What was your reaction to the PSP-1000 back in 2005?

Rodney McKay · Jun 17, 2020

It was pretty cool, but I didn't like UMDs (too loud), I remember not liking the battery compared to the DS, and as a high school student I couldn't afford one for quite a while.

Trying to go back to it nowadays, I kinda hate it, haha. The analog nub is just terrible. The spring is so strong and the convex shape makes it hard for my thumb to grip easily.

Thank god for the Vita and PPSSPP, or I doubt I'd ever replay any PSP games.

gnexus · Jun 17, 2020

It was a beautiful piece of tech, but the LCD screen sure did have a shit load of dead and stuck pixels.

nogoodnamesleft · Jun 17, 2020

blame space said:
this is my 1000. it's actually a demo unit which i think (?) explains the screw through the analog nub. it's flawless and to this day holds an impressive charge on the 1800mah battery, which i can only attribute to being plugged in all the time before i got it.

i always wanted the higher capacity battery.

i got a deal on a 4gb (!) memory stick to go with this bad boy right around the time securedigital was taking over.

one of my favorite oddities, the madden demo it was playing before it was finally retired and replaced with a vita display. oh and a killzone liberation demo that i think came with a gaming magazine?

and last but not least, army of two 2: the 40th day on psp. truly a marvel.

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing

blame space · Jun 17, 2020

it's a great machine that still manages to feel futuristic in your hands as you're playing it.

Buff Beefbroth · Jun 17, 2020

It was and still is beautiful. An incredible system nobody seems to talk about anymore.

Also couldn't wait to get mine. Playing Ridge Racer and seeing the sun's reflection on the road on a portable system was insane.

I've been indifferent to Sony's home consoles after the PSOne, but have loved the absolute heck out of their portables and would be in line for another.

Transistor · Jun 17, 2020

I was playing fucking Darkstalkers on the go

It was rad

BasilZero · Jun 17, 2020

Was super interested in it especially after experiencing the PS2 for 2 years prior (bought in 2003).

PSP was also my 2nd system I bought at launch (the first being Gamecube).

The PSP to this day is considered as the best portable I played - yes even beating out the GBC, GBA, DS and 3DS which I all have.

My first game was Darkstalkers Chronicle which helped alot cause I was really hyped for it - reading lore, checking out artwork but never played any of the games prior.

blame space · Jun 17, 2020

what if we lived in the world where the UMD was actually universal for everything

Dr. Zoidberg · Jun 17, 2020

I felt like discs were a terrible idea for a portable from the get-go but I still bought one at launch and enjoyed it for a while. Some great games but around the time DS lite came out, PSP became a secondary handheld for me. Mine died sometime afterwards and I didn't replace it. It stopped charging the battery and a new battery didn't help. Thanks to the noisy disc drive battery life wasn't great and so there were many charge cycles. Also, the less said about propriety Sony memory card formats, the better. Vita was a huge improvement to me. Of course there was still proprietary bullshit but lack of discs was a big plus.

blame space · Jun 17, 2020

did anyone else load sex.com on their PSP's web browser in high school? game changer

blame space · Jun 17, 2020

The Guero UMD |internet-tokens

internet-tokens.com

//ARCANUM · Jun 18, 2020

Pez said:
True story, I was this little brother.

What's up, ARCANUM!? =)

PEZ!!!!! It you!!!!!!

Philippo · Jun 18, 2020

"I CAN PLAY PLAYSTATION GAMES AT SCHOOL?!?" - 11yo me

TheLionsDen · Jun 18, 2020

I feel like I should have appreciated it more, I mostly used it as a media system for movies, music, Internet, etc.

I only had two game (Daxter and Ratchet and Clank), my first couple years with it.

When the PSP really got great for gaming was when Vice City or Liberty City stories came out, my friends and I would have a blast playing deathmatchs and racing. That fun lasted a few months before my PSP got stolen, ended up just buying a 360 instead of replacing it.

TechnoSyndrome · Jun 18, 2020

I hated playing console style games on a tiny screen with a single awful analog nub and the worst load times I'd ever seen. Awful platform.

Darkwing-Buck · Jun 18, 2020

How good was the game library when factoring in Japan imports?

I got into it really late and unfortunately lost interest due to having a 360 by then.

BlueManifest · Jun 18, 2020

Thing that impressed me most was that a portable was using discs instead of carts

Empyrean Cocytus · Jun 18, 2020

Honestly? Fear.

Because I was a huge Nintendo fanboy at the time, and basically every journalist and analyst was saying Sony was about to take over the handheld market and put Nintendo out to pasture.

nogoodnamesleft · Jun 19, 2020

does anyone have a psp 3000? is the interlacing issue as bad as it seems/people say? im shopping for a NIB one now and i dont know which one to gettttt

Scently · Jun 19, 2020

I fell in love with the system the moment I started reading about it. It was everything I wanted a portable system to be and much more besides. Even before launch I knew the lack of a second analog nub would be problematic and sure enough, fps exploded on consoles and there wasn't a second analog to translate the experience to the PSP.

medyej · Jun 19, 2020

I didn't get mine around launch, but a year or two later and was still really impressed with it. It's a damn shame Sony exited the portable business because their portable hardware, the PSP and the Vita, are just so well built and sleek. Even today I think the original PSP and the Vita are some of the best devices I've ever owned. I dislike the revisionist history around the PSP too, the thing sold 80+ million units and is thought of as a failure. It's true piracy hit it hard and software sales tanked on everything in the later years, which really killed the software lineup.

Personally I never got the whole 'portable consoles should have 2d/portable type games!' that was the common thought at the time which was pushing the DS, especially from games press like 1up. I liked having more meaty 3d games on the PSP, I wasn't playing them all the time going 'damn I wish this was on a console'. They clearly were at a level of fidelity that was in between gen 5 and 6, and I was pefectly ok with that. Games like Peace Walker were awesome experiences.

nogoodnamesleft · Jun 24, 2020

I did a thing!!! Brand new in box psp :) and it's as beautiful as it was back then. Time to jump into some UMDs!!!

Dice · Jun 24, 2020

In 2020 Im scared by battery is gonna get fat and render the system unusable. :(

Jeffram · Jun 24, 2020

Funny story, I was the one that found the exploit to get access to Qore early when the PSP Go was unannounced and posted it on the IGN forums.

Skyfireblaze · Jun 25, 2020

Dice said:
In 2020 Im scared by battery is gonna get fat and render the system unusable. :(

That happened to both my normal and my Pandora battery :( But you can still boot the system without a battery off the wall-charger atleast.

cheeseholidays · Jun 25, 2020

Liked it but ended up selling it to a friend. Then when the 2000 came out I got another one.

Segafreak · Jun 25, 2020

I was waiting for this thing since the first pic in 2003 in game magazines. It still is one of the most futuristic devices I ever bought: bright 16:9 screen, internet browser, PS2 like visuals, plays mp3 and films, online gaming... there was nothing like it back then. Coming from a purple og GBA mind blowing.

My iPod Video and Sony Ericsson couldn't compare.

Hokey · Jun 25, 2020

I bought one! It was pricey too, about $650 AUD with a couple of games. Worth every cent.

Gen X · Jun 25, 2020

I was excited to get mine then that turned into disappointment over the next 6 months as most of the games felt like watered down ports of PS2 game, something Sony originally said the games wouldn't be. Sold it and bought a DS for my trip overseas. Funny enough 4 years later I bought a PSP again along with Metal Gear Acid 2 and a Syphon Filter for the flight home. I still have that in storage in the garage. Funny how that worked out.

Deleted member 543 · Jun 25, 2020

I imported one from the US at launch.

I never played it as much as my DS and I don't remember having many games I *loved* on it, but it was always a beautiful system with a very nice feel to it - there's something about the weight and the finish which makes it one of the nicest game systems to hold. It's still sitting on my shelf in case I have the urge to play any PS1 classics.

LuigiMario · Jun 25, 2020

It seemed like the peak of style vs substance at the time to me. Like they were marketing it could do all these things that seemed kind of silly to me. Why buy movies I can only watch on a 4 inch screen for $20? Why use it as an MP3 player when I have an iPod already? Why play games on it when everything is already on PS2? I was firmly in the DS camp at the time despite being around 13 when everyone thought PSP was gonna be the future of everything. Haha what a time 2005 was.

as the years went on though I wound up picking one up on the cheap from a friend who upgraded to a newer model. What a great system! It turned out after about 5 years on the market the PSP has great support and tons of variety in its library.

yrcmlived · Jun 25, 2020

For me it was amazing

I very loved my psp 1000

D.Lo · Jun 25, 2020

One of the most impressive pieces of gaming hardware ever released for the time of release. A massive jump.

Using discs turned out to be an error, but it was just nuts as a device.

flook · Jun 25, 2020

I was on holiday in Japan just before the release and remember going into the Sony flagship store in Ginza where they had a room with several demo units. I played Minna No Golf (Everybodys Golf) and Ridge Racer was amazed at the graphics on that beautiful screen. I was in Australia during the Japanese launch but on my way home I was in Singapore for 4 days and spent the entire time searching for a store that had a unit that wasn't sold out or marked up. The cheapest I could find was 100% over the retail price which I wasn't paying as I wanted 2. I imported 2 a few months later from a Canadian store.

Augemitbutter · Jun 25, 2020

nogoodnamesleft said:
I did a thing!!! Brand new in box psp :) and it's as beautiful as it was back then. Time to jump into some UMDs!!!

perfect. Please take care of it. It must stay clean.

PuppetMinion · Jun 25, 2020

Was indifferent. Did not care about portable gaming.

My first portable was an dsi. Because of dragon quest I think

Unkindled · Jun 25, 2020

I wanted it badly and it lived up to it's hype.

Noppie · Jun 25, 2020

Was very meh about it. The fanwars back then were fun though.

sir_crocodile · Jun 25, 2020

thoughts were that it looked cool but I didn't like the dpad and though the battery would suck because it used cds
I was more interested in the DS because it was so bizarre lol

I did buy a PSP 3 years in once CFW was around and I could rip games to internal memory (which solved the battery life issues). amazing handheld, ended up buying like 150-200 games for it. Japanese support was phenomenal.

Dehnus · Jun 25, 2020

I liked it's design, same with the DS Lite.

BOth designs were way ahead of their time and still look better than modern outings in the handheld market, yes that includes the Switch. I mean that hard plastic of the DS Lite not only looked stylish but was nigh indestructible. Heck even compared to the 3DS XL. And the same witht he PSP vs the Vita. The PSP just looks well hawt :).

Both in a classy way, were as the other two.. well look cheap and flimsy.

I mean look at the sexiness that is the DS Lite:

Or the PSP:

Now compare that to these things:

Leviathan · Jun 25, 2020

Got it at Costco while everywhere else was sold out. It was jam-packed with SRPGs and other fantastic games. It's the finest console ever made.

nogoodnamesleft · Jun 28, 2020

Augemitbutter said:
perfect. Please take care of it. It must stay clean.

thanks! And to add to that I was speaking to a friend and he gave me his fantastic condition with working battery psp 1000! Do I dare say that the extra bulk and weight feels...better than the 3000!?!
It's amazing how sexy this thing still looks in 2020!!

nikos · Jun 28, 2020

Posted this in the PSP hidden gems thread, but this one seems more appropriate.

Can anyone with a PSP and Vita comment on which is the better experience for PSP games? Haven't had a PSP in forever, considering picking another up.

Vita hardware is better in just about every way, but does playing at native resolution make up for that? While the Vita's OLED is great, playing PSP games at half its resolution isn't.

nogoodnamesleft · Jun 28, 2020

nikos said:
Posted this in the PSP hidden gems thread, but this one seems more appropriate.

Can anyone with a PSP and Vita comment on which is the better experience for PSP games? Haven't had a PSP in forever, considering picking another up.

Vita hardware is better in just about every way, but does playing at native resolution make up for that? While the Vita's OLED is great, playing PSP games at half its resolution isn't.

from my own experience playing psp On vita feels off. It scales nicely that's not the problem but it feels like it just doesn't look or feel right somehow. One thing for sure is that the colours, no matter if using a 1000 or 2000 (I have both) they don't match the original psp colour tones no matter what setting you use even with different colour space.

but the resolution is fine for me it's basically just a 2x scale so while things do look a bit more pixelated (also because the vita screen size is bigger so less PPI) it still looks good

But it just feels better on original psp to me.

nikos · Jun 28, 2020

nogoodnamesleft said:
from my own experience playing psp On vita feels off. It scales nicely that's not the problem but it feels like it just doesn't look or feel right somehow. One thing for sure is that the colours, no matter if using a 1000 or 2000 (I have both) they don't match the original psp colour tones no matter what setting you use even with different colour space.

but the resolution is fine for me it's basically just a 2x scale so while things do look a bit more pixelated (also because the vita screen size is bigger so less PPI) it still looks good

But it just feels better on original psp to me.

Thank you for the reply. I know what you mean bout it not feeling quite right. The scaling also bothers me, but I don't remember how things looked on the actual PSP. I'm going to start looking for one and see what comes up.

Skyfireblaze · Jun 28, 2020

nogoodnamesleft said:
from my own experience playing psp On vita feels off. It scales nicely that's not the problem but it feels like it just doesn't look or feel right somehow. One thing for sure is that the colours, no matter if using a 1000 or 2000 (I have both) they don't match the original psp colour tones no matter what setting you use even with different colour space.

but the resolution is fine for me it's basically just a 2x scale so while things do look a bit more pixelated (also because the vita screen size is bigger so less PPI) it still looks good

But it just feels better on original psp to me.

nikos said:
Thank you for the reply. I know what you mean bout it not feeling quite right. The scaling also bothers me, but I don't remember how things looked on the actual PSP. I'm going to start looking for one and see what comes up.

I agree that PSP Mode on the Vita doesn't feel quite right but I still prefer it by far over the horrible screen my PSP 2000 has. It might be just my unit but after going back to my PSP the first time after I got used to modern screens I noticed even with the 4th Brightness Unlock via CFW it's quite dim and very washed out. On my Vita 2000 it looks way better but yeah somehow off too. One thing that's a bummer, the enhanced color-profile that's especially useful for the non-OLED Vita 2000 doesn't work in PSP mode.

nogoodnamesleft · Jun 28, 2020

Skyfireblaze said:
I agree that PSP Mode on the Vita doesn't feel quite right but I still prefer it by far over the horrible screen my PSP 2000 has. It might be just my unit but after going back to my PSP the first time after I got used to modern screens I noticed even with the 4th Brightness Unlock via CFW it's quite dim and very washed out. On my Vita 2000 it looks way better but yeah somehow off too. One thing that's a bummer, the enhanced color-profile that's especially useful for the non-OLED Vita 2000 doesn't work in PSP mode.

yes it's definitely a matter of preference. It's "feel right" vs "old lcd vs new lcd tech". I don't have a 2000 yet but even playing on my 1000 above I just somehow prefer it ghosting and washed out and all. It's undeniable the vita 2000 screen is LEAGUES better than the 1000 and even my 3000/go. But somehow it just...for me personally anyway. It's hard to explain LOL. It just feels better for me on the original psps

Kris1977 · Jun 28, 2020

Psp on the vita plays slightly off because there is ever so slight input lag that wasn't there on the psp. This is if you use genuine purchased psp games on a vita or even if you use adrenaline.

It's not easy to spot but it's definitely there. Play something like DJ max portable and it becomes easier to spot. We are probably talking something less than 0.1 of a second but it's enough to make some games feel "not quite right" when trying to play them.

nogoodnamesleft · Jun 28, 2020

KrisReyn77 said:
Psp on the vita plays slightly off because there is ever so slight input lag that wasn't there on the psp. This is if you use genuine purchased psp games on a vita or even if you use adrenaline.

It's not easy to spot but it's definitely there. Play something like DJ max portable and it becomes easier to spot. We are probably talking something less than 0.1 of a second but it's enough to make some games feel "not quite right" when trying to play them.

i thought it was just my imagination! I was landing jumping puzzles and platforming jumps in general on psp hardware just fine but I felt like I couldn't land my timings as well on my vitas

it's so strange though because apparently it's not emulation (which is usually the culprit for input lag) it's actually native psp hardware inside the vita if I recall correctly

Vector · Jun 28, 2020

I remember being shocked that you could insert CDs into the thing lmao. Really blew my mind, and the PS2 quality graphics were amazing.

What was your reaction to the PSP-1000 back in 2005?

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