Why I Think the PSP is GOATED!
Back in the era of “the future is now,” Sony delivered our very first handheld console: the PlayStation Portable, or PSP for short. This powerful media device did a variety of things that stood out from its competition from Nintendo. Not all products are perfect, and the PSP had its shortcomings, I just refuse to acknowledge that the PSP is imperfect!
1. The Design – As Nintendo was dominating the market on handhelds with the dual-screen Nintendo DS platform, the PSP delivered boldly on performance and graphics. Its sleek design, comparatively brightly lit screen, and user interface brought a fresh outlook to the market on what handheld consoles could be. The console delivered solid speakers, a larger screen than the DS, all in a console that defied the touchscreen crazed market of the early 2000s.
2. The Games – The PSP genuinely has great games! In fact, many are quite comparable to its PS2 and PS3 home hardware counterpart, such as the Little Big Planet PSP port, which is 1-to-1 the exact game. Great entries like Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker, God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta, and Persona 3 Portable delivered powerful graphics in a portable console. The PSP even got its own survival horror game, Silent Hill: Origins, a well-loved classic preferred by most to be played on its original PSP as opposed to its PS2 port. Many of the DS ports to PSP featured expanded versions of the game since the PSP was a more capable console.
3. Multimedia Device – The PSP emerged not only as a contender in the console development space, but the multimedia device industry as well. The PSP features connectivity to the computer, where you can upload music, videos, and more media to your console. Waiting at the bus stop and need some tunes? Easy, whip out your PSP and plug in some auxiliary earbuds and jam out! On a long flight and you don’t have access to in-flight media? No worries, the PSP could read UMD movies, which there were plenty of on the market! Needed to look something up on the internet at a time when Wi-Fi was only starting to become more available? All good! The PSP connected to Wi-Fi and featured a web browser where you could browse to your heart’s content. On the odd chance you needed to take a photo, if you had the PSP camera attachment, you could use your console to take stunning photos with it.
4. Later Models – Later models of the PSP featured slimmer iterations, which made them lighter and more portable. By the time the PSP 3001 came out in the US, it had been perfected. The 3001 model is largely considered to be the nicest model as it is the last iteration of the PSP, featuring a more vivid LCD display with colors that pop and performance that shows out. The 3001 model also came in a variety of beautiful colors such as red, silver, white, pink, and more!
The PSP came at a time when it was needed most, a fresh entry into the world of handheld consoles, bringing with it a ton of innovation and peak Sony creativity. Today, the PSP is seated firmly among the top portable consoles of all time. It is genuinely a fun console to use, a relatively easy and low-cost platform to collect for, and something that boasts games which are second to none in the handheld sphere. Maybe you are looking into getting a portable console to enjoy on those flights, or something to actively grind games on, the PSP has something for everyone. Puzzle games, horror games, shooters, RPG, RTS, Action/Adventure – all can be enjoyed on this console which will impress you so much you’ll wonder, “wow, this is a 20-year-old handheld console?” Browse all PSP games