The 25 Best PSP Games

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Final Fantasy VII is more than a little hazy in its storytelling. Crisis Core goes a long way toward explaining what Cloud’s stint in Shinra was like, what the deal was with Zack Faire, and who Sephiroth was before madness overtook him. Some fans were disappointed with elements introduced in Crisis Core, specifically the characters of Genesis and Angeal. Still, it does add some much-needed flavor to the lore of the original game, and it plays and looks great.

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The sarcastic "ottsel" Daxter is Jax’s best friend, sidekick, and platforming hero in this solo adventure. Daxter is a bug exterminator who’s searching for his buddy throughout a lighthearted story with plenty of twists, turns, and acrobatic requirements for Daxter to conquer. Oh, and he uses a bug swatter to "exterminate" enemies. The game also acts as a way to connect the original Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy to the darker Jak II. It’s fun with a purpose!

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The PSP iteration of one of the most visually attractive puzzlers of all time is hypnotic and alluring. Every Extend Extra is a perfect match for the PSP’s wide screen, bright colors, and portability. Players detonate ships to create blast radius attacks that catch other ships within them, setting off chain reactions. The reactions create musical explosions, which in turn bags more points for each level. It also creates dazzling fireworks that you’ll want to watch sparkling before your eyes as you work to create even larger chains.

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Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is the definitive edition of the PlayStation classic. A full retranslation clarifies a lot of the confusing issues seen in the original, and in almost every aspect The War of the Lions improves over the original. This game is an epic in every sense of the word and has one of the most vibrant stories and best world building of any tactical RPG to date.

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One of the most exciting rhythm games the PlayStation 2 ever saw was given a new lease on life with Gitaroo Man Lives!, especially at its cheaper price point. Players take on the role of a young boy named U-1, who finds himself the new wielder of the Gitaroo, a powerful instrument that turns him into Gitaroo Man. Gitaroo Man must liberate Planet Gitaroo by defeating an alien race called the Gravillians, all through the power of song. It’s an acid trip of a musical journey that’ll put players’ rhythmic prowess to the test. Oh, and it has some of the best songs this side of Bust a Groove, too.

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The sixth core installment in the God of War series may have been portable, but that didn’t stop it from being just as visceral and addictive as the previous entries. This adventure placed players in control once more of Kratos, who decided to explore his origins, meeting his mother Callisto and heading to the Domain of Death to rescue his brother. Aside from the family affair, it’s chock-full of plenty of hack-and-slash goodness, the likes of which you’ll have come to expect from Kratos.

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Grand Theft Auto has always been perfect for picking up and playing in small chunks, then putting it away until the next play session. That’s why Vice City Stories is the perfect PSP title. You can explore the open world environment modeled after Miami to your liking, complete a few missions, steal a vehicle or two, then go to work and come back to play it on your commute home. It’s everything you love about Grand Theft Auto squeezed into one tiny little package, and for portable play, that’s all you really need.

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What would you do if you only had 30 seconds to make a move? That’s the dilemma you’re faced with in Half-Minute Hero. Throughout several bite-sized chunks of play, a role-playing game with intertwining story arcs play out, with all six included modes based on 30 seconds or less. You’ll play shooters, action games, or even RTS titles on your way to rescuing a princess as the Hero. So what’s the catch? None. Every single "half-minute" exercise is just as exciting as the last

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How often can you say a game taught you something? Jeanne D’Arc will school you on the tale of Joan of Arc and the Hundred Years’ War, all the while serving up tasty morsels of tactical strategy, role-playing, and turn-based combat. Players take on the role of Jeanne herself as the game takes place throughout a fictional version of France. It’s a bit complicated sometimes, but that’s part of its charm, as you won’t want to quit playing.

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Killzone: Liberation is the closest you can get to the fun of playing a console version of Guerrilla Games’ shooter, and as such it’s well worth picking up. It just adopts an isometric view instead of a first-person view, which lends a different layer to the game that works quite well. Players control their protagonist Jan Templar, vehicles, machine gun turrets, hovercrafts, and even jetpacks as they work to push back the enemy Helghast units across a finite number of turns. It’s a lot different than “traditional” Killzone, but it’s sized and scaled perfectly for the PlayStation Portable.

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Media Molecule was truly on to something when it created the mascot platformer LittleBigPlanet. Surprisingly, it works just as well scaled down to the PSP, even though you might assume it’s too graphically-intensive to perform competently. It does, and with flying colors. It even features a sequel storyline to the PlayStation 3’s LittleBigPlanet for good measure, as well as the same mechanics from the original game. It’s just like sitting in your living room playing on your console, but sized perfectly for your PSP.

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Can you help save the LocoRoco from the Moja Corps? It’s your job to tilt and tumble with the cute little blobs to escape a nefarious song created by the Moja Boss to suck the life force out of all living things. The LocoRoco need to inject the life back into their planet, and that’s where you come in. LocoRoco 2 has twice the colors, music, and smiles of the original, as you work to solve puzzles and restore the LocoRoco back to the original glory. If you can believe it, this entry is even better than the first LocoRoco.

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If you’ve ever wanted to mix the mechanical brilliance of Tetris with the rhythmic beat of a music game, Lumines is the game for you. This title feels like the natural extension of what was laid down in Tetris. All you have to do is match a square of four of the same-colored blocks together. Such a simple concept becomes fantastic given the right execution, and the art, colors, and music in Lumines take this game from an excellent puzzler to a work of art.

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The third entry in the Katamari Damacy series landed on PSP instead of PlayStation 2, but it’s just as exciting as the other titles—plus, you can enjoy it on the go. When the King of All Cosmos and his family, including the adorable Prince, take some time to vacation on Earth for summer vacation, the King stirs up a tsunami that subsequently forces the Prince to make new islands for those that were accidentally washed away by the tsunami. It’s weird, colorful, quirky, and full of the trademark Katamari charm.

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Many fans overlooked Metal Gear: Peace Walker upon its original release, but don’t make the same mistake. Peace Walker is a full-fledged Metal Gear experience, and many of the RPG elements found in The Phantom Pain, like recruitment and R&D, originated in this game. If you want to get the full story of the Metal Gear saga, Peace Walker is an essential title to play, and it’s one of the fullest and most satisfying experiences the PSP has to offer.

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The Metal Slug games are some of the best run-and-gun games ever made, and the Metal Gear Anthology brought Metal Gear 1-6, and X to the PSP. The games run surprisingly well, though there is some slowdown in busy parts. However, this can’t be blamed entirely on the PSP as these games had issues with lag on the original Neo Geo hardware. These games are as fun as they are hard, and fighting your way through seven Metal Slug games will provide hours of enjoyment (and not a small amount of frustration).

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Metal Gear: Portable Ops isn’t quite the full-fledged experience as Peace Walker is, but it does have some vital lore, namely the origins of Gray Fox. Portable Ops introduced the recruitable soldier system that would evolve in Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain. It’s a blast building up your unit, even if the process is more straightforward here, and the story is still entertaining, even if it’s not up to par with the main series titles.

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Monster Hunter Freedom is a remastered version of the first two games in the series, and many players’ first brush with the austere action role-playing series. Fledgling monster hunters are tasked with completing missions as they head out into the world and fell monsters using a combination of special tactics, brute strength, and special gear. It’s perfect for multiplayer or solo play, and acts as a great primer for the Monster Hunter series.

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Patapon 3 is an exciting rhythm-based strategy game that has players tapping certain buttons that correspond to the PSP’s face buttons to launch attacks or defend an army of character known as the Patapons. The third entry is the best, most exciting riff on the series yet, using a new art style and introducing a few new exciting mechanics. If you’re into rhythm gaming and strategy, Patapon 3 should be right up your alley.

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Strangely, there’s no definitive edition of Persona 3. Both Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable have their pros and cons. Still, the ability to control all your characters in battle puts Portable ahead of FES in our books. Unfortunately, P3P doesn’t include the additional story sections seen in FES, but it has all of the base game and allows you to play as a female protagonist. Furthermore, the ability to take a massive game like Persona 3 on the go is fantastic. This is not only one of the best RPGs for the PSP, but it’s also one of the best RPGs ever made.