Board 8 > Real talk: Was the Vita better than the PSP?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've been considering buying a Vita for REASONS, and while researching this purchase, I've been kinda stunned by its library.

Like, it seemed like it was getting ports of big games for a while, more than even the Switch is getting to this day. Pretty much every fighting game at the time, a shitton of PS2 remasters, Danganronpa, a bunch of NIS, Gust, and Compile Heart RPGs, a healthy dose of VNs, and a LOT of indies.

Like, even beyond the REASONS one might want a Vita, it seems like its library kicks the shit out of the PSP's, and yet the Vita is the one that history has forgotten and people dunk on regularly.

Am I wrong here?

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From a technical standpoint, absolutely. From a library standpoint, absolutely.

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Well PSP is the only system where you can find Dissidia 012. Which is a huge shame as I'm sure the Vita is actually the better system but I never owned one since it doesn't have Dissidia 012.

Or wait is the Vita backwards compatible, that would immediately change my opinion

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CassandraCain posted...

Well PSP is the only system where you can find Dissidia 012. Which is a huge shame as I'm sure the Vita is actually the better system but I never owned one since it doesn't have Dissidia 012.

Or wait is the Vita backwards compatible, that would immediately change my opinion

I have Dissidia 012 on my Vita

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Vita can play every digital PSP game at least

can't play Birth by Sleep :(

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the vita is an amazing little machine absolutely beats psp out

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Having both of them is the best option.

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vita is life

is psp life?

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PSP library is definitely superior.
But the Vita's an impressive piece of hardware and still the best designed one.

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If you're into weeb games and don't own a PC then the Vita is fantastic. It's got a better selection than the Switch

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PSP

It's a nut. You can play. Outside.
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ninkendo posted...

Vita can play every digital PSP game at least

can't play Birth by Sleep :(

At least you can still play BBS through Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5.

You can't play Crisis Core on anything but a PSP.

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You could mod a Vita to make them work, though.

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Vita is much better.

PSP had a "strong" start but then fell to the wayside for the most part. And even its start wasn't all that great or memorable. Being easy to hack and install emulators onto it is probably the main thing that kept it relevant.

Vita had a rocky path for most of its life, but if you like anime trash then my god get a Vita right now since there's a lot of great games!
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paperwarior posted...

You could mod a Vita to make them work, though.

REASONS

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PSP was some good times but the Vita is probably way better.

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The Vita is easily better than the PSP, and the Vita can play almost all of the PSP's library anyway!

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Vita is better, but if you just compare the libraries directly (ignoring the fact that the Vita can play the PSP games) then the PSP has better exclusives: Peace Walker, BBS, P3P, Wild Arms, Tactics Ogre remake, etc.

Again, that's ignoring the fact that you can probably play these on the Vita too. Vita's no slouch either, obviously.

Vita with mods >>> PSP with mods > PSP without mods > Vita without mods

Vita was largely a port machine while PSP had an actually decent exclusive library by the end of its life. Introduce mods into the equation and these are two of the best pieces of gaming hardware ever released, with Vita being able to do everything the PSP can and more.

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Xiahou Shake posted...

Vita with mods >>> PSP with mods > PSP without mods > Vita without mods

now this is a fair ranking, though the gaps aren't big enough. PSP Go with mods is a major step above the rest of the handheld due to the internal storage and portability improvements. so more like...

Vita with mods >>> PSP Go with mods >> PSP with mods > PSP without mods > Vita without mods

and i swear people here either didn't own a PSP or don't realize it had a flat out better library.

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To be fair the PSP was really rough at first. There was a point in time where Metal Gear Ac!d was legitimately one of the most exciting games on the platform. Late stage PSP was completely unrecognizable by comparison and had a ton of awesome games.

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I've kinda been tempted to get Vita for a while because it could satisfy my craving for MGS

Portable MGS is an excellent idea

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Wanglicious posted...

and i swear people here either didn't own a PSP or don't realize it had a flat out better library.

Or it just didn't

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Xiahou Shake posted...

To be fair the PSP was really rough at first. There was a point in time where Metal Gear Ac!d was legitimately one of the most exciting games on the platform. Late stage PSP was completely unrecognizable by comparison and had a ton of awesome games.

Yeah i got mine as soon as GTA:LCS came out and ended up with a few racing games off Ebay because there was bugger all else to play on it at the time.

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Vita has the better technical capabilities, but is lacking in library

since most of it's big games have already been ported to PC or Switch

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It's crazy Atlus never ported Golden over to a newer console.

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Wanglicious posted...

and i swear people here either didn't own a PSP or don't realize it had a flat out better library.

Can't agree at all, and this is coming from someone who owns over 50 PSP games.

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I liked it when PSP games got ported to steam.
But preferred PC indie or Anime titles getting ported to Vita.

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Arti posted...

Can't agree at all, and this is coming from someone who owns over 50 PSP games.

PSP actually has some 50+ games worth to it, a good chunk being exclusive either at the time or still are.
Vita's exclusives worth a damn you can count on your fingers, leaving you with a lot of ports and multiplat games. it's better on this front but still ends up dropping off real quick before you're even halfway there compared to the PSP, which did have quite a few ports itself.

of course, once you do start hacking the Vita it shines way more, largely because you end up getting PS1, Vita, and PSP games. if it's on the OLED model (1st version) you get some incredible visual pop out of it. not as much from the LCD but still fine.

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I'd like to see this list of 50+ PSP games.

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I assume theres a way to improve the Vitas battery right

I have one but the battery is kinda shaky

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unfortunately no, Vita's battery life is one of its weaker points, especially over time.

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yeah my battery's charge maxes out at 80% these days

they say replacing it is relatively easy but I'm pretty lazy

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StealThisSheen posted...

I'd like to see this list of 50+ PSP games.

a quick check from a certain lair + folder i got did get me a list to run through. in no particular order...

exclusives (at the time, though most STILL are):
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Patapon
Patapon 2
Patapon 3
Jeanne d'Arc
Valkyria Chronicles II
The 3rd Birthday
Ys Seven
Fate/Extra
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Lumines: Puzzle Fusion
Lumines II
Wild Arms XF
Gungnir
Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?
Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood!
Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time
Class of Heroes 2
Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble
Sweet Fuse: At Your Side
Me & My Katamari
Half-Minute Hero
What Did I Do to Deserve This My Lord 2
Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Corpse Party
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

remakes/ports:
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
Mega Man: Powered Up
Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone
Riviera: The Promised Land
Star Ocean: Second Evolution
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
Ultimate Ghosts'n Goblins
Lunar: Silver Star Harmony
Ys I & II Chronicles
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days
Power Stone Collection
Mana Khemia: Student Alliance
Tales of Eternia

no idea what that's at but looks to be around 50. and that's not including any hacking either, that's all localized. if we do include that the PSP will then have upgraded ports for Makai Kingdom, La Pucelle, Valkyria Chronicles 3, Super Robot Wars A, and more VNs. a slew of extra things to say at the end since technically this list is incomplete too as:

1) not a GTA fan
2) God of War sucks. in fact, all major first party games kinda sucked here, R&C, Jak and Daxter, i admittedly ignored Little Big Planet PSP and never was fond of it anyway.
3) never play Monster Hunter on the PSP. it's bad for you.
4) Persona 1 sucks. it's the definitive version but holy hell does it suck.
5) i wish Summon Night 5 was better. instead i didn't even care when 6 came out.
6) on Metal Gear: never did play the Acid games or Portable Ops.
7) i have no idea what the quality of the The Legend of Heroes of games on the PSP are. it's mainly the trilogy before Trails in the Sky (1 came out there too but . supposedly they're good but i don't know if the translation was up to par or what fan patches may exist for it.

there's a few genres PSP does better. dungeon crawler are the clearest, with strangely a fanservicey as fuck game being among the best, Dungeon Travelers 2. but everyone knows Demon Gaze more so whatever. Vita's also superior on Monster Hunter despite not having a proper MH due to controls that make sense. fortunately they're also on the consoles and later PC and that's good because it's hard to go back to 'em as framerate is a thing. also while technically it's got a number of ports to it, the quality here was nice. Vile mode in MMX, female route in P3P, major upgrades to LUCT including the Chariot for easy mode, etc.

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Danganronpa was Vita localized, not PSP, for the record.

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To me, the Vita was the de facto "handheld version" machine before the Switch, and while it outright couldn't handle a number of games that I would've wanted on the go, it is also smaller than a Switch.

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ah, danganronpa's in the hacked category. my bad on that one. probably the most notable one, unless you're into anime related ones.


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paperwarior posted...

To me, the Vita was the de facto "handheld version" machine before the Switch

This is pretty much exactly what it was. Vita had fuck all for exclusives and as a result you could/can play better versions of almost all of its games elsewhere - but if portability was a big deal for you then it had a pretty unprecedented number of ports including a ton of games that didn't commonly get handheld versions back then. (Indies)

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paperwarior posted...

To me, the Vita was the de facto "handheld version" machine before the Switch, and while it outright couldn't handle a number of games that I would've wanted on the go, it is also smaller than a Switch.

Vita TV, with the Wii U, are the absolute best gaming set top boxes out there today for hacked devices.
depends on what you're after technically there. if it's Sony, Vita's got you. if it's Nintendo, Wii U's got you.

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I need to get my Vita TV back from my cousin. That shit sells for a ton these days.

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I wish I hadn't slept on Vita TV. Now I can't play P4G on a monitor, for instance.

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I have a Vita TV buried in a closet somewhere that I never hacked. I'm moving early next year, might be a nice excuse to dig it out and finally see what it can really do.

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honestly having it in your closet was probably a good move. if you want to sell it you can make a stupidly good amount of money on it. if you want to hack it, it wasn't when you first put it in there.

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Wanglicious posted...

PSP actually has some 50+ games worth to it, a good chunk being exclusive either at the time or still are.
Vita's exclusives worth a damn you can count on your fingers, leaving you with a lot of ports and multiplat games. it's better on this front but still ends up dropping off real quick before you're even halfway there compared to the PSP, which did have quite a few ports itself.

of course, once you do start hacking the Vita it shines way more, largely because you end up getting PS1, Vita, and PSP games. if it's on the OLED model (1st version) you get some incredible visual pop out of it. not as much from the LCD but still fine.

So over 1000? What a great endorsement!

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shane15 posted...

If you're into weeb games and don't own a PC then the Vita is fantastic. It's got a better selection than the Switch

You're just referring to weeb games, right? Because I don't see how the Vita contains anything compared to something like Breath of the Wild

PSP. The list Wanglicious posted is a good one and settles the question pretty nicely to me. It's not an amazing system but it has a bunch of respectable exclusives, Wild Arms XF being a particular favourite of mine.

Vita just didn't have much I was interested in. I skipped it and never felt like I missed out. Judging by its sales numbers a lot of other people did the same. People bring up that it has PSX/PS2 ports/remasters up the wazoo but I don't care, I still have my PS2 plugged in.

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As someone who has every Vita NA physical release but 28 (you used to be able to get a bunch of them in the $10-20 dollar range on Amazon like four years ago and I just built up a collection over time), I have to say the PSP has a better library imo. I love my Vita and have played it more, but almost everything I'm playing is a port that has a better experience on a different console if portability wasn't so important for me.

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metaIslug posted...

It was translated on PSP years earlier. Doesn't make sense to make a big deal about modding and then ignoring fan translations

Well, his list was based on not modding. If modding is in the picture, then Vita is unquestionably better.

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