So today’s article I wrote is just me plodding along wondering out loud why the Sony PSP has become so popular again all of a sudden.
I mean, clearly “so popular” is an exaggeration in the grand scheme of things, these are no-doubt extremely small numbers compared to other handhelds available. Scrolling social media really has shown a lot of them on feeds for me in 2026.
If you’re interested in why I think they’re showing up more lately, then read on with my article. I go through a reason in each ‘section’, but If you’ve got your own ideas, I’d love to hear them below here. Oh and if you’re thinking:
“hey there’s no in-depth investigative journalism here, it just looks like they wanted an excuse to write about the PSP!!!”
…you’d be right. I’ve been obsessed with them lately. This is my 4th PSP article in a very short time. I do so love them!
Anyway, if you want to see some old PSP TV ads, some nostalgia, and want to chat about PSPs (plz do), then here’s the link:
I felt weird/guilty using mine in public, like staring down at a little rectangle was unsocial or bad for you or something…
Turns out, it’s more like digital detox! It would be cool these days.
Ugh, where is it!? I know I still have mine.
Staring at a little screen that brings you entertainment & joy: 😡
Staring at a little screen that fills you with anger, dread, and despair: 🤩
weird/guilty using mine in public
Some people would talk shit, but no one ever blinked an eye at reading a book. Now everyone is on their phones if they have to wait in a line for 30 seconds lol
Theytm had the same attitudes against newspapers and books at first. It takes a bit to normalise things(and for the old guard to die off)
Man, I gotta check how the battery for my PSP3000 is, and the microSD card on it. The internals work perfectly, those two things are the only ones that seem likely to give out anytime soon. My little buddy is 14yo now. I don’t think I ever played any of the 3 UMD games that came with it, I immediately jailbroke it after purchase
It’s not “retro” in the same way a much older console is. It’s closer, more relatable, and maybe more importantly, more usable. It still fits into modern life without needing to be explained.
I think this is something extremely important. Looking at stuff from 20 years ago was much different when the current year was 2006 - we’d be looking at the mid 80s. Computers of the 80s and even the early 90s became obsolete fast, whatever you had in 2006, even if it was 4 years old at the time, felt light years ahead of anything from 1986 and would be internet capable.
Games from the 80s were also comparably “archaic”, as the hardware limitations were much more significant and several then current games could never happen in that old hardware (NES, C64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga 500), and that’s ignoring graphical complexity. Meanwhile, a number of current day games could exist in 2006, so long as the graphics were appropriately scaled down (Total War games being a perfect example).
The Vita also rips (arguably more) ass, as it does everything the PSP does and more, it’s also the easiest console to hack there has ever been. I picked up a Japanese one for like 90 bucks and it’s one of the best all around devices there is.
Hacking it also let’s you swap O and X for canceling and selecting. To my knowledge, that’s the only downside of getting a Japanese Vita.
O is maru, X is batsu. Maru = circle for yes and X = Batsu for incorrect. Japanese people make the same gestures with their arms to signal if something is right or wrong. It’s funny that they changed it for the west, I wonder what would’ve happened if they didn’t
Yeah, Japan was actually surprised when American game devs started using X for confirm. They never even anticipated that it would happen, because the X/O symbolism is so heavily engrained in their society that it was glaringly obvious to them that O was confirm. Their original intent was always to use the Nintendo layout for confirm/cancel, but then western devs misunderstood the buttons and swapped them.
To them, an O is like a checkmark or thumbs up emoji. Imagine if an American console maker developed a console with a thumbs up button, and Asian devs started using the thumbs up button as Cancel. The American console manufacturer would probably be pretty fucking confused by the decision too.
I get that confusion in Baseball. Crossed arms and “no” gesture means safe, thumbs up means out? I guess it makes sense from the perspective of the pitching side. But I always have to remember which is which.
That’s a two second fix.
Yeah I have a psp. It’s an impressive little console that’s almost like a ps2 on the go. Plus it’s very easy to jailbreak. The funniest thing about the psp is the marketing video with one guy singing about wanting a psp for Christmas.
Even if you’re on the ‘wrong’ firmware, a jailbreak takes a matter of minutes these days! Add in the ability to use expanded batteries (I have a 1400 mAh in mine), adapter cards to use micro SD in the ‘shape’ of the proprietary memory stick duos, all those games and you’ve got a wonderful machine!
Wow. I had a psp way back and I can’t remember what happened to it , gave it away or lost it. Came across a ps vita and jail broke it and it’s awesome. Maybe if I see a psp crop up on eBay or marketplace I’ll have to scoop I had no idea you could expand the battery!
This but PS Vita*
Vita means life
Yeah, I’m confused most nostalgia veers towards the PSP, when the follow-on was fully backwards compatible. Weirdly enough, some of the best AAA blockbusters I played on the Vita were first written for the PSP.
I’m an oddity in that I never jailbroke mine. I just really enjoyed playing indie PSN games on it, since most teams releasing on PS3 and not driving a graphical powerhouse could just do a side release there.
Yes Vita with custom Rom is a beast.
Vita is nice, but expensive as well
Tbh, like the 3DS, will definitely get more expensive as well.
I’m hoping there will be a renaissance of smaller, low-stakes, offline capable dedicated handheld gaming/media on the go by the big boys but it’s wishful thinking at this point. I was speaking to a younger colleague the other day and one of my favourite things about the PSP/DS era of gaming was Game sharing where some games enabled you to send over a limited version of a game to a second device to play ad-hoc local wrireless multiplayer even if only one of you had the game.
This is a missing recipe in today’s gaming landscape IMO.
This inspired me to go dig out my old PSP only to discover that I have no battery… I threw it out when it pillowed years ago and forgot about it. I’ll have to play on Retrodeck for now!
Have an uovote for mentioning my fav Steam Deck software! I love RetroDECK and can’t stop recommending it!
Out of curiosity, how does it compare to EmuDeck? I haven’t personally used RetroDeck, so I was wondering if it had anything that would make me switch from EmuDeck.
I think it is the better of the two. I dislike how EmuDeck organizes itself (it doesn’t). Last time I had it installed, it had 32GB in so many different incomprehensible folders in my Steam Deck. I had three emulators running, with a handful of games. It was also a complete nightmare to uninstall when the time came. But in the end, it just comes down to preference.
RetroDECK can all run from a SD card. ROMs, BIOS, HD texture packs, mods, everything runs perfectly and in a nice little self-contained space. I love it!
You can always test it out, if you have a spare SD card they’ll run side-by-side. And you can read my interviews, chats and articles with the RetroDECK team too, if you’d like to see what they’re all about :)
Same, it’s brilliant, and the devs have created the nicest community around it too.
Same thing just happened to me. I dug up my old psp from my childhood and the battery was crazy thick. I’m glad I caight it before it committed a Note 7.
I picked up a 2 pack with a USB charger from amazon for like 10 bucks last year, then when I dug out my old PSP the battery was fine. I love my old PSP.
PPSSPP because I can’t trust second hand dealers anymore.
EVERYONE is getting one? Bruh, that is simply not the case, don’t make stuff up just to sensationalize for clicks and engagement just because your TikTok algorithm started showing you more PSP stuff. You’re literally just spreading your TikTok garbage over to here now trying to “make fetch happen.” Be better man, you’re doing their work for nothing. For real.
I don’t think people who say “everyone” ever literally means “everyone”. It’s a niche and the hype around old devices is real so the author is just commenting on it. I get hating sensationalized titles but this really isn’t as terrible as you are making it out to be.
I really didn’t think that:
a) my article was click-bait (we’re a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally small site, there’s no need to even try click-bait!), and
b) I needed to explain that I didn’t mean ‘everyone’
Glad you can see that, this seems weirdly attack-y.
If Dash says “everyone’s getting one,” who are you to determine who belongs in that set or if Dash’s lived experience and perceived uptick in PSP purchases is invalid? It’s Dash’s observation that many people are suddenly picking up used PSPs. Chill the heck out, my dawg. Comments like this make the world a genuinely worse place to be.
EVERYONE is getting one? Bruh, that is simply not the case, don’t make stuff up
Hyperbole is a rhetorical device
before making stupid comments like this, read my article “why everyone is stocking up on sand”: https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
I should really get replacement batteries for my two PSPs.
I had a 3000 with a cracked screen. I could use it to display on the TV. But I went ahead and changed the screen out. I must have messed up the wiring though, because now it only works when plugged in.
I still got my original 1001 model from 2005 that still works some how. It was built like a goddamn tank because I abused the absolute shit out of it.
You can get drop-in (kinda) IPS displays for the 1000 these days, if you want to give it new life!
I’d rather leave it original and get another one refurbed with a new screen. Mine is so worn out that the disc drive barely works and so crooked it sticks out of the case.
I love my old psp! I still enjoy playing it. I feel like, in a time where things aren’t made to last, things that do hold up, really deserve reverence. So even though I’ve never stopped loving my psp, I gain more respect for it over time.
Bro I being thinking of jailbreaking my pspp after I did my Nintendo Wii, but laziness keeps me back.
It’s so ridiculously easy now for PSP. Fifteen minutes should handle it no problem.
Maybe even half that time!
Yea, also I have to buy a new battery and SD. Hmm will see.
If you get to seriously looking, I recommend the OSTENT 1400 mAh battery for the PSP. You get extra capacity in the same size, and they are dependable
Amy guides to follow btw?
https://www.pspunk.com/psp-cfw/ should get you going. ARK is super easy. I had roms that never would work for previous jailbreaks, but ARK runs them no problem. Best to get a MicroSD adapter, but be careful with larger cards because it can take the PSP a while to read them each time, so if you want to use a lot of roms maybe break them up into to genres on different cards.
I still don’t know which games and how many I will play, and of course, how long. For 25-30 Euros I can get SD and a battery.
I ended up not really using mine, but I’ve never been a portable gamer. One of the neat things about ARK btw is that you can charge through the PSP USB port. You’ll still need to charge through the power port until you get it installed, and I think the power port charges faster, but it’s a backup option at least.
Funny. Just today I installed a CFW on a PSP Phat. Not for personal use, though; I’ve never liked what was available on the PSP, and I have a Steam Deck I can emulate on.
But my younger brother bought a second hand PSP.
Some thoughts on why i might like a vita but have not:
i like emulating older consoles, but i can do so on my phone. i just have to make sure the phone and the old controller are charged, which can be a small hassle.
i guess that’s just one thought. i liked the article!
