The Playstation Portable
By Thonos
2/16/2016
I have never been big into hand held systems. I played on a Gameboy and Gameboy Color when I was growing up and I thought it was neat, but nothing great. Plus where I was at I did not do a lot of traveling and if I did I was driving, so I did not see much use in one. It wasn't until 2009 that I finally decided to get a Playstation Portable (PSP). And while I have played some good games on the system, and even finding a new franchise, I'm still not sold on portable systems. But that is not to say I dislike my PSP.
I got a Playstation Portable (PSP) initially for three games. Class of Heroes was coming out at a time when I was looking for an in depth dungeon crawler. After playing Persona 4 on the Playstation 2, I was looking for more Persona games and I saw that the original Persona was getting re-released on the PSP. I also saw that Persona 3, which I owned but hadn't played yet, was coming to the PSP with some enhancements. Notably all three games were put out by Atlus, and it was because of these, along with Persona 4, that made them a company to look for when I bought games.
One thing I will say about the PSP is that it is the first system besides the PC that I bought digital games for. I would say about half of my PSP game collection is digital. It was so convenient to use either my PSP or Playstation 3 to shop, buy and download PSP games directly to the system. Now this also showed me how limited storage space is also a pain so I made sure with all my other systems going forward that I made sure they had ample storage space. While I still like collecting physical games, I do see the benefits of digital games and this system helped to start pushing me into that direction.
Besides being the first system I bought digital games for, this was also the first system I bought a import game for. At the time I was playing my PSP I was watching the anime Bleach. While we did get some Bleach games here in the US, most of the good fighting ones were Japan only. Bleach Heat the Soul 6 is one of those games. That is another thing I like about the PSP, it is not region locked, you can play Japan games on US systems.
Up until I got a PSP I never heard of the Disgaea series. This was pretty surprising since it is a pretty good strategy RPG game series and I am a fan of these types of games. Disgaea 2 Dark Hero Days was the first game I got in the series and I was instantly a fan of the game. Just the sheer amount of things to do in the game is almost overwhelming. I spent way too many hours playing this game and since then I have bought every game in the series.
Most of the games I got for the PSP were portable versions of games that I owned for consoles. Games like Soul Caliber Broken Destiny and Dynasty Warriors Vol 2. were games that I enjoyed playing and while different than there console versions, were still good entries into the respective franchises. Final Fantasy Tactics was a good example of a classic game that was updated and re-released for the system and in my opinion was the better version. Unlike the Playstation 1 version, I put the time into this version of the game and finally beat it. Overall I have collected a decent collection of games for the system and while some have been duds, most have been enjoyable.
Graphically I felt the system held up very well and most games I had no problem playing on the handheld's screen. Likewise I found the audio on most of the games I played to be well done as well. The PSP also had an accessory that let you display the game on a TV screen using component cables. While most games from my experience looked worse when you did this, it was still an option for players who preferred to play games on there TV instead of looking down on a smaller handheld screen. For me this was a nice option that I could do with the system that I used a few times.
As I said earlier the PSP did not sell me on portable systems. If I had to pick I would still pick home consoles any day of the week. But the PSP was a good, solid system that has a large library of games for it. This is a system that I actively collect for now, even though I don't go out of my way t do it. Also thanks to the PSP I started to not shy away when I see digital games on sale for consoles while also occasionally getting some import games. This is one system I do not regret getting.
By Thonos
2/16/2016
I have never been big into hand held systems. I played on a Gameboy and Gameboy Color when I was growing up and I thought it was neat, but nothing great. Plus where I was at I did not do a lot of traveling and if I did I was driving, so I did not see much use in one. It wasn't until 2009 that I finally decided to get a Playstation Portable (PSP). And while I have played some good games on the system, and even finding a new franchise, I'm still not sold on portable systems. But that is not to say I dislike my PSP.
I got a Playstation Portable (PSP) initially for three games. Class of Heroes was coming out at a time when I was looking for an in depth dungeon crawler. After playing Persona 4 on the Playstation 2, I was looking for more Persona games and I saw that the original Persona was getting re-released on the PSP. I also saw that Persona 3, which I owned but hadn't played yet, was coming to the PSP with some enhancements. Notably all three games were put out by Atlus, and it was because of these, along with Persona 4, that made them a company to look for when I bought games.
One thing I will say about the PSP is that it is the first system besides the PC that I bought digital games for. I would say about half of my PSP game collection is digital. It was so convenient to use either my PSP or Playstation 3 to shop, buy and download PSP games directly to the system. Now this also showed me how limited storage space is also a pain so I made sure with all my other systems going forward that I made sure they had ample storage space. While I still like collecting physical games, I do see the benefits of digital games and this system helped to start pushing me into that direction.
Besides being the first system I bought digital games for, this was also the first system I bought a import game for. At the time I was playing my PSP I was watching the anime Bleach. While we did get some Bleach games here in the US, most of the good fighting ones were Japan only. Bleach Heat the Soul 6 is one of those games. That is another thing I like about the PSP, it is not region locked, you can play Japan games on US systems.
Up until I got a PSP I never heard of the Disgaea series. This was pretty surprising since it is a pretty good strategy RPG game series and I am a fan of these types of games. Disgaea 2 Dark Hero Days was the first game I got in the series and I was instantly a fan of the game. Just the sheer amount of things to do in the game is almost overwhelming. I spent way too many hours playing this game and since then I have bought every game in the series.
Most of the games I got for the PSP were portable versions of games that I owned for consoles. Games like Soul Caliber Broken Destiny and Dynasty Warriors Vol 2. were games that I enjoyed playing and while different than there console versions, were still good entries into the respective franchises. Final Fantasy Tactics was a good example of a classic game that was updated and re-released for the system and in my opinion was the better version. Unlike the Playstation 1 version, I put the time into this version of the game and finally beat it. Overall I have collected a decent collection of games for the system and while some have been duds, most have been enjoyable.
Graphically I felt the system held up very well and most games I had no problem playing on the handheld's screen. Likewise I found the audio on most of the games I played to be well done as well. The PSP also had an accessory that let you display the game on a TV screen using component cables. While most games from my experience looked worse when you did this, it was still an option for players who preferred to play games on there TV instead of looking down on a smaller handheld screen. For me this was a nice option that I could do with the system that I used a few times.
As I said earlier the PSP did not sell me on portable systems. If I had to pick I would still pick home consoles any day of the week. But the PSP was a good, solid system that has a large library of games for it. This is a system that I actively collect for now, even though I don't go out of my way t do it. Also thanks to the PSP I started to not shy away when I see digital games on sale for consoles while also occasionally getting some import games. This is one system I do not regret getting.