The handheld market of video games has never gained the same popularity or widespread appeal as home consoles, which is absolutely a shame because there are some real gems that are hidden away on portable consoles, many of which rival home console releases. Nintendo has held a strong dominion over the handheld market, but Sony made an honest go of it for a while, with their efforts starting with the PlayStation Portable.
The PSP was ahead of its time in many ways and featured some winning titles. Some of these games have had second lives elsewhere, but many of them deserve sequels and extra chapters, which may never get to happen.
10 Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is the perfect way to expand on an all-time classic game. It digs deeper into the SOLDIER and Shinra backstory, but from the perspective of Zack, rather than Cloud. Granted, Dirge of Cerberus exists, but it’s more of a continuation of Advent Children’s story than Crisis Core. A lot of people feel like less is more when it comes to Final Fantasy VII’s story, but a direct sequel to Crisis Core could do some creative things without oversaturating the property. The popularity of Final Fantasy VII Remake could perhaps spark interest in such a project.
9 Secret Agent Clank
Secret Agent Clank is exactly the kind of experimental game that the PSP was perfect for developing. Secret Agent Clank splits up the famous Sony team, Ratchet & Clank, and puts the robotic member of the duo in an entertaining action platformer that riffs on the James Bond series. The game isn’t perfect, but it does fun things with the character that weren’t previously possible. Ratchet & Clank games are far from dead, but it’d be nice to see Clank get another solo adventure that takes these ideas and pushes them even further.
8 Mega Man Powered Up
Retro video games still conjure up a lot of nostalgia, but some people need titles with modern aesthetics. Mega Man Powered Up is an interesting entry because it’s a PSP game that remakes the original Mega Man with an adorable and impressive makeover. Powered Up adds in tons of extra features, including the ability to play as all eight enemy robot masters!
The game was such a success that there were plans for a Powered Up 2, which would give Mega Man II the same treatment, but they fell through. Now’s the perfect time to make them a reality.
7 Ape Escape: On The Loose
The PSP proved to be an impressive machine in terms of porting and updating classic games from the original PlayStation over to the superior portable console. Ape Escape was a formative game for Sony, but they’ve struggled to figure out what to do with the franchise over the years and turned it more into a home for mini-games. Ape Escape: On the Loose lovingly remakes the first mainline game in the series and improves upon an already great title. It’d be fantastic to see Ape Escape 2 get the same treatment, but the series has gone in a different direction.
6 Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
The Grand Theft Auto series are some of the most successful modern video games. The efforts to move the series over to the handheld market has been an interesting process. Chinatown Wars is the third and final Grand Theft Auto game to come out for the PSP, with it digging into some dark territory. The other PSP titles are both prequels to Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City, but Chinatown Wars is its own entity, despite how it’s still set in the world of Grand Theft Auto IV. Chinatown Wars is in need of a continuation to this story.
5 Daxter
Taking a page from out of Secret Agent Clank’s book, Daxter takes another popular Sony duo and splits them up to create a unique solo entry. Daxter is cleverly set during a chapter in the series chronology when Jak is captured and out of the picture.
The PSP game features some brilliant platforming with ingenious level designs that prove that Daxter can stand on his own and that he deserves another shot in the spotlight. The game features creative bonus games in the form of cinema-influenced dream sequences and this title proves that it’s far from a lazy spin-off.
4 Patapon 3
The PSP became a home for many fantastic puzzle series like Lumines, LocoRoco, and Every Extend Extra, but they’ve all had sequels. The Patapon series contains some of the most creative and addictive puzzle games that have ever been made. The quirky game leans into concepts from rhythm titles and “God games” in order to create a truly layered experience. Three Patapon games came out for the PSP and have been remastered, but this series deserves a comeback. Whether that’s a Patapon 4 or just a reboot of the material, there deserves to be more Patapon out in the world.
3 God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta
There are technically God of War games that were made after Ghost of Sparta, which is in itself a prequel to the other main entries in the canon. However, much like how Ghost of Sparta is a follow-up to Chains of Olympus, this entry is worthy of a direct sequel that carries on the storyline that touches on Kratos’ brother, Deimos, as well as takes him to Atlantis. With the God of War franchise rebooted, a sequel to this storyline is even more unlikely, but maybe characters and elements from it can still be touched on.
2 Power Stone Collection
Before Super Smash Bros. perfected the art of four-person multiplayer action in a fighting game, Power Stone 2 was the king of the area. Capcom’s Power Stone fighting games debuted on the Dreamcast and were some of the best games on the underrated console. Power Stone and its sequel were packaged together and ported into an impressive package for the PSP that also made the series portable. Fans have wanted a new entry in the Power Stone franchise for over a decade and it’s long overdue for another shot, whether it’s on a handheld or home console.
1 Jeanne D’Arc
If there’s any promising PSP title that’s been locked away in obscurity, it’s definitely Jeanne d’Arc. The title is an exceptional tactical RPG that mixes together fantasy elements with real historical events and the calamities of war. Jeanne d’Arc does everything right, whether it’s the combat system, compelling storyline and characters, or the game’s surprising amount of historical accuracy of 15th century history. Jeanne d’Arc feels like an evolution of other games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. Not only does the original series need a sequel, but the original needs a remastered release.
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