Best PSP Games 1
Image: Push Square

What are the best PSP games? First released on 12th December, 2004 in its native Japan, the product was a trailblazer, launching several years before the first iPhone and offering media capabilities such as MP3 playback and UMD movies. It’d later receive add-ons to transform it into a satnav, webcam, and much more.

Of course, the PSP played hosted to a wealth of outstanding games. Third-party support was impressive: in North America, it launched alongside games like Metal Gear Acid, Lumines, WipEout Pure, and Twisted Metal: Head-On. It would go on to receive three original Grand Theft Auto games, and even high-profile spin-offs to Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter, and God of War.

In this article, we’ve rounded up the best PSP games based on your votes. This is a definitive list determined by your ratings, so if you happen to see anything you disagree with, remember you can do something about it. Please do keep in mind that a game will need at least 20 ratings in order to appear on our list, so that may explain why your favourite is missing. Nevertheless, if you would like to submit some scores, you can do so using the search panel below to do so.

With all that said, scroll down for our definitive list of the best PSP games, as determined by you...

30. Patapon 2 (PSP)

Sony, specifically its Japan Studio unit, came up with some brilliant concepts for the PSP, rhythm-based strategy mash-up Patapon among them. The original was such a critical darling that it was inevitable the platform holder would expand on concept, and so Patapon 2 launched in 2009. While the release was largely similar – you had to beat out drum patterns in order to command monochrome minions – it did introduce some new unit types, and was ultimately well received by critics owing to the overall novelty of its gameplay loop.

29. LittleBigPlanet (PSP)

LittleBigPlanet was already a technical achievement on PS3, but squeezing all of that Play Create Share goodness onto a UMD? Sony's Cambridge Studio pulled it off brilliantly, with a portable entry that offered the full-fat console experience. An original campaign of levels takes you through another adventure with Sackboy before jumping into a fully-featured level editor. While it was understandably a little pared back, the create mode still afforded players lots of opportunity to unleash their imagination and share it with the community. An impressive conversion of the fan favourite franchise.

28. Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)

A Final Fantasy fighting game has always seemed like a total no-brainer, and Square Enix actually gave the concept a fair shake back in 2009 with the awkwardly titled Dissidia: Final Fantasy. The release would go on to be a fan favourite, and although it was rendered pretty much redundant by Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy — an enhanced semi-sequel — the original remains a high quality spinoff, which is something that the series doesn't always get right.

27. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)

Crisis Core can be an immensely frustrating game to play, but its portrayal of Final Fantasy VII's world and characters as they existed before the main game has always been enough to make it something of a fan favourite. You play as Zack Fair, the surprisingly cheerful SOLDIER whose actions help shape the Final Fantasy VII timeline. Crisis Core also hinges heavily on Sephiroth and his relationships with his fellow SOLDIERs, which makes for an interesting character study. Oh, and there's that cutscene where Sephiroth spars with his companions — complete with his iconic theme — and to angsty teenagers the world over in 2008, it was just about the coolest thing ever conceived.

26. Killzone: Liberation (PSP)

A direct sequel to Guerrilla’s 2004 PSP first-person shooter Killzone, the Dutch developer adopted an isometric run-and-gun format for its PSP debut Killzone: Liberation. The alternative perspective suited the hardware extremely well, and delivered an alternative take on the series’ gritty sci-fi action, which would go on to spawn two more traditional entries on the PS3. In addition to a meaty single player campaign, the title also boasted online and ad-hoc multiplayer across a multitude of modes, although the servers have since been disabled.

25. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (PSP)

Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a remake of the original game starring Lara Croft, retelling her first adventure with much improved visuals. The PSP version obviously lets you take that nostalgic experience on the go, sacrificing some graphical grunt to let you take the action-packed excursion with you. While the portable version is arguably inferior to the home console version, there's still plenty of fun to be had here.

24. LocoRoco (PSP)

Possibly one of PSP's most iconic games is LocoRoco, a quirky, gleeful platformer about silly little blobs. Instead of controlling the clumsy characters directly, you tilt the environment with the shoulder buttons and watch as they roll over hills and through gusts of wind in search of their buddies. It's an inventive and grin-inducing game, one that never overcomplicates things yet keeps you engaged with new ideas and a handful of other modes. Oozing charm and relentlessly joyful, few other titles can match LocoRoco's cheery vibes.

23. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP)

While not the first Metal Gear Solid game on the PSP – the two Metal Gear Acid titles preceded it – Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops adopted a more traditional action format, inspired by the control scheme in the Subsistence edition of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The big twist was the Comrade system, allowing you to recruit team members and specialists for a variety of circumstances, and then toggle between them out on the field. This concept would later be developed by subsequent sequels like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. A standalone expansion, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, released a year later.

22. WipEout Pulse (PSP)

The success of WipEout Pure a couple of years prior put Liverpool Studio’s futuristic racing franchise back on the map, and so WipEout Pulse was pretty much a tap-in for PSP owners in 2007. Set roughly ten years after its portable predecessor, this direct sequel was effectively more of the same, building on the foundations of its forebear with more beautiful sci-fi race tracks and a more balanced difficulty curve. It would later get ported to the PS2 and be repurposed for PS3 remaster WipEout HD.

21. Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max (PSP)