Top 15 Best PSP Hidden Gems

While the Sony PlayStation Portable never hit quite the same heights as the competition it was noteworthy for several things. First of all when released it boasted near PS2 quality graphics, and the hardware was a steal for just two hundred dollars. It was absolutely insane at the time. Secondly it was the most successful handheld console that wasn’t released by Nintendo. Out the gates the platform saw a lot of success but the momentum eventually began to wane in North America and Europe. Japanese developers flocked to the platform and released a ton of games for it. Many of these were localized. The PSP amassed a huge library worldwide. Unfortunately most of the games, even those belonging to big franchises, failed to sell well in the West. This lead to a treasure trove of forgotten releases. That’s why we’re here today to talk about the best PSP hidden gems.

Before we begin let’s go over some rules to better help understand why we included the games we did, and why they’re considered hidden gems:

• The games included here are titles that are not spoken of often. They may have had pre-release hype, and even decent sales, but for some reason or another they’ve been forgotten. Bear in mind that many do have cult followings, but they can’t exactly be considered popular.
• You will find only North American releases on this list. We’ll do a separate list of the best import titles for the platform later down the road. For now this list is just the best PSP hidden gems in North America.
• Our list is just that; our list. You don’t have to agree or disagree. This is just our opinion, and was made to help turn people on to the lesser celebrated PSP releases. It’s also just for fun so please don’t be offended if certain games didn’t make cut.

With all that out of the way let’s get started. These are the top 15 best PSP hidden gems listed in alphabetical order.

Brave Story: New Traveler

The PSP had a lot of RPGs. Let me rephrase that. It was a veritable treasure trove of role playing games. While it had plenty of the big names like Final Fantasy most of these were either spin-offs, remakes or belonged to very niche franchises. Brave Story: New Traveler is one of the latter. It’s a brand new game with classical trappings and some interesting concepts. Production values were surprisingly high for a handheld title not belonging to an established franchise. It really feels like something that would have made waves on the PS2.

The plot in particular is a really original idea and in execution it’s oozing with charm. It takes the old ‘traveling between two worlds’ concept and comes up with a few neat ideas with it. What’s more is that the plot is fun to follow, and the characters are likeable. You couldn’t ask for much more than that. As far as combat goes it’s very traditional turn based fare. You input commands and watch them executed as you deplete all of your foes hit points. It’s pretty standard stuff but has a lot of polish and some decent concepts. I really like the team up attacks. Despite not being a new idea they don’t feel too contrived here. If you’re a fan of the genre and want something that’s beautiful, polished, and fun then Brave Story has got your number.

Coded Arms

Handheld platforms have never been well known for their first person shooters. Developers tried with the GBA but those felt decades behind. With the genre’s ever rising popularity on consoles Konami tried their hands at an original portable title. The result was Coded Arms. In a sea of Goldeneye 007 clones the game was different. Even now there’s nothing out there that quite feels like the Coded Arms games. I mean that in a good way. Everything from the art style to its atmosphere, and even gameplay quirks makes this one really unique.

I really like the concept behind the game. Coded Arms takes place within virtual reality combat simulator gone awry. You, as a hacker in real life, must enter the virtual world. Everything has gone out of control and it’s up to you to retrieve all of its collective data from countless combat simulations.. The idea translates into gameplay in some pretty cool ways. In some areas you can make new paths forward when it’s hacked, and the weapons spawn randomly as well. My only real issue is the controls. The game uses the slider pad on the PSP, and I found aiming to take a lot of getting used to. Regardless, Coded Arms is still a fun rogue-like twist on the genre.

Corpse Party

It’s not tough to figure out why no one played this horror themed visual novel/adventure game. For one I’m not a fan of the genre. Visual novels are certainly not for me. It was also released very late in the PSP’s lifespan as a digital only title. I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t have high hopes for it. Corpse Party looks at first like an RPG maker indie game. Totally like an amateur effort. As I dug in I absolutely loved unfolding the crazy story. I was surprised at how haunting the experience was.

The basic premise is that it’s an overhead adventure game where you play as a group of anime styled teenage students transported to a haunted elementary school. It’s clear right away that something terrible has happened here. It’s up to the cast to solve the mystery. The game looks like a 16-bit title, but without the benefit of colorful graphics. You control various characters as they wander the school grounds and uncover more of the macabre happenings here. There are some light puzzles, but nothing too major. It’s just enough to let you forget briefly that you’re playing a visual novel. Corpse Party is gruesome and surprisingly scary.

Gitaroo Man Lives!

Gitaroo Man started out as a rhythm game released for the PS2. It never made any real waves there, but the developers wanted to give it a second shot on the PlayStation Portable. Unfortunately it too underperformed once again. Luckily it’s fantastic, and can still be enjoyed for pretty cheap. I guess there are some benefits to no one knowing about a release! It’s also a great example of how well suited for PS2 ports the PSP really was. The graphics are re-created with fantastic attention to detail. The gameplay is also just as fun as it ever was. Maybe even moreso with the added content and all.

Gitaroo Man has you holding directions and button inputs in rhythm with the on-screen display. All of this is set to music, and wonderful visual aids that use a unique and pleasant art style. Honestly there are better games of this kind but Gitaroo Man does hold a special place in my heart. I’m not the biggest fan of rhythm games but it won me over big-time. Nothing else quite scratches the itch I have for this gameplay. The mechanics are more complex and varied than simply pressing keys at the time right. It also helps that the music in this one is absolutely on-point. Gitaroo Man Lives is a fantastic version of an already great game. It might even be better than the original release.

Gradius Collection

I’m not disillusioned enough to think that anyone still cared about Gradius after the PSP hit the scene. Few born outside of the 80s have probably even heard of it.  This franchise was at one point hugely popular, but the market just kind of stopped caring about shmups all at once. Thankfully Konami still saw it fit to release a collection of five Gradius titles on the PSP. Oh what a collection it is. All with enhanced graphics, and widescreen support. That may sound minor, but having more horizontal viewing area makes a big difference.

You get the first four Gradius titles all in one neat little package. They are all fun, and still play very well. The high point however is the inclusion of Gradius Gaiden. Not only is it my favorite game in the franchise but it’s also the only one with graphics that could pass for a PSP game. This too plays marvelously. Gradius Gaiden alone is worth the full price of this package, but the other titles are a fantastic bonus! Rounding out the package are a few bonuses like an audio player, and movie viewer for the few full motion videos included here. Honestly it’s just nice to play the original games without slowdown.

Hammerin’ Hero

One of the best things about the PSP was how developers would revive their forgotten franchises for low budget releases. Hammerin Harry was never a household name, but it had it’s fair share of fans. Personally I love the original game. Well I’m happy to report that the franchise was revived for a one-off on the PSP. Hammerin Hero has much of the charm that the original titles did, but with some modern luxuries. There are some noticeable blemishes, but that’s to be expected for a franchise we had not seen at this point for over ten years.

Hammerin’ Hero is a 2.5D platformer wherein you play as Harry. Our hero begins the adventure packing an oversized mallot with which he, well, hammers enemies with. You have three different flavors of attack There’s both a strong and weak strike as well as a supermove for massive damage. Later on Harry acquires multiple other melee weapons but they don’t shake up gameplay in any serious way. This one was panned pretty hard by critics at the time of release. Add to that the unknown name, and classic style gameplay. It’s not hard to see why Hammerin Hero didn’t sell well. There’s something very comforting about a good classic platformer action title with modern graphics.

Infected

Infected has a bum rep. I can see why it’s not for everyone, but I’ll be darned if it’s not a lot of fun. This is a cheesy horror based action game that leans pretty hard into the third person shooter genre. It has you taking to the streets armed to the teeth with firearms that you must use to stop all incoming zombie. This is no survival horror game. You never have to worry about ammunition. Instead the focus is on shooting and not stopping until everything stops getting up. There’s an absolute onslaught of enemies coming your way and the focus is on unloading everything you’ve got in order to stay alive.

The game features a very over-the-top style which some won’t like. In particular those hoping for a scary or serious horror experience. Instead Infected is pure arcade style shooting bliss. It will have you coming back again and again to try and top your high scores. Gameplay is fun but there are some weak points here. First of all there’s not a lot of variety. There are a lot of enemies, but they’re mostly pretty similar to one another. Secondly there’s not a ton of content here. You can run through it in just a few hours, and the game is lacking in play modes. Regardless I still found myself returning to try to best my top scores. Infected is pick up and play by nature, and that’s just perfect for a handheld.

Jeanne D’Arc

I have somewhat mixed feelings when it comes to Jeanne D’Arc. On one hand it’s a neat little grid based strategy RPG. It also plays really well. On the other I was disappointed. Reviews were basically claiming it to be the second calling of strategy role playing games. It’s not that. This seems to be a recurring thing with Level-5 games. Don’t get me wrong; it’s great. It’s just not as earth shattering amazing as I was led to believe. Apparently others felt the same way because not only did it not sell well, but few even remember it these days.

The most interesting thing about Jeanne D’Arc is it’s focus on history. You play as an anime styled Joan of Arc as she defends France from the invasion of England. It’s not exactly historically accurate. There’s a heavy dose of fantasy elements (such as magic, monsters, and the like). If you’re expecting a biography then this ain’t it. Personally I liked the concept though. The fantasy themes blend really well with the faux historic premise. The graphics use a very striking and colorful cel-shaded style. The game looks really nice, especially on the small screen. Jeanne D’Arc is a really good game that I would love a sequel for. Get it if you’re a fan of strategy RPGs.

SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny

Who here knew a SoulCalibur game came out on the Sony PSP? No one? That’s what I thought. I didn’t until I randomly stumbled upon it for sale. Even then I was unsure it was an official release. Typically each installment in the franchise gets a lot of hype. This one just didn’t, and I imagine that’s because it came out on the PSP. It’s a shame because this is a really good version of the classic fighter. It also helps that the graphics are absolutely amazing by PSP standards, and the gameplay remains largely intact.

This one came out after Soul Calibur IV and was clearly overshadowed by it’s home console brethren. Broken Destiny is very typical for a game in the series. It’s a one-on-one 3D fighter where the main focus is on weapons. The fact that the characters use swords, Tsai, and nunchucks means it plays pretty different from its contemporaries. This means you have to keep range in mind when planning your strikes. There’s also a large range for recovery time. SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny features a huge roster of characters (even including Kratos from God of War) and each has their own fighting styles. Many are based on real-world disciplines. The only downside is Broken Destiny is kind of light in terms of single player content.

Summon Night 5

Publisher Gainjinworks brought the West their first taste of the mainline Summon Night franchise with this fifth installment. Before that all we had were the GBA spin-offs.  The game was met with very little fanfare selling only tens of thousands of copies in English markets. It’s a shame because this is a fun little strategy RPG. It also has some really neat features that are all its own. Like a lot of PSP games Summon Night 5 incorporates some heavy elements of Visual Novel into gameplay. I’m not a fan of that genre, but I was able to look past this pretty easily.

If you’re allergic to cute and colorful anime stylized characters then you’ll need to bring your Epipen for this one. The graphics lean heavily into the cutesy anime look. That, along with the visual novel elements require some patience to deal with. What I liked right away about Summon Night 5 was the branching paths in the story. These are determined by which character you choose to start with, and the choice made for a ‘cross partner.’ The game is a grid based strategy RPG where you take turns moving characters around a battlefield attacking enemies and casting spells. One of the more unique elements comes in the form of ‘brave points.’ These are netted by completing specific actions, and are used to purchase new abilities. It’s a neat little system. Summon Night 5 is a treat if you can stomach the anime overload it brings.

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together

Final Fantasy Tactics is often cited as the big strategy RPG. It was actually the first Tactics Ogre that kicked things off. Final Fantasy Tactics actually borrowed many of its ideas from this lesser known title. This PSP edition is a remake of the original game. Gameplay is largely the same with a modernized interface. It’s also sped up a great deal which makes this remake tremendously more playable. Initially I was worried that some of the new features and alterations made to combat would make things worse. Fortunately just about everything is made better here.

One of the best parts of the game is that there is a large and overarching story full of fantasy and political intrigue. It’s a genuinely good tale that’s told here. The story has been altered in places which I liked, and the new translation is fantastic. This remake not only features prettier graphics and better music, but also some much needed quality of life fixes. The action and text has been sped up so it no longer feels like each unit is a snail moving through molasses. Truth be told that was my biggest complaint with the original title. The fixes here make Let Us Cling Together on PSP the definitive version. Unfortunately when it released no one cared about the Tactics Ogre series anymore. Not that they really did in the first place to be honest.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology

I’ve been a fan of the Tales series since I played the translated version of Phantasia for the Super Famicom. Unfortunately we didn’t get a lot of these games in the West. The PSP seemed like the perfect place for Namco to not only port but also localize their older titles. Unfortunately they dropped the ball. What we did get however was Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology. That’s something, right? Tales of the World is a spin-off series of sorts. Honestly it’s a weird choice of game to localize when they had so many others to choose from. Sour grapes aside it’s a fun little title.

For better or worse this is not a traditional installment in the franchise. Instead it’s a dungeon crawler cross-over of sorts. You begin by creating your own character and customizing them to your liking. From here you travel across a series of dungeons battling foes with very little focus on storytelling of any kind. The main draw here is that you can recruit characters from various Tales of games to use in your party. They’re not all here, but many of the fan favorites were included. There’s a lot of novelty in mixing and matching your party with characters from different games in the franchise. Radiant Mythology might not have set the world on fire, but it’s still worth playing. This one is more geared toward established fans of the franchise however.

Tokobot

Someone must have been listening when the market cried out for more Pikmin. Tokobot is Tecmo’s take on the ideas used there. The big difference is that this one is much more of a platformer than basic strategy game. In my opinion it’s a welcome change. The first thing that drew me in were the graphics. The 3D environments look absolutely wonderful. It’s also really neat that developers were investing in completely original video games on the platform. Unfortunately the game was never popular, nor is it remembered all that fondly.

In Tokobot you control a cute character named bolt who commands a group of mechanical beings called Tokobots. They follow you around and move in tandem to your character. These represent the ultimate gimmick of the game. You can use them in unison for a variety of different attacks. They aren’t just used offensively however. There is some light puzzle solving here which mostly involves putting these little guys in formation to reach new areas. It sounds simple, and it is, but finding solutions is really rewarding. The adventure is a real treat on the small screen. Tokobot was later ported to the PS2 but honestly I prefer it on the PSP. I would go so far as to say this this is one of the best platformers on the PSP.

Ultimate Ghosts ‘N Goblins

Things were looking promising when Capcom started announcing 2.5D remakes of their classic titles for the platform. Mega Man and Mega Man X were the big hitters. I think that’s why no one remembers Ultimate Ghosts ‘N Goblins. The franchise has long been known for being hard as nails. That’s not exactly something the younger handheld audience wants. It’s all of these factors that contributed to the lack of success with this title. It’s a shame because in some ways I think Ultimate Ghosts ‘N Goblins is better than Mega Man: Powered Up.

Gameplay stays mostly true to the original Ghosts ‘N Goblins titles. This is a 2.5D action platformer based around cartoonish horror elements. Capcom went back and added in some new improvements including letting the main character, Arthur, take multiple hits from enemies before dying. When his life is drained he gets revived on the spot. He even has multiple lives which makes gameplay a little less daunting. For purists there’s also a more traditional mode that plays more similarly to older titles in the franchise. Complete with that classic difficulty we all know and love. They really did an amazing job of re-creating the franchise with 3D graphics while retaining the two dimensional gameplay. Despite being modernized this one still feels like a Ghosts ‘N Goblins game.

Valkyria Chronicles II

The first Valkyria Chronicles was the first PS3 game I really loved. Unfortunately the rest of the world didn’t feel the same way. In particular North America. Sega wanted to make Valkyria Chronicles a franchise and decided to move it to the PSP. This was an effort to cash in on the Japanese market. I don’t think it worked out very well. Luckily they localized Valkyria Chronicles II. While some liberties had to be taken it’s still true to the original release.

This is a turn based 3D free roaming strategy game where you decimate large armies of foes. You take turns moving each character across the battlefield in real-time. There’s huge amounts of strategy because stationary characters can attack during the enemy’s turn if they’re in range. This means you can set up your own units in ways that bolster your defenses. Honestly the gameplay is remarkable. There are so many levels of strategy here every single time you play will be different. I loved experimenting with unit placement, and finding new vantage points to attack. The story doesn’t fare quite as well as there’s now more of an anime schools day approach. It’s a far cry from the original with its more serious tone. If you can look past the change in premise you’re in for a good time.

Honorable Mentions:

Hey listen. We couldn’t keep this list to just fifteen PSP hidden gems when there are so many other good games that no one played. Here are a few others that just barely didn’t make the list.

Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower

Unfortunately the Darkstalkers franchise has never been as big as Street Fighter. That’s why Capcom has let it fall along the wayside. The games are beautiful, but the horror anime motif didn’t make waves in most of the world. Darkstalkers Chronicle is basically a ‘best of’ release for the franchise. It combines all of the characters, special moves, and endings from all three of the previous games. That’s something truly special. Darkstalkers Chronicle plays like a dream with some of the best looking 2D graphics on the platform. The animations are seriously gorgeous. The gameplay is also quite good with a fluid fighting engine and great combo mechanics. If you’re a Darkstalkers fan then this is the quintessential release. It’s a shame no one played it.

Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure

Gurumin is a cutesy action RPG, and a really good one at that. The story focuses on a little girl that gets transported to the world of monsters being threatened by menacing phantoms. It’s up to the hero, Parin, to save these misunderstood beasts from certain death. I’ll be the first to say that this game is kind of a hard pill to swallow. At first. Gameplay is more than a little clunky, and the graphics are overly cute. When I gave it a chance I found that the title was pretty good. Combat is pretty well done, and there’s a unique equipment mechanic that really helps Gurumin to stand above other action RPGs. It’s a good game but certainly doesn’t re-invent the wheel. This title was almost completely unknown at release and I never see it mentioned now.

Star Ocean: Second Evolution

For those that don’t already know this is an enhanced port of the PS1 game Star Ocean: The Second Story. I think the change of name kind of threw fans off. That, and the horrible third game that released before this. Second Evolution has all the trappings of a classic RPG. Charming story? Check. Memorable characters? Check. Fun combat? Definitely a check there. The game is actually unique in this regard. While battles are encountered at random, and you’re whisked away to a separate battle field in traditional style movement is in real-time. That’s what set the game apart from the pack on the PS1, and it combat is just as fun as it always was. The spruced up graphics and enhanced voice overs certainly don’t hurt it either. I especially like the fact that the game is now displayed in widescreen.