I wanted to write a tribute to the PlayStation Portable for a while. I put it off long enough that it's now a 20th anniversary tribute. It's possible it ends-up as a 25th or 30th anniversary tribute at this pace. Whatever the case, I will spell out the name in full every time since the "PSP" acronym has since been usurped by the PlayStation Portal.

We all know the old "desert island" hypothetical. It goes like "if you were stranded on a deserted island with only one [option of things] which would you choose?" There are many variations in the context of video games. One is "which system with its complete library would you choose?"

Now there are all kinds of problems with this question. Like how is there power on this island? And how are you not dying of dehydration? I think it's better to speculate about being isolated in a room with all the amenities needed to survive for a year. Your only form of entertainment is [game system with complete library], if [game system with complete library] can connect to a TV then there's a basic TV too. There's no internet so you're limited to physical media. If you manage to not go insane in a year then you get some prize. It sounds simple but I think most would beg to leave by January 14th.

This is where things have to get very specific. Are we talking about a game system with every piece of physical media it can play? Or are we talking about a game system with every piece of physical media made specifically for it?

I assume you understand the difference between these.

For the former, the PlayStation 2 is hard to top. That includes the complete PlayStation and PlayStation 2 library plus all DVDs ever. Two out of those three wins this debate. I'm obviously at least a minor fan of video games. I can't live on them alone, it's nice to zone out and watch an average movie.

For the latter, physical media made specifically for a system, I think the PlayStation Portable is the winner for me. That's the best thing I can say about the PlayStation Portable. In this extremely specific scenario that will never happen, the PlayStation Portable wins over everything else.

Y'all think I'm crazy for this. I think I'm crazy for this. Let's try to settle this with a pro vs con list about the PlayStation Portable...

PlayStation Portable "pro"	PlayStation Portable "con"
The absolute most important feature of a game system is the library. The PlayStation Portable has an assortment of PlayStation 2 greatest hits and remixes/sequels of PlayStation 2 games. Up until this point it was rare for a portable system to play the same games as a current-gen console.	The bulk of the PlayStation Portable library is available on the PlayStation 2. The technical differences are negligible but games are usually better enjoyed on a big screen. Look, playing full-blown PlayStation 2 quality games on a portable device is still amazing to me even in 2025. It really is. That doesn't mean I don't prefer playing the same games on a full console.
I claim I don't watch a lot of movies or TV shows but of course that's not true. I'm just trying to sound smart. In reality I have a thing for movies and shows from ~1995-2005. The PlayStation Portable UMD library represents this era well. Jackass, the Doctor Who reboot, Hackers, Office Space, Clerks, and early Harry Potter in particular are right in my favorite media time period. Those and the Beavis & Butthead collection are my UMD library.	You know what else is on UMD? A lot of early 2000s pop culture trash. Why did everything have Vin Diesel in it? I have no specific feelings about him, it's just too much of one person. Overexposure I suppose. I've looked at some very cheap lots of ~50 UMD movies and passed because there was nothing I would ever watch.
The PlayStation Portable is region-free. That doesn't sound novel but the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 were region-locked. I assumed the PlayStation Portable would be too and was pleasantly surprised. I mostly buy imports to complete the couple of series I collect obsessively but have played a few of them.	That's great but if you can't read Japanese it doesn't expand the library much. Resellers already figured out they can sell Japanese versions of low-text games for the same price as the English ones. That savings loophole is a long lost relic of early eBay.
This next point is only a big deal for me and like 10 other people. The PlayStation Portable was the system of choice for new Falcom games. Historically they write games for one computer or console and rely on 3rd parties to port them. From 2005-2010 the PlayStation Portable was their main system. They released four games in the Ys Series and five in the Legend of Heroes series on the PlayStation Portable alone (also one crossover). That's not even the entire list of new Falcom games for the PlayStation Portable. On top of that, the previous Legend of Heroes III-V trilogy was ported to the PlayStation Portable. If you're a fan of Falcom games, you just might think the PlayStation Portable is their best era. For the Legend of Heroes series, the story and soundtracks peaked on the PlayStation Portable. They release about one new installment a year so there's plenty of time to top them.	There are better ways to play most of these now. Everything is available on Steam but needs a little tinkering to run on SteamDeck. Meanwhile, Falcom has been busy remaking many of these games. Trails in the Sky has a remake coming in the fall of 2025 and it's safe to assume parts 2 and 3 will follow. The Zero/Azure arc was already ported to modern consoles. Even Legend of Nayuta has an improved version on the Switch and PlayStation 4+. The Ys series hasn't been ported quite as much yet. The Ys III remake has a remake on current consoles that is quite good. Ys Seven has an upscaled version on Steam but no other console versions exist. Ys VI and the Ys I&II remake are the same story. I have to think all three will be upgraded at some point. Even Gurumin has an improved version on the 3DS but it can't be purchased today. It's on Steam though.
In this era new video game hardware was finally able to emulate old consoles well. There were some classic collections on the PlayStation and Saturn but they were small. By right around 1999 there were very good collections available. The PlayStation Portable was excellent in this regard. The Sega Genesis Collection and Capcom collections are the standout for me. There's also the Namco Museum, a staple of systems from this timeframe. Best of all, once you have physical copies of these collections the publishers can't take them away.	I suppose most people don't buy a console to play collections of old games. I didn't buy the PlayStation Portable for this reason, it's just a nice feature. The worst I can say is some collections don't translate well to the PlayStation Portable. I was stoked for EA Replay because it had many games I never tried. These are mostly PC game ports that haven't been optimized for the controls on the PlayStation Portable. Great idea, disappointing execution.
I'm never going to claim the PlayStation Portable was the first handheld system to do anything but I'll say it had a good version of an online store. If someone else did it first, fine. I'm just sayin' the Sony managed a very nice integrated online store in a time when that wasn't commonplace.	We're talking about Sony so naturally there's an overpriced proprietary media format involved. Storing downloads at the time wasn't cheaper than buying the physical game. The usefulness is limited to games that didn't have a physical release.
The PlayStation Portable included a number of features that made sense for a portable console. It had a web browser, RSS reader, and even Skype support. If you had a daily commute, that also somehow had wifi access in 2005, then you could knock down a few things on the PlayStation Portable. You know, in case you didn't have a laptop I guess.	Like previous systems that tried to do more than games, the PlayStation Portable didn't do these extra things well. The RSS reader is neat but there were better options even in 2006. I tried one Skype call on the PlayStation Portable out of curiosity and it was an experience for sure.

Some final thoughts on the PlayStation Portable in an unorganized list:

• A portable UMD player, like a portable DVD player but smaller, would be a really nice device. I assume the hardware to only play UMD movies would be cheaper than a full PlayStation Portable. It seems like $99 device Sony would have built around 2006 and discontinued around 2006.
• I've never tried a PlayStation Portable emulator. Really zero interest in it so far. I have physical copies of everything in my backlog and a perfectly good system. When my system finally dies that will finally be the time I try an emulator. I'd prefer one where I could use physical media.
• My current backlog is: Half-Minute Hero, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, Phantasy Star Portable, and various pro wrestling games that I will play for 15 minutes each. Some of these I can play on other consoles but I'd like to try the authentic the PlayStation Portable experience.

Extra - PSP vs PSP

• The PlayStation Portal can't play physical media but can, semi-recently, access a library of streaming games. The selection has a lot of range. It has Grand Theft Auto V which automatically gives it one of the most popular games ever. Outside of that it's a mix of small games and greatest hits. In all it totals a couple dozen titles. The PlayStation Portable library is, at a guess, 10x larger. Hmm, maybe more like 20x. I have to give this round to the PlayStation Portable.
• Hardware.. OK, this isn't close. PlayStation Portal. What a difference a couple decades makes. It's more than the processors, resolution, and all that jazz. The controls are a big upgrade. The PlayStation Portable is like the original PlayStation controller. The d-pad is functional but every Nintendo system (except the GameCube) does it better. The analog nub works well, it looks like it shouldn't. It's very small, the 3DS XL is the only analog nub that, off-hand, is smaller. If you're able to palm a basketball then the PlayStation Portable controls will feel small. The PlayStation Portal is the opposite. It's an oversized PlayStation 5 controller. After 30 years the PlayStation controller has also improved considerably. Take those upgraded controls and make the whole huge and I'm sold. The PlayStation Portal wins this round.
• Here's an unorthodox tiebreaker - playing (effectively) the same game on both. Around the time I started the draft for this article the remake of Ys: The Oath in Felghana dropped in the US. It's not that big of an upgrade. It looks and plays like the PlayStation Portable version with improved graphics. The larger screen is nice, especially being 15 years older than when I played the original. The lack of load time is appreciated too. The thing about the PlayStation Portal is that it's a bit laggy. You're not playing the game "locally", the PlayStation Portal is rendering what is happening on the PlayStation 5. Even on a fast local network it drops frames and has delayed input. This is fine on a turn-based RPG but annoying on an action game. So, potentially unpopular opinion, I prefer playing games on the PlayStation Portable.

Not a top 10 list

I'm not making a top 10 list. These are are 10 PlayStation Portable games (or collections of games) I'd like to call out:

1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Again, this isn't a ranking but this is first. I played Crisis Core well after the PlayStation Portable was a dead system. I played it after the Vita was a dead system too. I was still incredibly impressed with it. Crisis Core seemed too big to fit on that little tiny CD.
2. Legend of Heroes Trails: in the Sky FC/SC - Simply one of the best JRPGs in terms of story, soundtrack, and battle system... or all the things that matter. I enjoy the entire Trails arc but a more casual JRPG fan could play only these two and have a great experience.
3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories - This is the best representation of the PlayStation Portable library. It's nearly identical to the PlayStation 2 version. I'm sure there are nuanced differences that I wouldn't notice or care about.
4. Jackass - I have to admit, this is not a very good game. It's a collection of short mini-games based on the TV series. Except most of the mini games would result in the deaths of everyone involved. Like the TV series, it's just a stupid fun time.
5. Ys: Oath in Felghana - There's some recency bias as I just finished the remake. If I ranked all the Ys games this would land around the middle. It's only about 10 hours depending on the difficultly level chosen. This might be the best pick for someone who only wants to try one Ys game.
6. Ys Seven - This is one of the Ys games I only played once. I recall it was very good and a preview of how Ys VIII would work (my favorite in the series as of this writing).
7. Me and My Katamari - This was my introduction to the series. I didn't know at the time it was a collection of levels and songs from the first two games. It's almost a Katamari demo/sampler that way and for unexplained reasons I often prefer demo/sampler discs to the full game.
8. Burnout Legends - This is similar story to the previous item. I briefly played one of the Burnout games before this so it wasn't my first exposure to the series. This is a "best of" sampler of stages from the first three games.
9. Gagharv Trilogy (Legend of Heroes III-V) - It feels like it took decades for this series to finally make it across the ocean. The translation is broken in some places and it's a bit heavy on narration. From a technical standpoint these could probably have been ported to a 16-bit console with minimal loss of quality. Despite all those notes this is a series I will play again. There are a lot of JRPGs that start off strong but by end you want it to be over. With these games, I could go for a couple more installments. They're very easy and have calming soundtracks.
10. Capcom Classics collections - There is so much content on these two archives. They're padded a little by including multiple versions of Street Fighter II and Ghouls 'n Ghosts but that's understandable.

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