My favorite PSP and Vita Games

 Here's the gist of it, in this world there's only one constant I'm entirely subjected to: Change. I am a person, and right now I'm not the same man that I was when I first began writing, heck, that guy wasn't even the same guy that wanted to write this in the first place! What I want to get to, once I stop digressing, is that this list is how I feel right now, at this very moment, so when and if I feel like making this list again, and knowing myself I probably will, it might change.

 So, what is that list? These are the games I liked the most on each particular system, this time around the Gameboy Advance. These are not necessarily the games I consider best, but the ones I liked the most and the ones I have the fondest memories of. For these lists I tried to stay away from multiplatform games, or from ports. I tried to, but in a few cases it was impossible to.



10) All Kamen Rider - Rider Generation 2

 It might not be the best beat'em up ever, or the most complex, but it's one I adore. As a fan of Kamen Rider, and heroes that can transform in general, I love the huge cast of characters, even if they all play basically the same.

9) Me & My Katamari

 In some ways, this is one of the best Katamari games I've played. I love having the formula distilled to its most brainless, yet most entrancing form.

8) Gods Eater Burst

 I might not agree with some of its artistic design choices, but goddamn, this I like GEB. One of the PSP games I've spent the most time with, and I don't regret any of it, I really like this take on the Monster Hunter formula. As a matter of fact, in some ways, I actually prefer this game over Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

7) Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy

 Sometimes I really don't know what the &*#$%! goes through Square's bigwigs' heads when they come up with these presumptuous titles. Dissidia Duodecim? Seriously? Nova Crystalis? Birth by sleep? Square, how about going back to making good games instead of weird titles? But I digress. Dissidia Duodecim is a very original Fighting game with hours upon hours worth of content to keep anyone busy. And it's not just fluff, there's a ton of unlockables to earn as well. The one thing I'd hold against it, believe it or not, are the customizable movesets. When it comes to fighting games, I'd much rather have set movesets across the board. But that's just me.

6) Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max

 I love Street Fighter Alpha 3, it was one of the reasons that veered me towards jumping ship to the PS2 and abandon Nintendo after the N64. Alpha 3 on the PSP has all the modes from previous iterations on the PS1 and GBA, it has Arcade-perfect gameplay and sprites(Something the PS1 couldn't handle), and it has all the extra characters the GBA had plus a newcomer. If it only wasn't for the fact that this game is only available on a handheld console, this would be the definitive version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 bar none. Regardless, seeing how most of my friends dislike fighting games, I'm quite used to fighting against CPUs, and I love this game even though I don't have human competition.

5) Half-minute Hero

 This game is more than just a novelty, they managed to cram a full-fledged JRPG experience into 30 seconds. Kinda. The game is a blast, forcing you to be constantly on the move, exploring, going to towns, dungeons and grinding for money and experience, under a 30 second limit. Kinda. And that's just the main mode, there's three alternate modes that, while not as fun as the main mode, are nice little time wasters. Every now and then I'll pop this one in to replay the challenge modes, Hero 300, Hero 30 and Hero 3. I love this game.

4) Mega Man Maverick Hunter X/ Mega Man Double pack

 Maverick Hunter X is one of the best remakes I've ever played, displaying high production values in its fantastic presentation. And it's not just skin deep, the game looks and sounds beautiful, but it keeps the same polished, tight gameplay from the original Mega Man X. And to sweeten the deal, it comes with Vile as an unlockable character, that turns the game on its head featuring an entirely different play-style. It's amazing.
 The only thing better than Maverick Hunter X is getting the 'dual pack' which includes Mega Man Powered Up, another excellent remake of another Mega Man game.

3) Mobile Suit Gundam VS Gundam Next Plus

 Arcade on-the go 2 on 2 action on the go, what more could you ask for? It has a large character roster, made up of entirely different units, as well as a variety of different modes to test them in, assuming you somehow get tired of free battling. The only bad thing I can say about this game is that it's been overshadowed by Gundam Extreme VS and Full Boost, but hey, even then, this is still a more complete game than Extreme Vs Force on the Vita... At least for the time being.

2) Pursuit Force/ Pursuit Force - Extreme Justice

 The short-lived Pursuit Force franchise is one of my favorites, condensing into two little UMDs almost everything I look for in a videogame. These are high octane action games, that sees the player chasing criminals on foot, on wheels and on water. The missions put you instantly in the midst of the action, and it never stops.
 I just couldn't pick between both games, the second one had some slight tweaks and improvements that I really liked... but also a few things that I thought the previous game did a little bit better. As it stands, I think both of them are just as good.

1) Castlevania - The Dracula X Chronicles

 Castlevania fans come in two groups, those that like the linear 2-D action-platform games, which I like to call Classicvanias, and those that like the more exploration-based games, Metroidvanias/Castleroids. Me? I like both styles just as much. Castlevania - The Dracula X Chronicles contains a remake of one of, arguably, one of the best Classicvania games as well as a port of, arguably, one of the bestr Metroidvanias. And, if, for whatever reason, you dislike the remake, the game also includes the original version of Rondo of Blood. Three fantastic games on one tiny UMD, there's absolutely no going wrong with this one.



 And, just as with the 3DS, I really don't think the Vita has a strong game library, not even as strong as the 3DS', so I decided to fuse that one with this one.


4) Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs Force

 Alright, so I'm cheating a bit because the game just got really good today, but I can already tell that I'm gonna spend a ton of time with this game. Hopefully subsequent patches make it even better. Hopefully.

3) Uncharted - Golden Abyss

 This game was a promise. A promise of things to come, as it showcases just what can be done with the system under people who actually care. Not only is it a great game, surpassing the original Uncharted(Not that that is saying much), but it's a bit of a wonder, as it captures the feeling of Uncharted perfectly, despite it being developed by a different developer. This is the golden standard all Vita games should aim to match... except that it seems nobody really cares.

2) Digimon Story - Cyber Sleuth

 I'm still amazed at how good this game turned out. It features a mature storyline with hints of Shin Megami Tensei, particularly Nocturne, and tried and true turn based combat. This game can be so much fun when you aren't grinding like a degenerate, but once you finally get that team you've been yearning for since the start of the game... Oh man, oh man!

1) Persona 4 The Golden

 Alright, alright, so I said no ports unless I'm talking about the original release, but... but... Come one, it's the Vita, it barely has great games, just let me have this one. Just this one. I'm gonna be honest here, I thought most of the new additions were just... additional fat. Some people argue about how it adds more depth into the story, but the thing is... the story was perfectly fine and complete beforehand, it needed no extra characters or explanations, because everything was perfectly self-contained. And the new plot-related character is just a somewhat unfitting waifu sterteotype caricature, and the new social links... they further dilute the personality of a certain character that's been badly handled on subsequent games, like Arena. You can't make the villain sympathetic, stop trying, you are just ruining other characters. Still, now you can fuse Magatsu Izanagi as a Persona, which is quite badass.
 But here's the thing, even though I dislikes most of the extra content... you can perfectly ignore it and just play this game like it used to be. Want more content? You got it. Dislike it? Just ignore it. Win-win.