By now, you’ve likely seen Sony’s plan to close down the PlayStation 3 and Vita stores this Summer. We had our suspicions for some time — after last year’s redesigned PSN web store dropped both sets of games — and news officially came through earlier this month. You can still re-download games from your existing libraries, but for the PS Vita, you’ve got until 27th August to buy anything new.
Though Sony has long neglected the PS Vita, there remains a dedicated fanbase for it, and Vita games are still releasing nearly 10 years later. It may have lacked a UMD disc drive, but was digitally backwards compatible with the PSP, meaning we’ll lose access to two generations of handheld titles in one go.
In similar fashion to our PS3 list, we’re highlighting some of the best digital-only handheld games before they permanently disappear. Like before, this excludes anything with a PS4/PS5 re-release - PS One Classics are also exempt - but mentions those without a Western release. With four months to go until this mass delisting, here’s 10 notable games we’d recommend checking out.
Adventures of Mana (PS Vita)
Back in the 90s, Square wasn't exactly helpful when it came to naming games. Known as Seiken Densetsu in Japan, Final Fantasy Adventure in North America, and Mystic Quest in Europe — not to be confused with Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest on SNES — this game kicked off the Mana series back in 1991. The original version has seen several re-releases across the years, including 2020’s Collection of Mana, but the remake has never received a Western physical release.
Launched in 2016 for PS Vita, Adventures of Mana offered a faithful 3D adaptation, as we tried to stop the Dark Lord of Glaive destroying the Tree of Mana. Playing much like an older Legend of Zelda game, Adventures offered a simple RPG experience, one we advised was “still capable of scratching that retro itch”. Considering Secret and Trials of Mana got similar remakes on PS4, we’d love to see Adventures make the jump too.
Ape Quest (PSP)
Few will need reminding about Japan Studio’s Ape Escape, but the same can’t be said for some of its spin-offs. Having first appeared in 1999, we’ve not seen a new entry for nearly a decade, and during the PSP era, Ape Quest arrived with an RPG premise. Released on a physical UMD in Japan, North America and Europe only received the downloadable version.
Playing as the heir to the Toqsica Kingdom, our goal involved travelling the land to destroy numerous golems, freeing them from an evil curse. Choosing set paths to follow, this involved turn-based random encounters and mini-games. You can download the Starter Pack for free, and there’s also three paid DLC chapters.
Brandish: The Dark Revenant (PSP)
Nihon Falcom are better known for Ys and The Legend of Heroes these days, but back in 1991 they found another footing with Brandish. Offering a top-down dungeon crawler RPG, it went on to receive three sequels and back in 2009, the original game received a 3D PSP remake. Calling this The Dark Revenant, it eventually came to the West six years later.
Set within the kingdom of Vittoria, we found the warrior Ares trapped underground inside the Cursed Ruins with his nemesis Dora Doran, a mysterious sorceress. We had some good opinions on Brandish back in 2015, saying that it came with a tougher difficulty that “will likely scare off most” but provided old-school dungeon crawler fans "a breath of fresh air."
Frobisher Says (PS Vita)
If we mentioned quick-fire mini games, most people would think of Nintendo’s WarioWare series, but back in 2012, Sony launched the PS Vita with their own, extremely British, take on this genre. Frobisher Says is quite an eccentric affair, presenting a series of surreal (yet simple) challenges, such as guiding ships into sea monsters.
Though it becomes repetitive in longer sessions, we still enjoyed it, calling it a “quirky and unique title” that made great use of the Vita’s interface options. Arriving as a free download, you’ve got absolutely nothing to lose by claiming it before August. Plus, if you do enjoy it, additional mini games are also available as paid DLC.
Hungry Giraffe (PS Vita)
Hungry Giraffe made two appearances on Sony’s handheld consoles. Beginning life as a PlayStation Mini on PSP, Laughing Jackal brought out a Vita release the following year with expanded features. As you’ve probably guessed from the name, Mr. Giraffe is quite a hungry fellow, needing our help to eat as much as possible.
Played out as a vertical scroller, we were tasked with directing Mr. Giraffe towards the presented food, which ranged from healthy fruits to burgers and fries, taking care to avoid less nutritional offerings like anvils and medication. Though we enjoyed the original outing, Laughing Jackal’s Vita port took this premise one step further, and we gave it a respectable 8/10.
LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival (PSP)
LocoRoco was one of Japan Studio’s standout titles on PSP. First released in 2006, a sequel soon followed with LocoRoco 2, and these platform puzzle games both received physical releases, alongside PS4 remasters back in 2017. Sadly, the third PSP entry, Halloween-themed spin-off game LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival, hasn’t been quite as lucky, and remains a digital-only release.
Building upon those platforming mechanics, Midnight Carnival presented a tougher challenge, incorporating a bouncing skill called “boing”. Letting you chain together combos to build up high scores, there’s a few frustrating moments within, but we still gave it an overall recommendation, awarding it 7/10.
MotorStorm RC (PS Vita)
It’s been nine years since we last saw Sony’s off-road motor racing series MotorStorm. First launched in 2006, it spawned several sequels, the last of those being spin-off entry MotorStorm: RC by Evolution Studios. Another PS Vita launch title — at least, it was in Europe — RC saw us racing remote-controlled cars from an overhead view.
Offering 26 tracks based off the previous MotorStorm games, we believed RC was an essential purchase for Vita owners. Awarding it 9/10, it had a couple of control issues, but still made for a “cunningly addictive” experience. Better yet, RC’s also available on PS3 (sadly, also a digital exclusive) with cross-buy and cross-saves.
Soul Sacrifice Delta (PS Vita)
Soul Sacrifice’s history comes in two parts. Released for PS Vita in 2013, Sony’s action RPG made for an entertaining fantasy adventure, bringing us a Monster Hunter style game within a more twisted world. Designed by Capcom alumnus Keiji Inafune, it saw promising sales and the following year, Sony released an expanded edition called Soul Sacrifice Delta.
Heading back to Librom, Delta included some quality-of-life upgrades, also implementing new bosses, a never-ending dungeon survival mode called “Alice’s Eternal Maze”, and more. However, unlike the original, Delta never received a physical release outside of Asia. One version includes an English language option, but related downloads are region-locked, including the Network Pass.
Super Stardust Delta (PS Vita)
Housemarque is back on PlayStation soon with Returnal, but many will recall it made a name for itself with Stardust. Launched in 1993, this shoot ‘em up eventually saw a resurgence with 2007’s Super Stardust HD, later arriving on PS4 and PSVR. In between those editions, the PS Vita received a sequel, Super Stardust Delta, as a launch title.
Offering a twin-stick multidirectional shooter, players controlled a starship orbiting one of five different planets, taking down asteroids and enemies before reaching the planet’s boss. Calling it an experience which “fits the system like a glove”, we had high praise for this sequel, awarding it a solid 9/10.
Surge Deluxe (PS Vita)
FuturLab’s popped up a few times across PlayStation consoles. Most recently seen with the disappointing Peaky Blinders: Mastermind, we had exceptionally high praise for Velocity 2X in 2014, giving the PS4 edition a rare 10/10. To an extent, it ended up overshadowing its PS Vita game Surge Deluxe, which released earlier that year.
Initially launched as a PlayStation Mobile title, Surge Deluxe brought that classic puzzle gameplay of placing matching blocks together to make them disappear, containing a surprising level of depth. Calling it a “shockingly enjoyable experience”, Surge Deluxe proved easy to pick up and difficult to master, and we gave it a solid recommendation.
And that’s our roundup. Like with our PS3 list, there’s only so many games we could add here, but there’s plenty more which deserve honourable mentions, including: Patchwork Heroes, Everyday Shooter, Corpse Party, Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines, The 2D Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character, Gravity Crash Ultra, and TxK. If there’s any you’ll be picking up before August — or further games you believe we should’ve mentioned — let us know in the comments section below.
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Comments 40
I loved Hungry Giraffe, y'know!
I have nearly all of these already. I play Super Stardust Delta quite a lot and I find it a good game to play when you have one of those nights where you just can't sleep at all.
@RubyCarbuncle That game certainly won't help you to nod off!
Just fyi, Adventure of Mana is also available on Mobile Phones (which also came out first so the Vita Game is more a Mobile Game Port)
Yeah, Soul Sacrifice Delta is what you could consider a semi-classic.
It had very high production production values, lots of interesting bosses (it is almost entirely consisting of boss fights - not much gathering items or killing smaller enemies like in Monster Hunter).
Together with Toukiden Kiwami (that is a much more traditional MH clone), it is the best of the Vita Monster Hunter clones IMO (a tad weird maybe, but the gameplay really rule).
And the Asian english language physical version must be very expensive these days. So grab it from the store before it's to late (it's not particularly cheap though, it still cost the same as when it released - another sign of quality - Sony clearly knows that the game is good and unique).
@get2sammyb True but the night flies by
You might as well add the Persona PSP games (SMT: Persona, Persona 2 Innocent Sin PSP and Persona 3 Portable) because digitally is the ONLY way to get them cheap since physical copy prices have spiked up considerably into the "hundreds of dollars" range
Soul sacrifice is amazing.they should remake that game on ps4 and ps5.word up son
Happy to see Soul Sacrifice getting some love. If only Marvelous bought the IP, so that we don't have to rely on Sony deciding on making a new game or not.
It's really tricky to keep all these old consoles around for these games. I have bought and played just about all the games I wanted to play on them over the years and I enjoyed a lot of these games on my PS4 as well. I appreciate what Microsoft is doing with backwards compatibility but they havent made any killer next-gen exclusives for their next-gen console. I have a PS5 and Sony has given me amazing next-gen exlusives to play and show off. I didnt buy a PS5 to play old games. There are incredible games on the horizon for Sony which will make a PS5 purchase even more worth while. I really like Xbox but I am still clinging on to my One X because I dont see the need for a Series X right now (Series S is out of the question). And also Sony doesnt have the pay-to-win budget that Microsoft has, yet they are still doing amazing things with next-gen games. Game preservation seems like a financial thing and Sony is making a financial decision here. I for one am looking forward to what the future of next-gen holds
And besides.. the 2nd hand market for physical games is still thriving. You can get most of these older games for cheap.
The vita store closing means nothing to me because It effectively closed when Sony stopped organising sales. If they announce a big “clearance” sale I’ll drop some money on VITA games, but I’m not being ripped off paying £50 for 10 year old games.
Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines is worth a shout. It's a bit of a weird game, but absolutely worth trying out, and unavailable anywhere else.
@yaboydanzo P4G isn't a digital-only release.
@yaboydanzo 1. P4G isn't digital only, it got a physical release
2. Why would you even buy it on Vita at this point the PC version is considerably better anyway
I'd say get the PSP Capcom arcade collections. Playable on PSP of course with the disc versions, but nice to have digitally. Great arcade emulations of Final Fight, Strider, Street Fighter 2 and Ghouls 'n Ghosts, all on your Vita.
Will also give a shout to TxK, as Jeff Minter has made some great arcade style games, and its a title I often return to. If you like Tempest, its a must play.
Will get The Dark Revenant if my Vita will switch on in the morning once it’s got some juice in. It isn’t coming on even with a power cable in at the moment.
@TheFrenchiestFry I'll always opt for the Vita version over PC. Persona games benefit tremendously from portability.
The performance boosts on PC aren't really anything that would increase my enjoyment of the game.
@Ralizah
"Persona games benefit tremendously from portability."
Why?
Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection is an awesome game to get on the PS3 store if you're into fighting games. It got a port on the PSP but its a lot more fun to play with a friend or online if you can find a match.
A neat list, if merely a sliver of the full list in context - after all, a lot of nominally physical editions might as well be digital-only, too (unless you pay through the nose on eBay, but countries like mine don't even get that "luxury" most of the time). But like I was bitching earlier today, there appears to be a risk of losing these games' purchase options even earlier than it was expected - particularly third party titles whose publishers are opting to take them down months ahead, with zero publicity and with little rhyme or reason. First party might be safer until August... you measure the emphasis on "might".
@TheFrenchiestFry for the same ol' reason that PCs are homechained and even laptops are a quite a compromise to lug around? Fans still don't get the memo that we salarymen and downtown downtimers from the Adultland are quite a crowd and have the income to make us a market.😄 No superior version of a game will be superior if it's not the one you can actually sit down and play.
@Spyroescape because all RPGs benefit from portability in particular, among other similar genres that balance a main campaign with a lot of side activities, exploration, grinding, farming, idle backtracking and whatnot. Despite their size and scale, they may ironically be more of a "pick'n'play" environment than even bite-sized stage puzzles commonly associated with the phrase.
@Spyroescape A few reasons.
1) Length. A lot of people prefer longer RPGs on systems where they're able to play anywhere, and you don't get much longer than modern Persona games.
2) Design-wise, they're heavily segmented experiences. Aside from dungeon runs, a day in Persona will generally consist of tasks that take a few minutes to complete. It gets a bit old running through dozens of these segments in a single gameplay session, whereas, on a portable, you can play through the daily life stuff more at your leisure.
3) To add on to the last point, there's also a lot of repetition in daily tasks in modern Persona games. I'm much more tolerant of repetitive tasks in games where they don't have to be my sole focus, like they would if I was exclusively playing on a TV. And even in dungeons, there will be long sections where you're just getting into random battles over and over, and those feel better on a portable system (IMO).
4) In general, these games aren't pushing the technical limits of modern platforms, which makes them a good fit for weaker handhelds/hybrids.
Another shout for Soul Sacrifice Delta. Fantastic game with great storytelling. Shame it got lost on Vita a little, this would thrive on the main console. Freedom Wars is another one to pick up, my favourite monhun-type game and my first ever platinum. Loved that game.
I have a shopping list of Vita games.
I'm waiting til nearer the end to see if they get a price slash!
It's a shame, I regularly picked up Vita games. I like to keep my trophy addiction ticking over while the footballs on.
Price cut or not...my future will see many POWGI games picked up the day before the store is killed 😆
@get2sammyb I thought the Vita version of Hungry Giraffe was delisted a long time ago because it was part of the PS Mobile line. Maybe it's just in NA, but the only option I see in the store is for the PSP mini version.
I never understood why Sony never put out some of these titles on iOS. Games like Patapon and Locoroco would be a perfect fit for mobile as premium titles and would hardly be impacting PlayStation sales.
Annapurna already ported Flower, Journey and Unfinished Swan and they are really good.
2064: Read Only Memories. Go buy it.
@dok5555555 I think there was also a native PS Vita port. May be misremembering, though.
@yaboydanzo P4G isn't a digital-only release, and it's also on Steam.
This is the article we needed! Thanks!
@Ryall You'll need to search for it as it doesn't appear under the PSP Games section. Type 'Brandish' into the search and it shows up! £12.99 though is a tad expensive.
@get2sammyb @dok5555555 There was a Vita port as I got it included in the free game codes pack when I got my original Vita. As with many things on the Vita store, you need to search for 'giraffe' and it shows up for the princely sum of £2.49
Silent Hill: Book of Memories is another Vita exclusive that should have been on that list.
It might not be a good traditional Silent Hill game, but it's a very good game on it's own terms. It borrows a bit from Diablo (isometric view/combat heavy), but is not so RPGish as those games (there's a bit of upgrading, but not that much IMO).
It's another Vita game that is becoming extensively expensive physically (and then it's made by Wayforward - almost a recommendation in itself).
Where's the fire sale?
Buying DRM games AS they shut the store down is crazy, especially at full price!
How do we access any of these games right now? I'm looking at the ps store but all I can find are ps4 and ps5 games.
Hi there fellow gamers.
Soul Sacrifice Delta and Super Stardust Delta are absolutely fantastic Vita games.
They are both fun, engaging, addicting and challenging.
Get them while you still can.
Cheers, stay safe folks and happy gaming to us all
@BubaMan - Check out the Modern Vintage Gamer YT channel for everything needed for bypassing Vita DRM. He put a video up a few days ago about the store closure and future proofing your Vita purchases.
As for must buy stuff, if you own Muramasa Rebirth then definitely pick up the DLC for it before it's gone.
@TwentiethPaul The only store up and running selling Vita games now are on the machine itself, I'm afraid. You have to buy a Vita I'd reckon.
@shgamer @TwentiethPaul You can use a PS3 too.
@Shigurui Cheers mate but I future-proofed my purchases about a year ago via CFW and I'm enjoying large, fast, cheap storage (SD2Vita) and emulators as a bonus
It's sad that in order to protect your purchases, you have to don an eye patch & a wooden leg but that's the road Sony are forcing people down.
@BubaMan - It has to be done man, I'm keeping my OLED Vita stock but my PSTV is donning the eye patch.
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