Topic: Building a Vita Top 20 (PS Exclusives)

I've just picked up a used Vita and am looking to build a modest collection of the best games.

Game prices are pretty high (I don't do PS+ and try and avoid paying more than £10 digital and £20 for physical) and I focus on physical, so am just concentrating on the games that you can only get on Vita, or exclusive to PlayStation systems but are good or particularly suited to Vita (e.g. Tearaway), as I rarely play my PS4 and PS3, realizing I get more time out of my handheld devices (3DS, Switch, Wii U).

I have a PC, and all current and last gen systems (bar XBOX360), so multi-plats are less appealing.

The games I've already identified that I'd like include:

Tearaway (just ordered)
LittleBigPlanet (comes with device I've bought)
Killzone
Uncharted
Persona 4 Golden
Need for Speed Most Wanted

I would get great VN games on Vita if I can find them reasonably priced. I have recently bought Stein's Gate on PS3 but am much more likely to get through it on Vita. But I have the Nonary games on my 3DS, so won't bother with them.

All contributions gratefully received.

Long live the Vita!

Some more games that haven't been said:

• Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
  The original MGS is a PS1 classic and requires some tinkering. However, MGS HD Collection which was ported by Bluepoint Games plays like a dream.
  I'm discovering the series for the first time on vita and it's still massively impressive.
• Persona 3 Portable
  The first two are kind of rough, but Persona 3 Portable is a must play. My favorite entry in the series.
• Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth
  If you like Pokemon this is an easy recommendation. Easily my most played Vita game (200+ hours). Can't wait for the sequel next month!
• God Eater Resurrection, God Eater 2 Rage Burst
  A poor man's monster hunter, but it's much more focused on story. The first game has a 40 hour campaign and the second game has a near 70 hour campaign (if you're good) spread across 3 arcs. However, I did enjoy Freedom Wars a lot more than either of those games.
• Severed
  I really enjoyed that game. Uses touch controls, but its probably my favorite dungeon crawler on vita. Think it's available on other systems now, but it was initially developed exclusively for vita.

Games that I have not yet played, but are supposedly very good:

• Odin Sphere Leifthrasir
• SteinsGate & SteinsGate 0 (visual novel)
• Darkest Dungeon
• Salt & Sanctuary
• Persona 4 Dancing (my next to play, especially as Persona 3 & 5 rhythm games are on the horizon)

Also Ys: Memories of Celcetta is really fun. Ys VIII just came out, but I got the game on PS4 instead.

I'm probably missing lots of great games. Maybe @ReanSchwarzer7 can help you out some more ?

Welcome to Vita Island!

@gcunit I'm going to recommend some digital games as well, because a lot of the games worth playing on Vita only ever released in that form.

I can vouch for Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir. Easily the funnest game Vanillaware has ever made. Other good Vanillaware Vita games include Dragon's Crown and Muramasa Rebirth.

Disgaea 3 and 4 both have "ultimate" editions on Vita with all the DLC included on the cart.

Don't know if they ever got physical releases, but Velocity Ultra and Velocity 2X are two of the best shmups on Vita. Challenging, exploratory, and they include puzzle and platforming elements.

Corpse Party and Corpse Party: Book of Shadows are digital PSP games that you should absolutely get on the Vita. The former is also available in an upgraded form on 3DS, but Book of Shadows never left the PSP.

Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends both play particularly well on the Vita. Brilliant platformers.

World of Final Fantasy is a cute JRPG that runs well on the Vita.

There are various dungeon crawlers, but my favorite on Vita is Demon Gaze, where you hunt down, battle, and collect demons with different abilities.

Adventures of Mana is a cute Vita remake of Final Fantasy Adventure on the Game Boy. Absolutely worth looking into.

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f is a really solid rhythm game. I think the sequel actually got a physical release as well.

Super Stardust Delta is a strong arcadey experience.

Dead or Alive 5 Plus is the best portable DoA experience out there. Even better than DoA Dimensions on the 3DS.

You also can't go wrong with Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.

Multiple digital indies also work really well on the Vita, including Hotline Miami, Spelunky, Rogue Legacy, and Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack.

List of my top 10 games that I’ve played on the Vita:
Danganronpa 2
Danganronpa 1
Persona 4 Golden
Gravity Rush
Uncharted Golden Abyss
999
Vitrue’s Last Reward
Wolf Among Us
The Walking Dead
Tearaway

I believe most of these have been mentioned, so I won’t reiterate their greatness. The two Telltale games are multi platform, but I prefer playing Telltale games on a portable, but they have stopped supporting Vita ports, unfortunately.

I am currently playing Ultra Despair Girls and although I am only about 25% through, I can already recommend it, and it will likely be one of my top 10 as well. Not to mention Danganronpa 3 when I play it.

Next tier of recommended Vita games I have played:
Killzone Mercenary — probably the best FPS on the Vita, which isn’t saying a whole lot.
Dragon’s Crown — is cross play, so again, not Vita exclusive, but a game that is equally as good to play on the Vita. A remaster is coming to PS4 this year, but I quite enjoyed playing it on Vita
Muramasa Rebirth — most people like this more than I did, but it’s good enough to recommend for its visual flare on the Vita screen.
Borderlands 2 — okay, so it doesn’t play near as good as it does on PS3, but it is a fully functional Borderlands game on the go! Even with cross save on PS3, I found myself playing the majority of the campaign on the small screen and it was really fun that way.
Limbo — plays great on the system too. Again, not exclusive though.

Notable Vita Games I have in my backlog or want to get:
Freedom Wars, Soul Sacrifice, Velocity 2x (Velocity Ultra was pretty good and supposedly this is better), Sly Cooper Collection and Thieves in Time (I want to try this on Vita, never played them on the other consoles), Zero Time Dilemma, Severed, Steins Gate, Odin Sphere, and Trails of Cold Steel 1&2.

Most of these should be close to the $20 mark, especially if you go pre-owned. Notable exceptions would be Trails of Cold Steel 2 is going for $30 and Odin Sphere is going for $40 ... I know because I was shopping for them recently too.

A man of taste, I see.

I'd argue that Velocity Ultra is a better game than Velocity 2X, though. I feel like 2X overcomplicated things by juggling too many mechanics at once. Velocity Ultra does a few things, but it does them EXTREMELY well.

2X is still good, of course.

@Th3solution @Badheelman @Ralizah @Fight_Teza_Fight @KratosMD

Thanks all for the recommendations. Many mentioned above I've seen recommended elsewhere, so it's great to get some consistency from the peeps here too.

I meant to put Gravity Rush in my OP - that's definitely on the wishlist.

I've heard enough to convince me of the quality of Danganronpa, so they're also on the list. Same goes for The Legend of Heroes games - I can't find Trails in the Sky 1 on the PSN store (UK), I'll defo get Trails of Cold Steel 1 & 2.

I won't waste time mentioning all those I'll add, but I hadn't heard of Freedom Wars so will look into that one. Odin Sphere hadn't been on my radar.... there's loads to work with, thanks. Plus I've just browsed through the entire Vita catalogue on the PSN store, so my wishlist is nicely swollen now. Great to see some tempting sale prices too.

@gcunit Danganronpa is the best series on the Vita, imo. It's the one I.P. that has kept me from shelving my Vita over the last few years.

The guy who created this series is friends with the Zero Escape creator, so you'll find a lot of fun references to those games as well.

Resogun and Geometry Wars 3 are two of my favorites. I own about 50 games. All digital. All bought on sale, some are PSN freebies. Slain and NFS I didn't care for much.

Curses 'N Chaos
Darkest Dungeon
Dead Nation
Dead or Alive 5
Dragon's Crown
Dungeon Hunter Alliance
forma.8
Geometry Wars 3
God of War Collection
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational
Killzone: Mercenary
LittleBigPlanet
Muramasa Rebirth
Rainbow Moon
RESOGUN
Rogue Legacy
Run Sackboy Run
Sky Force Anniversary
Super Meat Boy
Super Stardust Delta
The Swapper
Ultratron
UNCHARTED Golden Abyss
Wanted Corp.
WRC 4
Zen Pinball 2
Salt and Sanctuary
10 Second Ninja X
Badland: Game of the Year Edition
Bation
Child of Light
Entwined
Escape Plan
Grand Kingdom
Grim Fangango Remastered
Helldivers
Need For Speed Most Wanted
Oddworld: New 'N Tasty
Odin Sphere Leifthrasir
Prince of Persia Reve!ations
Patapon 3
Pumped BMX +
Severed
Slain: Back from Hell
Soldner-X 2
The Walking Dead
Tiny Troopers Join Ops
Type:Rider

@gcunit You have great company here from all the legends who have already posted.

Right now on digital
Trails in the sky: Trails of cold steel 1 and 2 are £7 each for in the sale
Persona 4 Golden is £7 all the time
Odin Sphere is £12 in the sale
Final fantasy 10 hd remaster is £10

I would buy all them for £43 and be good for rpgs for the next year!

@themcnoisy Can't argue with that, but I might not commit to all of those digitally just yet.

Persona 4 Golden has been sold at £3.99, which is certainly low enough to convince me to go digi, but I don't know how long before I can expect it to be that price again.

@dd8900 Just checked your recommends bro. If you love gw3 and resogun you HAVE to play Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours. It only has 1500 levels on vita.

@themcnoisy Can't believe I missed that one. Thanks for the recommendation. I just added it to my wish list.

I'd say Final Fantasy X HD. Sure, it's also on PS2/PS3/PS4/PC, but I find portability really helps the Final Fantasy series, and FFX itself is a very solid entry.