PSP-PLAYASiA
Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure Action RPG A charming 3D platformer-RPG ported over from the Japanese-only PC version. It plays close to a modern Ys game (3D Zelda-like with more asskicking and less exploring and gadgets). Lacks some of the extras PC got via patches though. Oh well. Gurumin - A Monstrous Adventure Coverart
Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom Visual Novel / Romance A Samurai Romance aimed at women, but don't let that stop you. Takes place at the end of the Edo period of Japan, and while it is a visual novel romance based on the perspective of a female character, it is essentially a war story that includes memorable characters and a captivating plot. Features Japanese voice acting and multiple endings. Definitely a unique title for North American audiences. Adapted into a two-seasons anime and two different manga series. Two movies are also scheduled to be released in 2013. The anime series has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America, but there's several complete fansubs floating around the internet, if you prefer the original voice acting. Psp hakuoki
Half-Minute Hero Other A combination of RTS, action RPG, and shoot 'em up(not at the same time though), all with a unique 8-bit art style and built for quick, addictive play. Epic music and witty parody. Sequel coming never. Hope for a patch. 14339
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law Adventure It's actually made by Capcom, and plays exactly like Phoenix Wright. It's fully animated, and looks just like the show. Harvey-birdman-attorney-at-law-psp
Hexyz Force RPG Sting takes some elements from Riviera and Evolution to make a surprisingly solid RPG. It actually has TWO pretty different stories (using the same battle system), yet they cross over every so often. Amazingly, there is a Scale that determines your ending, and is tipped to one side by both your decisions AND how you act in battle. Definitely worth a shot if you don't mind something different or are a fan of the two mentioned games above. Hexyzforcebox
Higurashi Daybreak: Portable Fighting Port of the PC doujin game. Supports awesome 4 player ad-hoc action. Only available in Japan. Daybreak1
Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 1 & 2 Sports A simple, fun golf game. Easy to pick up and strangely addictive. Hot-shots-golf-2
Initial D: Street Stage Racing Port of arcade DORFITO racing game, Initial D Arcade Stage 3. Good graphics, nice music, SPEEDY SPEED BOY! Initiald-streetstage
Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier Action-Adventure / Platform A sequel to Jak 3. Gameplay is like a mix of 1 and 3. There's also a (proper) flight aspect to the game. Some like it, some hate it. It's a solid game, though. If you're on the fence, try the demo. Jak-and-Daxter-The-Lost-Frontier1
Jeanne D'Arc SRPG An SRPG version of the story of Joan of Arc, with plenty of anime-style fantasy and voice-acted cutscenes to boot. With good-looking, fully 3D graphics, it's a quality title. Watch out for ZE ACCENTS. Jeanne d'Arc Coverart
Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble Being a Badass / Beat 'em Up You are a student in a school trip. You are also a badass who desires to go around kicking the asses of other badasses because you wanna be the ULTIMATE BADASS! Or you can sleep in all week. Takes some elements from God Hand and River City Ransom, which also kickass. Has 3 sequels (and 2 inferior prequels), but none of them have been announced for localization. KenkaBanchou
Killzone Liberation Action-Adventure Ditches the frail FPS gameplay for fucking awesome isometric shootouts. Happens to look great as well. Killzone Liberation
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Action RPG The earliest game in the KH timeline, no prior knowledge required story-wise. Choose from 3 characters to play - averaging about 6 hours per character, per play through, plus a final chapter. Great combat mechanics with a ‘command melding’ feature similar to ‘material fusion’ in FF7 Crisis Core to create new abilities. Noted for having much more focus on Disney and far less on DARKNESS and Org XIII. Also has THIS GUY and may be worth playing just for him. One of the best made and polished PSP games available. Note: If your PSP has CFW, there's an english patch for the Final Mix version. New keyblades, d-links and, if you're willing to sacrifice battery, higher-quality textures. Birthbysleep
Kingdom of Paradise RPG A nice early RPG effort with a Chinese theme. Revolves around switching and upgrading fighting styles. You can even build your own combos. Surprisingly nice graphics, too. Released as "Key of Heaven" in Europe. Key of Heaven
Knights in the Nightmare SRPG Ported from the DS, our favorite bullet hell turn-based real time strategy game comes to the PSP. Controls are surprisingly good and smooth horrendous, menus got streamlined and much nicer to look at, graphics improved (as in, they didn't rescale sprites like they did in Riviera) and soundtrack got remastered. Tutorial was also added into the main story like in Yggdra Union but it's still recommended to use the hour-long one from the menu. Load times are awful and appear often though. Includes a new mode where you play as Yggdra instead of Maria. The DS version controls much better and that's the recommended system for this game. Knights-in-the-nightmare-psp-box
Kurulin Fusion Puzzle An intuitive game revolving around chains, high clears, and careful planning for when to unleash your build-up. Has classical music masterfully remixed by one of /v/'s favorite DJs, Nobuo Uematsu, goes for $6 (40 kr) or less, and has several modes. It has a Metacritic score of Negative technically, but it's only based solely on one asshole reviewer. Kurulin
K-On! Houkago Live!! Rhythm & Music

You enjoy rhythm games like Guitar Hero? You think you can play them even without the guitar? You honestly believe that 5 buttons and a strum switch is more hardcore than a dpad and 4 buttons? FUCK you. You will get your ass HANDED to you by this moeblob rockband. 

K-On is an Anime about cutesy schoolgirls founding a rockband. This is the official game. It has all of the popular songs from the show and a few very good choices from the extended CD's. This is a 5 man group: Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Bass, Keyboard and Drums. You can play EVERY SONG with either of those five, on TWO DIFFICULTY LEVELS and they play COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Lead guitar is heavy on the righthand buttons but throws in a few d-pad commands from time. Rhythm guitar is more balanced but still heavy on the buttons and more inputs. Bass is extremely heavy on the d-pad, because Mio is a lefty. Keyboard uses all the colors of the rainbow and drums will steel your ass with rhythm training.

If you search for a challenge and like the J-Pop this is for you. Even if you are rythmic and like rhythm games you will find your balls firmly pressed to the walls.

Japanese only but it's not too hard to figure out and works with ppsspp perfectly. This game is great!

Gameplay video here

K-on-houkago-live-psp-32661365-741-1280
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky RPG The first of a succesful trilogy of story-heavy RPG games by Falcom (of Ys fame) and Japan's new popular saga (ranking up with SMT and Tales Of). Unfortunately, it's a port of a 2004 game, so it's incredibly dated and this one is just a build-up for the events of the next game of which is said to be the best part of the series and is being brought over to USA by the locazaliton team of Recettar in 2014. If you have the patience for this game, you'll find yourself with the best universe ever created in a videogame, with VERY subtle foreshadowing, very well developed characters and a rich world. The gameplay is SRPG like with a butt load of sidequests. Soundtrack is also awesome. Please refer to the game's page for further explanations. THE LEGEND OF HEROES TRAILS IN THE SKY PSP
Loco Roco Platformer A surreal experience controlling amorphous blobs in a dreamy, pastel world. Definitely worth a look for the smooth animation and unique controls. LocoRoco Coverart
Lumines Puzzle An early system seller, Lumines is one of the most addictive puzzlers since Tetris. Excellent game with awesome background music from many genres. Lumines
Lumines II Puzzle Similar gameplay to its predecessor, but no complaints there. The gameplay and menus are visually a lot like Lumines Live! for the Xbox Live Arcade. The next portable version of Lumines is Lumines: Electronic Symphony for the PlayStation Vita. Oom
Lunar: Silver Star Harmony RPG A remix of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete that has new voices, hand-drawn graphics, remastered music, Legend's Arts Gauge, and a new prologue about The Four Heroes. (Note: buying from PSN is HIGHLY recommended as UMD load times can get kinda sucky. The translation and voices could be better (given WD's awesome original), but as is, they get the job done decently. Lunarsilverstar
Macross Ace Frontier Flight / Combat / Arcade BEST GRAPHICS. Awesome control. You can even control the original SDFM. Just memorize the moonrune menu, memorize the controls and choose the robots that do the super rockets rather than the melee attack. UPDATE: Macross Ultimate Frontier has been out for a while now. It's the same, but more. Another sequel, Macross Triangle Frontier is also available. Macross ace frontier cover art jap
Marvel Ultimate Alliance RPG A nice port of the console action-RPG title. Control up to four Marvel superheroes as you smash the shit out of people and things. Marvel-ultimate-alliance-psp
Mawaskes Puzzle A so-cute-I-can-die puzzler that has only been released in Japan and Europe. It's small, and fits on almost any memory card. Mawaskes -MULTI6-
Me & My Katamari Ball Rollan Games Despite the lack of a second stick, this is a fairly complete game of Katamari. You use the D-pad and face buttons instead of dual-analogs. Load-times are kinda lame if on a UMD, and they always happen after getting to a certain size-level. Still, it remains quite enjoyable despite all its issues, and is a nice starting point into Katamari. The Vita game, Touch My Katamari, is probably preferable if you're on the fence between it and this. Me & My Katamari Coverart
MediEvil Resurrection Platformer A remake of a PS1 classic. Clunky controls and dodgy visuals, but incredibly atmospheric, and sports a stellar soundtrack. MediEvil Resurrection
Mega Man Maverick Hunter X Platformer A 3D makeover for the original Mega Man X. It's a beauty queen and gameplay is pretty much identical. One negative is that the soundtrack's been remixed, and there's no option to use the SNES one. It's sometimes better and other times worse, but usually just "different". Has an extra game mode where you play as recurring villain, Vile, who has 3 customizable slots for different attacks. Mega Man Maverick Hunter X Coverart
Mega Man Powered Up Platformer The original Mega Man in 3D, with a dose of SD and goofy voice acting. The main game has a remixed soundtrack, remixed level designs, 2 new robot masters and stages, and some new boss-only attacks. Has a version that mimics the NES original (down to aspect ratio and music). Comes with a level editor, which is pretty badass. You can also play as all the Robot Masters (without their new boss-only attacks), MM3 style Megaman, no-suit Rock, Roll (who has tons of alternate outfits), and even Proto Man! No pause trick this time though, you have to beat that yellow bastard legit! MegaManPoweredUp
Mercury/Mercury Meltdown Puzzle Micromanagement puzzle solving with liquid blobs of mercury. 1213158848 psp-archer-macleans-mercury
Metal Gear Ac!d 1 & 2 Stealth / Combat / CCG Card-based tactics spin-off to the Metal Gear series. It's surprisingly fun if you approach it with an open mind. Also, STEREOSCOPIC 3D MOTHERFUCKER! Metal Gear Acid Coverart
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Stealth / Combat Tactical Espionage Action on PSP. This is the GAME version, complete with a story (Unlike MPO+). There's a lot of plot aspects continuing from 3 and leading into MGS. The controls can take a wee bit of time to get used. PO focuses more on sneakan and stealth. You also use multiple soldiers within one mission. You can get more by tranquilizing them and capturing them. Has some bonus extras as well, some unlockable via passwords. There's around 40 hours worth of content if you play every mission. 75f7162cb24819712333e204b1f6ce88-98
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus Stealth / Combat This game actually has no story, and is just a stand-alone expansion to the original Portable Ops. The original game is not required, but you can transfer your roster (including unique characters) if you have a save file. You can recruit a shit ton of soldiers including Old Snake and it's essentially there for the new Infinity Mission, which is you running through randomized maps trying to find checkpoints. Better online. PLUS
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Stealth / Combat

It's like Portable Ops minus most of the suck. Big Boss goes to Costa Rica, starts a mercenary company, and defeats a walking robot that launches nukes - you know how it goes. Sadly sends to the backseat the great human villains MGS is famous for. Instead has: singing robots? Graphics are superior to PO's, though the odd MGS4-style scheme takes getting used to (you can't move while lying down). PO and Monster Hunter-style controls are in, too. Loads of extra missions, even some against MH monsters. Keep in mind the later boss fights aren't remotely balanced for single player so you better damn well have some friends with the game if you want to have fun with those (4 players can form a human slingshot to 1-shot-kill any boss in the game if you hit it in the right part).
Also in the MGS HD collections on PS3/360 (but not Vita, since it's already perfectly compatible with the PSP version on PS Store), which has non-shitty controls and online multiplayer.
Protip: If you have the PSP version, play it on the Vita instead. Snaking with Big Boss is always better with the 2nd analog stick.

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Metal Slug Anthology Run and Gun Metal Slug 1-6 on the go. Features unlockables like music and wallpapers that you can just get from Google, and the loading and saving features may be off-putting to some, but hey, it's still fucking Metal Slug on the go.

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Metal Slug XX Run and Gun Upgraded port of Metal Slug 7 for the Nintendo DS. Not the best game in the series, but still pretty awesome. Beautiful sprites and music. Now with MULTIPLAYER and Leona. 2009-10-06 msxx
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite GIANT LIZARD HUNTING SIMULATOR Addictive-as-fuck monster-hunting gameplay with a steep learning curve. Kill monsters and wear their skin to kill more monsters. This release has all the content from every Monster Hunter game released to date, minus Frontier on the PC, so forget Freedom 1 and 2. Unfortunately, it's ad-hoc multiplayer-only unless you use XLink Kai, or ad-hoc party on the PS3. Caution is advised, long play sessions or low background light level WILL lead to migraines in sensitive Anons. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd Action-Adventure/Monstah Huntin Includes new armor that sports a very samurai feel, some new weapons, and the ability to have up to 2 felynes/cats as companions. May never leave Japan so rev up that translation patch. There's also a wiki. Some say it's easier compared to MHFU, but it looks MUCH better. Ported to PS3 in HD, yet your save data can transfer between both versions, if you, you know, can. "Supposedly" coming out on Vita. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge Racing Fantastic addition to the extreme arcade racing line, Motorstorm gives you stunning visuals, great physics and the most evil AI ever in racing games history. Seriously, if you go with the bike or the ATV, watch the fuck out for that snowplow! And yeah, you can also race with the snowplow crushing your opponents into the ground. The sense of speed is great with snow and mud flying into your face and the music is good too. Motorstorm arctic edge frontcover large iOdAfN9wwVi6LtO
N+ Platformer A port spin-off of the popular flash game with entirely new levels. Features a map editor and sharer and multiplayer modes. Also on DS, XBLA and PC (best and free). 941433 91443 front
Nayuta no Kiseki Action RPG Completely unrelated to the rest of the saga. Falcom's new take in a "story-driven action RPG". Basically means MGS4 long cutscenes and the action of Ys with anime aesthetics. Only in Japan and contains huge walls of text but the action's still enjoyable. Plays similar to a platformer, with RPG elements and hack n slash gameplay. Amazing soundtrack as expected. Has a English translation with a few names not translated Nayuta no kiseki box cover-220x
Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City Racing If you have a burning need to customize cars and participate in subpar, arcade-y racing on the go, this is your game. Need for Speed Carbon Own the City psp
Neverland Card Battles Strategy / CCG Yu-Gi-Oh crossed with a strategy RPG. A rather unique twist of card and strategy games combining a few elements from both for a sort of tactics/card fusion. Gameplay is easy to learn, but deck building can be enjoyably deep at times. Music can get grating rather quickly. Neverland card battles amerique
No Gravity: The Plaque of Mind 3D Space Shooter Great visuals and never ending genuine space shooting fun, No Gravity offers serious entertainment even if you pick it up just for a minute. You can choose from 3 ships each with different characteristics, pick up temporary power-ups AND SHOOT SPACE ALIENS! Okay, they are not aliens, but they are the bad guys and it's up to YOU to save the GALAXY! As a plus, the whole game is about 90 MB so there's no reason not to have it. NoGravityEPP
Obscure: The Aftermath Action-Adventure / Survival Horror Port of the PS2 game, with bonus features. A good solid survival horror game, that isn't one of the major brands (RE or SH). Sadly, still no extra costumes/weapons, but the gameplay is still great. Also, vagina monster. Obscure-the-aftermath-psp-box
Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast Racing Drift through eye-fuckingly gorgeous locales to impress the bitch in your passenger seat. Boasts a fucking awesome soundtrack. Outrun 2006 psp pack
Pangya Fantasy Golf Sports Port of the popular Korean golf game. Tons of fun, if you're into faux-weeaboo sports sims or delicious pirate lolis. Pull off some insane, physics defying shots, too. 001
PaRappa the Rapper Rhythm FUCK YES YOU ARE THE BEST PORT EVER! 711719870227
Parodius Portable Shoot 'em Up Collects all 5 Parodius games, humorous parodies of Konami's own Gradius series.
A few song changes, but rofl who cares? Finally, a PLAYABLE version of Parodius MSX!
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Patapon Rhythm A charming combination of rhythm, action and RTS. You press certain buttons in time to the chanting to make your squad move, attack, etc. Pon Pon Pata Pon. A must have PSP game, if you haven't played it yet, play it. Great starting point, and a bit harder to come back to after 2 and 3. Patapon
Patapon 2 Rhythm This sequel includes new modes and features, such as the "evolutionary tree" and multiplayer mode. Has double the content than the first one, so it's reccomended to get this one instead if you have to choose just one. Patapon2cover
Patapon 3 Rhythm The final Patapon game released on the PSP. Expands the multiplayer mode and adds four-way player battles. Has even more content than the second, but the second is preferred since this one only has 4 Patapon you can control, though each being able to be customized quite extensively. Notably darker story and atmosphere, but never gets GRIMDARK or 3EDGY5U. Still quite solid, but not the first you should start with.

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Phantasy Star Portable RPG A port of Phantasy Star Universe that manages to be ten times better than the original and a great Action RPG altogether. Hope you don't mind/can't see the dithered pixels, though. If you download the Demo, you can use your character from it in the full game. G40304dx0kq
Phantasy Star Portable 2 RPG A sequel that takes place 3 years after the last game. New weapons, new clothes/parts, new special arts, new Vanguard job, and newly added abilities for each job. You can roll and block now. PP is no longer attached to weapons, but a stat like HP. If you like the first, you'll love this one. Like PSPo1, you can import your character from the Demo into the full game. You can also import your PSPo1 character, but only its appearance. All gear, levels, etc. are not transfered. Lame. PSP-Demo-Phantasy-Star-Portable-2-Demo
Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle SRPG PSP port (and definitive version) of the PS2 NIS game. Loli necromancer and her phantom companions overcome prejudice, do odd jobs for money, save the world. Distinguished from other NI SRPGs in that the movement is not grid-based (which can be exploited, especially on ice levels) and that you can use literally anything you can pick up as a weapon. Even a fish. Even your opponents. Same as the Wii port, the PSP version revamps a number of aspects, such as streamlining stat displays, adding a new scenario, some new items and attacks. The PSP version also includes new NPCs, items and hidden quests (you can even get the hero from ZHP)!

Also available on PS2 and Wii.

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PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe Tower Defense A port of one of the best Tower Defense games ever made. Amazing graphics and addictive gameplay. As it's a "Deluxe" version, it has extra content not found in the original, making it the preferred version if you solely play single-player. PixelJunk-Monsters-Deluxe
Pop'n Music Portable 1 and 2 Rhythm Part of Konami's "music simulation" series about hitting nine big colorful buttons hamburgers. The arcade ports for the PS2 stopped at 14, and the PSP games are actually based on 15 and 16, respectively. The lack of a special controller is made up by adapting the harder charts into the lesser button modes (there's still 9-button in here, though). The song wheel lists songs by genre, from the innocuous "pops" and "j-tekno" to descriptions such as "girlhood" and marine cruise".
2 also has support for DLC, although the first batch was a preorder bonus and at this point in time it's not up for everybody yet. Overall a good game, but just another piece of evidence that Konami is basically shooting the Bemani team in the foot.
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Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? Platformer Nigh-masochistic platformer (odds are you'll use nearly every life you get, and that's if you're GOOD at it). Features those penguin critters from Disgaea. Extra levels as DLC.

Gameplay video here

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Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! Platformer Much improved sequel of the above. Has a baby mode for all of you who found the first too hard and need to practice, as well as some power-ups and stuff to help you out! New DLC and more playable characters like Prinny Laharl and Prinny Asagi. Prinny 2
Power Stone Collection Fighting Both of the hugely popular Dreamcast brawlers in one neat package with a few extras. Fun, but I hope you like squinting. PSP Power Stone Collection

Project Diva + Project Diva 2nd

Rhythm

A very fun rhythm game featuring Vocaloid characters, namely Miku Hatsune. Japanese only, but still easy to figure out. There is a patch that translates the menus into English here : (2nd) out now. Also in arcades in Japan and hi-res when connected to PS3 + DLC.

A third sequel, Extend, is also out and considered the best. Project Diva F is available on PS3 over here in the states.

Gameplay video here

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PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient 1 & 2 Puzzle Engaging puzzle solving in an Intelligent Qube-esque world. 930422 70939 front
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords Puzzle An addictive 'RPG', where the battles are actually Bejeweled-style puzzle games. The sort of game where you think 'just one more fight', then you realize it's 4:30 in the morning. For pirates: it CSO's nice and tight. Prepare to cuss, your enemies cheat or get lucky always.One again beware, because this game is addicting like crack. Puzzle quest
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters Action-Adventure Quite solid entry in the Ratchet and Clank series, and like the rest, a well-made hybrid platformer/shooter. Graphics are impressive for the PSP, and there's plenty of content and minigames to keep you busy. Combine armor pieces to gain new abilities, and cross-combine for secret ones. Hard mode lives up to its name, but provides some cool bonuses, one being the ever-loved R.Y.N.O. weapon. Ratchet&ClankSizeMattersNorthAmericanPSPCover
Ridge Racer 1 & 2 Racing It's Ridge Racer. RIIIIIIIIDGE RACER! Features most of the tracks from the series' past, even the forgotten arcade game Rave Racer. For a launch title, it's still one of the best racers you can buy for PSP. NOTE: Ridge Racer 2 was never released in North America. Riddddgggeeerraaccceerrr
Riviera: The Promised Land RPG An upgraded port of the GBA version. Now fully voiced, with remixed music and translation, and other additions. Note that the sprites are merely upscaled versions of the original GBA. Nice backdrops make up for this, however. Game is basically a waifu simulator thinly veiled behind RPG battles if you like this stuff. Riviera-the-promised-land
Rock Band Unplugged Rhythm A spiritual successor to Harmonix's pre-Guitar Hero game Amplitude. In other words: Rock Band except not a plastic toy instrument simulator this time, and now you play all the instruments on your own. Decently fun, plus comes with a music store. Best choice so far for western-style music games on the PSP. Rock-band-unplugged-psp-580x3261
Salamander Portable Shoot 'em Up More Konami shmup goodness. Contains the arcade Salamander, Life Force, the awesome but short Salamander 2, an updated Gradius 2 from MSX, and the first system port of XEXEX. Salamanderportable
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona RPG Different from recent entries (obviously), but the translation's been revamped for the better, everything is smoother (in loading and accessibility) and has a number of nice additions such as animated cutscenes and some new music (NOTE: New music doesn't really fit and option to play the orginal soundtrack doesn't exist so I recommend checking Youtube if you like J-POP with engrish). Dungeons are first-person maze crawling, similar to old SMT and the recent Strange Journey.
If you like this, check out both P2 games for PS1 (and PSP) and P3P seen below.
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Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin RPG It's an enhanced port of the Persona game the west never got due to some questionable content in the plot (such as Hitler). The game takes place in a town with a curse that makes all rumors come to reality. The delinquent Tatsuya and his friends have to use the powers hidden in their mind to battle an evil cult. The characters and story are amazing and the best in the series. The gameplay is manual command and/or tactics-driven (you choose) and your party can combine some spells for powerful combo spells. At least the awful menus from the PSX version have been streamlined. If you're interested in Persona but don't like the dating sim aspect of 3 and 4, give this one a go. Persona 2 innocent sin
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable RPG Its Persona 3 for PSP. Atlus was able to add yet more content to Persona 3 in this new release. Includes the ability to play as a female protagonist with a "new" storyline. It fixes many of the original's annoyances, such as not being able to take control of your allies. Even though it changes the cutscenes from P3 to events with in-game models (just youtube the originals if you're curious) and lacks the bonus chapter from P3FES (not a big loss), you'd be stupid to go past a portable version of Persona fucking 3. Persona3P PSP
Sid Meier's Pirates! Strategy / Action-Adventure YARR HARR FIDDLE-DEE-DEE, BEING A PIRATE IS ALRIGHT WITH ME! DO WHAT YOU WANT ´CAUSE A PIRATE IS FREE, YOU ARE A PIRATE! Psp sid meiers pirates
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 TPS / Stealth SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 is a video game for the Playstation Portable handheld and the sequel to SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo. The game was released in North America on November 7, 2006. Fireteam Bravo 2 features an entirely new campaign, multiplayer maps, and new features such as Command Equity (CE) and Local Influence (LI). Fireteam Bravo 2's campaign mode offers 14 story missions, a variety of partners including LONESTAR, and two partners named BRONCO and WRAITH from SOCOM: U.S. Socom2 PSP
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny Fighting Lacks a familiar Arcade Mode, but boasts an impressive selection of SC characters both old and new. A completely new original character, Dampierre, and Kratos from God of War join the traditional cast. No real story mode but still good to practice. Soulcalibur
Space Invaders Extreme Shoot 'em Up A fun remake of the classic alien shooting game, with all new graphics, effects, multipliers, powerups, and groovy music. Also available on Nintendo DS and Xbox Live Arcade. G37606x2ir5
Star Ocean: Second Evolution RPG Slightly revised port of Star Ocean: The Second Story from ye olde Playstation (the first Star Ocean's enhanced port is called First Departure). As you can guess, there are a few extras as well, such as backdrops for cutscenes, animated FMVs, and is almost fully voiced with some pretty good VAs, which is bittersweet. Because there is NO TEARAN INTO PIECES, or CRAWD ADVANCE FOWARDAN. Note: PSP version is easier than the PS1 original.  Your normal attack hits twice in this version and you can easily stun lock most regular enemies by just mashing attack.  Same thing with SO:first departure.    StaroSEcover
Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament Action-Adventure Sequel to the niche PS2 game. Armored Core-lite mech customization, open world action-adventure gameplay. Repetitive but good in short bursts. Steambot chronicles battle tournament psp
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max Fighting It's a port with a few new features and characters (including Yun from Street Fighter III and Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Evolution). It lacks Infrastructure though, which is a bummer. PSP also don't have good layout for Capcom's 6-button fighters but still playable. Ac681ce5722de60f6200d2e3aff6aac1-Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX
Strikers 1945 Plus Shoot 'em Up Decent remake of a classic shmup. 111G930YA
Super Stardust Portable Shoot 'em Up Fun port of the PS3 dual-stick shooter. You shoot asteroids and other shit with somewhat suspect controls, due to the lack of a second analog stick. PSP-Super-Stardust-Portable
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror TPS This is actually a good entry to the Syphon Filter series. Released on 2006, still manages to look good and have a solid gameplay. The story revolves around Gabe Logan, an US government agent, dealing with some terrorist organizations. Nothing you haven't seen already. Anyway, controls are remarkably well done, and for a TPS in a system with one analog it's an important thing. The Story mode is composed of 28 missions, in which you visit a variety places. They're well done with nice weather details and the such. There is multiplayer mode also (supports ad-hoc and infrastructure). It's kinda robust but delivers hours of fun. There are a shitload of guns to try, a lot of collectibles, and overall plenty of fun to be had.
Ported to PS2 with improved graphics, but cutting out the multiplayer.
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Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together SRPG A remake of the PlayStation game, which was originally released on the Super Famicom and PSX. Created by the team that worked on the original, this version contains upgraded graphics, new characters, more maps along with MANY gameplay tweaks, which makes for a refreshing and quite different experience. Translation is new as well. Tactics-Ogre PSP US ESRBboxart 160w
Taiko no Tatsujin Portable 1, 2 & DX Rhythm A taiko-drumming music game. Clean 2D graphics and addictive gameplay make it a must for any fan of rhythm games. Portable 2 expands a lot on its predecessor with more than 50 songs (and free DLC!), and the last iteration, Portable DX, tops the list with more than 70 songs (and DLC!), a full story mode and etc. Not like you'd be playing for the story anyway. And last but not least, DX is the only Taiko game on the PSP to feature costumes! Monster Hunter and Hatsune Miku costumes are available along with songs from both games :3 The only problem is that DX ditched minigames, present in previous versions, entirely. Also, YOU WA SHOCK! Psp-taiko-taburu-jap
Tales of Eternia RPG A port of the PS1 game (known as Tales of Destiny 2 in the States, but it's not the actual ToD2), nothing major really changed unless you count the cropped image (to fit into widescreen ratio) and some changes to control (PSP have no R2 or L2, duh?). It was great then and it's still great now. No, it wasn't released in America, but it was in Europe. In English. Pick it up if you haven't played it yet. Tales of eternia psp
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology RPG Quest-based spin-off of the Tales series with good, bright graphics but horrible voice acting, you can turn it off though. You can also dress your male characters in pink frilly dresses from Idolmaster so they can be the leetle girl.
There have also been two more games released (in Japan only) with the third game bringing in a total of 80 Tales characters (some unique though most are from former games). An English patch is available for 3 that has translated everything nessesary to play the game (skits and story text is not translated).
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Tekken 6 / Dark Resurrection Fighting Hands down the prettiest games. They also pack a nice amount of meat in its shell. Avoid only if you're a diehard hater, and maybe not even then.

The only real difference between them is a matter of preference. Tekken 6 plays a bit better and has a larger roster, while Tekken: Dark Resurrection has a bit more meat (meaning game modes and some features).

Tekken 5 and 6 are completely different games, with new mechanics introduced in Tekken 6, namely rage and bound. Rage is arguably trivial, but bound raises the combo damage ceiling by a lot, which is why characters in Tekken 6 now have 180~ health as opposed to the 140~ they had in T5. Also floor breaks and wall breaks.

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Thexder Neo Platformer / Action A remastering of an old-school arcade-esque classic on the PC. Pilot Thexder, a transforming jet-mech, and navigate through 16 maze-stages, blasting enemies along the way. Be sure to ration your energy around the middle, as this game is pretty brutal at the end. It also includes an online scoring mode so you can SHOW THEM ONLINE. Better resolution in the PS3 version, but this one is just a good for quick space-shootan sessions. ThexderNeo PSP
Tokobot Action-Adventure A quirky Zelda OoT-style romp in which you solve puzzles and defeat enemies with the aid of small chicken-like robots, apparently. Has a PS2 remix with a few extras, but nothing major. Tokobot-cover
Tomb Raider Anniversary Platformer The Tomb Raider remake looks and plays great on the small screen. Lots of stuff to unlock as well. Also on other platforms. 1186993381-cover tra psp
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix Sports A nice port visually and gameplay-wise, but also adds a nice amount of fresh content, like entirely new levels. (They're not half bad, either.) PSP Tony Hawk-s Underground 2 Remix
Twinbee Portable Shoot 'em Up 5 Twinbees on one UMD. Twinbee, Detana!! Twinbee, Twinbee Yahho!, Pop'n Twinbee from the Super Famicom, and even an updated port of Twinbee da! from Game Boy. Twinbeeportable
Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins Platformer A very nice remake (no, it's the final sequel believe it or not) that keeps the core gameplay intact while adding new RPG-like items and fetches, all the while injecting gorgeous new eye candy.

NOTE: If you don't want the unnecessary RPGish crap, there's a JP exclusive revision that's closer to the arcade experience

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Valkyria Chronicles II Strategy Same as the first game with all the fun RPG strategy gameplay condensed to the PSP, however it is somewhat less interesting, not by much, due to cliché characters and plot. It's still a great game nonetheless, especially if you loved the first. Valkyria Chronicles II
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth RPG Ported from the PSX with new, gorgeous FMV's. The 2D platforming and battles have aged very well, and the game uses a unique system, if somewhat confusing to newcomers. Three different endings: Two of them are fairly easy to get, but the best (THE best, no exaggeration here), most complete (A) ending is very well hidden, and you'll probably need a guide to get it, since the requirements are not intuitive at all. The old classic still keeps its charm. Has an UNDUB version floating around the internet if you prefer the original voice-acting. Valkyrie-profile-lenneth
Virtua Tennis World Tour/3 Sports A nicely polished game of tennis. Surprisingly fun even if you don't give two shits about the actual sport. Virtua-tennis-world-tour
The Warriors Beat 'em Up Based on the 1979 film, this game is a port of the PS2 game, great fun with great sound effects. The-warriors-psp-front-cover
Warhammer 40K Squad Command Strategy A nice turned-based tactical combat title. It's Space Marines SPESS MEHREENS vs. Chaos. For a 40K fan, this is more fun than you can shake a bolter at. Warhammer-40000-squad-command
What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord!? 2 Strategy / Defense

Build a dungeon, populate it with minions, hide the Overlord from the invading heroes. Short, sweet and very addicting. The first game in the series, Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This?, is included here, so no need to pick that one up.

Sequel number 3 is released too, titled "No Heroes Allowed". Much easier due to abusing the new water mechanic, but still hard (If you don't abuse the water, I mean)

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Wild Arms XF SRPG Has an incredible skill and class system that could arguably be put close to FFT's scale once you get every job/class. There's also varied maps/missions that require actual strategy and great music. Wildarmsxf
Wipeout Pure/Pulse Racing Both Wipeout games boast great graphics, lots to unlock, and an insane sense of speed. Pulse is less floaty and has a better 'campaign' structure. Wipeout pure
WTF: Work Time Fun Puzzle A fucking weird WarioWare-style minigame collection. PSP-WorkTimeFun-USVersion-FrontCover
Yggdra Union SRPG An upgraded port of the GBA classic, and one of the best SRPGs on the PSP. Mixes Fire Emblem with card games for deep and challenging (although the normal mode is easier than the GBA version's) game. Hard as balls so be careful. 943637 103353 front
Ys I & II Chronicles Action RPG Yet another remake of the original Ys duology. Almost the same as the Complete version for PC however, you can pick between two art styles for portraits and 3 soundtracks from the various remakes, one of which is exclusive to this version. Originally being a 1987-88 game and a port of a 2001 remake it's obviously dated however if you can accept this fact you'll find yourself with a very enjoyable game. Ys chronicles
Ys Seven Action RPG Adol and Dogi are back to take on a new land! But this time, they're not alone. Mix and match a team of 3 amongst many new allies to chain attacks and maximize damage! Unlike Napishtim, Falcom personally handled each and every Ys port/game on PSP after, so throw your fears out the window and start rockin'.If you are new to YS series this is the most friendly game for beginners.Spoiler: Be sure to spread out leveling throughout your allies unless you want to get steamrolled during certain "story-mandatory set-team" battles.
Ys: Memories of Celceta on Vita plays very similarly to this. Check it if you like Seven.
Ys seven
Ys: The Oath in Felghana Action RPG Take Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, and turn the twitch-based platforming and combat 3D, and you've got what went into this remake. Features white-knuckle boss fights, an amazing soundtrack, streamlined gameplay so you can focus on the action, and five difficulty levels so that anyone can find a good starting point. This port includes a new Double Boost ability that lets you fill up the Boost bar twice to power up more and recover HP, and there's voice acting for the important cutscenes, but the voices tend to sway between serviceable and grating. The PC version that has double the framerate and will run on a toaster. But if you gotta have it on the go, have at it. 511a28dwaml
Yu-Gi-Oh Tag Force 1-6 Card battle / Dating sim thingy Based on the ever-so-popular Japanese card game franchise which spawned several anime series infamous for its interestingly retarded hairstyles. Tag Force 1-3 are based off the GX series, set in a highschool for learning how to play card games (??), whereas 4-6 are based on 5D's, set in a cyberpunk future where people play card games on motorcycles (???).

The duels are a lot more strategic and slow-paced in the first 3 games, due to the fact that things like Synchro and Xyz monsters didn't exist at the time, but they're set in arguably the best period of the card game. The series mainly focuses on Tag Duels (2v2). The first one is by far the easiest for beginners to get into, but gets stale quickly as the progression is mind-numbingly slow. With the free exploration aspect comes the dating sim-ish part which you have to focus on in order to progress in the story, and unfortunately it becomes very tedious in a very short time (don't expect any Persona-tier social links, seeing how your character is a mute that only passively exists in the story (applies to all 6 games)). Sadly, this is pretty much obligatory, considering the fact that you have to bond with people for them to join you in Tag Duels. Nevertheless, the games become better (and less beginner-friendly) with each installment, but mind that Tag Force 6 is not localized and current state of the English fan translation leaves the story mode completely in Japanese.

Tag Force Special, containing storylines from all series and over 8000 cards, is currently in development for PSP and Vita, Japan-only.

Ss (2015-01-14 at 11.28.56)
Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman Roguelike RPG Create your own superhero from head to toe and face off against numerous villains. Lots of humor, customization, and unique gameplay, with randomly generated maps that add tons of replay value. Keep in mind that dying in this game means starting back at level 1 and losing all of your items. If you're up for a challenge, be sure to pick this up. It's one of the better roguelikes this generation. ZHP Coversheet Front

PSN Games

Psn-logo

Psone classicsPSOne recommendations you can get through the PSN service. (Note: Currently US only, but EU/PAL should be added soon.)

Title Genre Description Screenshot
Ape Quest RPG / Minigame Dragon Quest-ish, with a bit of Mario Party mixed in. As you travel on paths, you may enter battles or mini-games. The prologue is free, but limited. The full game bundle only costs $20 (130 kr), but has much more content, including side-quests, dungeons, and smithing. A silly send-up of the RPG genre that's worth a try, even if it's not the top banana RPG. Ape quest screen
ClaDun: This is an RPG + Sequel Roguelike / Action RPG Nippon Ichi's less serious story-wise game, but incredibly addicting. Create your own main character in a very humorous, retro-esque adventure with references to video games and pop-culture. Adventure into randomly-generated dungeons, level-up, fight enemies, the works. You can also explore dungeons with friends even. It is action-based though, so if you want a turn-based roguelike, check out NIS' other roguelike game, Z.H.P.

This is game is too damn good to be sold for only $20 (130 kr).

Sequel's out, more of the same, plus a bunch of customization. If you liked the first one you'll like this one.

Grab some fanmade music+designs over at http://cladunx2thisisa.wikia.com/wiki/

500x soturned
Corpse Party Horror / Adventure Group of people fall into an otherworldly, creepy version of a previously-demolished school and have to find their way out. If you can get past the graphics (top down RPG Maker style) it'll pull you in.

Sequel has been released under the subtitle Book of Shadows, it follow the same group as before but in more of a point and click/visual novel style.

Screenshot psp corpse party005
Everyday Shooter Shoot 'em Up A strange musical shoot 'em up with gameplay reminiscent of Every Extend, sans exploding. Every Day Shooter PSP
fl0w Puzzle A chilled-out experience where you start as a small microbe and eat others to grow into a larger and more beautiful organism. Flow PSP
Freekscape: Escape From Hell Puzzle / Platformer Freek is a demon who wants a better life. He steals a Sacred Trident to get the hell outta Hell and get to Heaven. Poke devilish minions and utilize their skills, such as demon-boars' ramming power and squishier ones' bounciness. Feels like an early PS1 game: strange atmosphere, funky sweet soundtrack, sometimes-iffy controls, but quite fun concepts. A modern game with old-school heart (at a good price, too!). Freekscape pic
MONSTERS (Probably) STOLE MY PRINCESS Platformer / Arcade High-Score seekers unite! This easy-to-learn/hard-to-master platformer has your score and dazzing finishers depend on the consecutive platforms you jump on. A fun test of reaction, concentration, and fast fingers. Quite amusing (and inexpensive!), offering nice replayability thanks to extra modes, despite Story Mode's brevity (it's a tutorial compared to harder stages). And who could resist that dashing demon, The Duke? Monsters princess
Patchwork Heroes Puzzle
  • Comparable to Qix in gameplay concept, but you saw apart invading warships in mid-flight so they don't bomb your hometown. Also, robots, robots everywhere. Dodge them or find a way to take them out. Really nice art style and a lighthearted, but kinda sad story (one of the unlockables is a GRAVEYARD for your dead pals...). Very fun and only 10 dollars.

Note: Made by the team who did the "Badman" trilogy, and even has some secret stages based off of them!

Patchwork pic

Homebrew

I want to get a PSP, which one do I get?

A year ago, the answer to that would've been "A big old PSP-1000 (Fat) and a huge-ass memory stick". However, with the cracking of the PS3's Master Key (and thus the ability to sign things so that the PSP's stock firmware (AKA official firmware or OFW) can run it), things have changed. While technically only the PSP-1000 and certain 2000 (slim) models are fully hackable (able to flash a custom firmware (cfw) to the device proper), any PSP can run a "light" custom firmware like LME, and the only difference is you have to run it after booting up, instead of having it boot in to the firmware. As such, if you have no PSP right now, your best bets are the PSP-3000 (if you need to play UMD games) or the Go (if you don't).

Screenshot Title Genre Description
Bookr Bookr bookan Compatible with a wide variety of formats, including pdf, txt, palmdoc, djvu, chm, and html. Simple and easy to use.
Cavestorypsp Cave Story Action-Adventure Everybody's favorite indie game now on PSP!
Daedalusx64 Daedalusx64 Emulator Most of the games are still slow but for example Mario 64 works almost perfectly.
Doom, various FPS There are a variety of Doom ports, of varying quality and controls. Search around and find the one for you. I use PSP Doom Legacy, as the controls are wonderful, the graphics great, and support of lots of wads, but there's no music unless you add in each song as an mp3, which eats up lots of space so fuck that shit.
Exult RPG

Lets you play Ultima 7 and Serpent's Isle on the PSP.

If you don't know what Ultima 7 is and you claim to like RPG's, play it right now you fucking casual.

ScummVM Emulator Plays almost every 2D adventure game.
Lm3 Lamecraft It's minecraft on your PSP, just like the free version of minecraft.
Kaiten Kaiten Patissier Puzzle

Puzzlan gaems. You play as a girl collecting ingredients, and can spin the entire level 90 degrees at a time. There are 3 editions, each one increasing in difficulty from the last, but the music can get kind of grating and it's rather poorly ported, resulting in slower "turn" speeds and long loads for levels. Since it's a port, you can always check out the actual games on PC.

There's a few sequels if you can't get enough.

Various SNES emulators Emulator Best over-all IMO is Snes9xTYL 4.2 ECM, but it's still not perfect, as Kirby Super Star doesn't work, thus making it useless to everyone forever. Alternatives include (Snes 9X) Euphoria, but it's somehow even slower despite being released later.
Tyrianshot OpenTyrianPSP Shoot 'em Up Everyone's favorite vertical shooter. If you don't know what this is you better try it now! Upgradable weapons, fully customizable ships, great level design and THE MUSIC! Originally made by the guys who made Jazz Jackrabbit and Unreal Tournament
Open Transportation Tycoon Tycoon Sim

Port of OpenTTD.

Suffers from an entirely unfit for the tiny PSP screen size GUI, but it's not like you have many options for Tycoon games on the PSP. RCT2 when?

Picodrive Sega Mega Drive/Genesis & Mega/Sega CD Emulator This plays most if not all the Sega Genesis games. It also plays Sega CD games fur double the fun. Remember Genesis does what Nintendont.
TempAR Cheat Plug-In It's a plug-in, so dont go lookin' for an eboot. It's an action replay for PSP games! Download cheat databases, or make your own cheats on the fly and feel like a super l33t haxxor.
Adom 6451 ToME Roguelike Port of ToME on the PSP. Controls are rather slow, but the whole game is here. In addition, Angband, Nethack, and Powder are all ported as well so get your roguelike on.

If you're new to roguelikes, Powder is highly recommended as a starting game but it's no cakewalk.

Homer's RIN Emulator Wonderful GB/GBC emulator. Even allows you emulate selecting different color palettes for GB games, like when you were a kid. Only caveat is that the controls default A/B to X/O. You can change 'em to Nintendo standard after, but still. 

Another alternative is Masterboy, which defaults X/O to the proper keys, and is a similarly execllent emulator and probably surpasses Homer's RIN

Wag Wagic the Homebrew!? Card games Specifically, Magic the Gathering. Loadsacards, and it's pretty well made, even letting you import your own cards, custom campaigns, etc. Also allows you to import the actual card images, but prepare to use upwards of 500+ megabytes if you do so.


Recommendation Copypasta