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I just impulse-bought a Vita and don’t know what to play on it

Garou

Garou

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,622
Found a reasonable offer for an unused Vita and sealed the deal.
The problem is, as of now I just plan to play PS1 classics.

Are there any Vita exclusives that still hold up in 2021? I know Persona was the standard reply for this back in the day, but the PC version seems to be the definite version now.
I'm open to all genres, Japanese-only games are also OK!
 
NewDust

NewDust

Visited by Knack
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,586
Frobisher Says

It's a free and fun, Warioware like game, that explores the capabilities of the Vita.
 
salromano

salromano

Mr. Gematsu
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,924
The Danganronpa series.

But it's incredibly annoying to try to play on PS Vita now for new users since none of the games are on the PlayStation Store anymore. For some reason, Spike Chunsoft didn't put the PS Vita versions back up when they took over publishing, only the PS4 versions. So you'll have to buy the expensive boxed versions on eBay.
 
zoodoo

zoodoo

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,734
Montreal
Muramasa rebirth if you are into action games. It has changes and dlcs exclusive to Vita. My favorite game on the platform

Severed: a brilliant game from the devs of Guacamelee. It's a mix of metroidvania and first person hacknslash with touchscreen. It was my game of the year when it came out and it plays well on vita.
 
hasher

hasher

Member
Oct 10, 2020
554
You could play the game where the Vita sits in your desk and doesn't move for months at a time. That's the game I play most often with mine.

But seriously, Guacamelee, Thomas was Alone, and Muramasa.
 
zf69

zf69

Member
Jan 25, 2021
76
earth
i don't know if you already had a way to play psp games or if you aren't considering them, but if you are then the first two persona games are there

i personally do not like them at all, feel too clunky and dated to me, but a lot of other people do
 
DrHercouet

DrHercouet

Member
May 25, 2018
1,687
France
I'd still recommend Persona 4 Golden though. I know it looks sharper on PC, but with the Vita, you can play it on the go, and trust me, you will LOVE it. P4G is almost made for being picked up whenever you have 15mn to spare here and there, it's great on handheld.

Also : Sly Cooper Trilogy, Mutant Blob Attack, Rayman Origins, Muramasa and one of the weirdest best games : Severed!
 
Koeing

Koeing

Member
Nov 8, 2018
283
Soul sacrifice delta is one of the few exclusive left. Most other games have been ported to other systems. You also have access to the psp library on PSN. I would also recommend hacking the system and using it as a retro portable.
 
HylianSeven

HylianSeven

Shin Megami TC - Community Resetter
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,036
Persona 1 (PSP, although I understand why many people bounce off of this one)
Persona 2 Innocent Sin (PSP)
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment (PS1, available on PS Store)

Highly recommend the Persona 2 duology. Definitely the best Persona game.

Persona 3 Portable is good, but whether the visual novel style presentation will kill it for you is up to your tastes.

Persona 4 Golden is a thing, but it also looks and runs better on PC, and will run on a potato.
 

Deleted member 16876

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
39,148
Most of the games mentioned here are great and you really can't go wrong with any of them.

With that said, look into hacking it. You can use normal micro sd cards with the SD2Vita adapter and thus avoid the trash memory cards. Once you do that you get a great homebrew and emulation device and there are a lot of great fan ports out there like GTA3 (VC + SA are coming soon), Doom engine games, Quake 1-3 and plenty other games out there.
 
Kuro

Kuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,599
P4G is still great on Vita especially if you got the OLED model.

There are a lot of great indie games as well like Velocity and its sequel, Guacamelee, Shovel Knight, etc.

It was basically the handheld device for indies at one point until Switch took over.

Tearaway makes really unique use of the hardware

You can get a decent amount of Ys games on the Vita too for Ys on the go.

Freedom Wars and Soul Sacrifice are interesting little exclusives if you're into God Wars/Monhun kind of stuff.

A lot of Vita exclusive stuff has been ported nowadays so its tough to suggest much and it was mainly getting ports of PS3 games to begin with as a sort of console on the go experience.
 
werezompire

werezompire

Zeboyd Games
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
11,324
Before it died, I mostly used my Vita for PS1 classics, PSP games, Persona 4 Golden, Gravity Rush, and DJ Max Technika Tune (great touch-based rhythm game that's exclusive to arcades & Vita). It's a great Strategy/RPG system (Wild Arms XF, remakes of FFT & Tactics Ogre, Summon Night games, etc.). Only place you can play all of the main Persona games before Persona 5 (1, 2 part 1, and 3 have PSP remakes, 2 part 2 has a PS1 version, 4 has Golden). You can play a ton of Final Fantasy there as well.
 

Deleted member 12555

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,113
There aren't a whole lot of vita exclusives at this point. I've been researching this because I'm buying one too, sometime next week normally, and the fact that I only want like 5 or such vita games doesn't bother me. I want it for psx and psp anyway.

Oreshika seems relatively cool and I'm interested in it. If you tolerate dungeon crawlers, why not. Other than that I'm definitely getting Muramasa, Uncharted and P4.

Who cares when you can play Vagrant Story anywhere, really. That's one of the things pushing me to buy it, I kid you not. I want the freedom to play that game whenever.
 

Scruffy8642

Member
Jan 24, 2020
2,849
Considering you're interested in PS1 games, look into installing custom firmware and play all your retro stuff on it. One of the best ways to play them with the nice screen and great Dpad and buttons of the Vita. GBA and SNES is like 99% there compatibility wise, and there's a handful of N64 games that run close to perfect now too.
 
Fisty

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,214
Another vote for Muramasa.

Don't sleep on Severed, excellent dungeon crawler that is a fantastic use of swipe

And why not Shadow Tower, the proto-Souls. You can even remap the controls into something playable, which is not something you would expect from a first person PS1 game
 

Deleted member 11976

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,585
Cocolina said:
Tearaway and Gravity Rush!
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And Killzone Mercenary.

IMO, these are the 3 standout games on the system that feel appropriately designed for quicker spurts of play, versus the deluge of long RPGs that often get recommended.

I'm not saying they're they best, just that you can spend 15-30 mins per session and walk away feeling that you've made progress.

Gravity Rush is better on PS4 if you can play it there. Tearaway needs to be played on the VITA — even though it has a PS4 version — because it really takes advantage of the unique hardware. Trust me on this one.

Mercenary never made its way onto the PS4, which is unfortunate because it's seriously one of the VITA's best exclusives. It's incredibly replayable due to the Contract challenges that task you with unique objectives that generally fit into 3 play style buckets.

If I had to recommend just 1 VITA game it would be Mercenary.
 

Deleted member 11370

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,494
Henkaku *wink wink*

No, in all seriousness, hack it and install Adrenaline for proper PSP/PSX support and access to homebrew that can make your time with the console much better.
 
zoodoo

zoodoo

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,734
Montreal
Scruffy8642 said:
Considering you're interested in PS1 games, look into installing custom firmware and play all your retro stuff on it. One of the best ways to play them with the nice screen and great Dpad and buttons of the Vita. GBA and SNES is like 99% there compatibility wise, and there's a handful of N64 games that run close to perfect now too.
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Click to shrink...
What emulator do you use for GBA and SNES to get 99% compatibility? Last time I tried it was pretty bad
 
joshcam19

joshcam19

Member
Nov 11, 2017
948
Alright, time for me to shine.

Golden Abyss
Persona 4 Golden
Tearaway
Gravity Rush
Little Big Planet Vita
Wipeout 2048
Rogue Legacy
Terraria
Salt and Sanctuary
Hotline Miami
Velocity 2X
Severed
Lumines
Daganronpa
Trails of Cold Steel
Rainbow Moon

I know a lot of these can be played elsewhere but I think they were all truly special on Vita. Also recommend getting some PS1 and PSP classics. You can get a huge portion of the MGS games on here, it's probably the best way to play everything outside of 4 and 5.
 
Whowasphone

Whowasphone

Member
Sep 21, 2019
1,049
Darkest dungeon, crypt of the necromancer, Danganronpa collection, BlazBlue continuum shift ( comes with the full game of calamaty trigger) , iconoclasts, dreamworld dig 1+2 and heist, honestly this can go on for a long time...
 
OP
OP
Garou

Garou

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,622
Thanks for all the suggestions! I almost completely forgot about having access to the PSP library, never owned one.
 
russbus64

russbus64

Member
May 1, 2018
1,924
If you can hack it, there are a lot of retro options for games bought on Steam/Android/iOS:

GTA 3
GTA VC (soon)
GTA SA (soon)
Sonic CD
Sonic 1
Sonic 2
Sonic 3 AIR (my speculation, but it recently got a Switch port)
Wolfenstein 3D
Quake I-III
Doom 1/2
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Super Mario 64 (if you have a cartridge and can dump the ROM)
...and probably others I've forgotten
 
Liam Allen-Miller

Liam Allen-Miller

Member
Nov 2, 2017
6,804
Shibuya
Oreshika, Soul Sacrifice/Delta, Killzone Mercenary, Freedom Wars, Toukiden/Kiwami, Muramasa and DEFINITELY THE DLC WHICH IS EXCELLENT and Tales of Hearts R are a few I really enjoy. Hope you find some stuff you like!
 
stn

stn

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,597
In addition to the titles already mentioned, I'll suggest Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, and Sonic All-Stars Racing.
 
shnurgleton

shnurgleton

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,864
Boston
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ClearMetal

ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,281
the Netherlands
Disgaea 4 is great if you're into the series. Turn-based strategy RPGs are best when played on handhelds imo and 4 is the best in the franchise.

Disgaea 3 (Vita) and 2 (PSP version) are options as well.
 
Tortillo VI

Tortillo VI

Member
May 27, 2018
1,951
I'd suggest:
-Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (It's incredible on Vita)
-Soul Sacrifice
-Wipeout 2048 (30fps... but pretty awesome besides that)
-Hotline Miami (touch controls are used in a very fitting way, love this version)

And tons of PSP games you can get your hands on.
 
afreaknamedpete

afreaknamedpete

Member
Oct 28, 2017
793
Pretty much all of the Department Heaven games are on the Vita, I highly recommend Yggdra Union though that specific game is available on other consoles.
 
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