PSA for anyone that might have a PSP sitting in a box somewhere:
Go and check on the battery and make sure it hasn’t turned into a spicy pillow. Out of a sample size of 3 between mine and a couple friends, 2 of 3 were bursting out of the shell and required disposal.
If your PSP battery is still good, look into charging it and playing some PS1 games on the go. It was the best feature of the console.
And a PSA for anyone who has a terribly dead or spicy pillow battery, OSTENT make great batteries which do an even better job than the originals. I opt for the 1,400 mAh ones, which give you more capacity with the same size!
Yup, I’ve had all 3 batteries get thiccc on me in the drawer. Funny enough, my old phones that were stored in the most horid conditions were fine.
I have a white Darth Vader PSP 2000 and the battery was absolutely a spicy pillow when I checked it. I would suggest to judt replace it if you still have the original battery as its at minimum 12 years old now.
I swear I bought a replacement battery for mine but have no idea where its at.
The other thing to look for is a damaged screen. Somehow over the years of sitting on a shelf, mine looks like shitty car window tint thats bubbled up and peeling off.
why is a darth vader version of anything white?
It was the design on the back battery cover. Technically Vader is the black part!
Me in 2004: “The PSP 3000 can connect to the tv using HDMI. But who actually has an HDTV??? I have no use for this…”
Me today: “Huh…I actually DO have an HDTV now. I just don’t have a PSP”.
Funny how life works…
No better time than now to pick one up!
I went from being amazed that anyone would opt for native hardware for older gaming (I am a huge fan of retro handhelds!) to being amazed anyone would not want one. There’s something to be said about the original games on the PSP, it just feels ‘right’.
And they’re relatively inexpensive (if you buy from Japan) to get one in nice shape these days. I’ve got another on the way from Tokyo right now:
4690 yen is about $30
That’s junk. It doesn’t work.
Edit: wait, you seem like you know what you’re doing. $30, if you can get it to work, would be a great buy.
The word ‘junk’ on Buyee/Japan’s online marketplaces doesn’t mean what it does elsewhere. It can mean anything:
- Not having a charger on hand, so it can’t be tested
- Literally just dusty
- They don’t know how it works
- …all the way to actual issues (which typically I’ve found are things like muck in the power switches which isopropyl alcohol fixes right up!)
Junk absolutely doesn’t mean they’re broken! Listings tend to go into a little detail on what is wrong with the consoles :)
I’ve bought a TON of handheld consoles through Buyee. DSi’s (I got a great DSi LL in box with all the bits, barely used for $52 AUD), GBA SPs, I even got a launch Switch to jailbreak from Japan!
I actually wrote a article on a ‘junk’ PSP from Japan, you can read more on it here:
https://gardinerbryant.com/i-bought-a-junk-psp-from-japan-heres-how-it-went/
What site/service are you buying from?
From Buyee!
I actually wrote an article about that process and what you can expect (and do to get the best deal, in my eyes) on Buyee
You can read it here if you’re curious:
https://gardinerbryant.com/i-bought-a-junk-psp-from-japan-heres-how-it-went/
Nice article, thanks. I’ve never really been into handheld gaming, but reading that made me want to try it out. Buyee also sounds like a very handy service!
Wow, that’s an amazing compliment, glad you liked the article and that it began to sway you to the (older) handheld scene :)
Thank you!!!
I read that! I couldn’t find it again, didn’t realise it was you :)
Thanks!
Oh that’s excellent! I’m glad I could help!
I don’t really care for most PSP games, but the system is a great platform for emulation of games from the 2d age, from the NES to the GBA, from the master system to the genesis and even the PS1.
Wait, the PSP can run a GBA emulator?
Absolutely. Check out TempGBA4PSP and frogGBA
I jailbroke mine back in the day and used an rca cable to watch pirated shows on an SD card through it.
Ah, the PSP… First personal device I owned that had a web browser.
So much porn, lol.
It was made for gaming, btw
😂 Yeah, it was pretty good for that too. I always thought it was really cool being able to play multiplayer games like SOCOM via AD-HOC networking. No server, no internet/wifi, not even a link cable you had to remember to bring; just two devices talking to eachother and creating great memories.
Sony knew the secret for success. If it can show porn it will be successful.
I remember reading an article going around a few years back about how the PS4 web browser was one of the most widely used ways to access pornhub.
I think this is really the reason they took the web browser out of the PS5. Sure, piracy is one aspect of it but I think they did not like that kind if publicity.
I had the PSP-1001 a few months after launch & felt like a huge tech upgrade over the DS at the time.
I was wayyy into modifying it, (just going from memory) downgrading to firmware 1.50 & running games off of the magicgate pro duo to get faster load times & better battery life cuz that UMD drive sucked down juice fast.
The modded in web browser was very cool, of course it was basic but neat. Typing was a pain.
The custom firmwares were amazing.
It was way ahead of its time.👍
felt like a huge tech upgrade over the DS at the time
There’s a post somewhere on the internet comparing a racing game available on the DS and PSP, and the gap is HUGE between what they were both capable of. What that game was escapes me now, but it was an interesting time!
Absolutely.
My battery bloated & was desposed at the time where I was still actively using the thing.
I just dug mine out of the closet & it won’t fully boot into the xmb for some reason, but the custom M33 VSH Menu comes up.
… I don’t remember how to work the custom firmware any more lol it’s been too long.
The UMD drive no longer works either.
Bleach Heat The Soul 3 & 4 I think was the last game I bought, but was crazy the pirated games could be played online.
Time to update that firmware and get yourself some new tricks! I saw someone has ported Spotify (or some version of it) to the PSP a little while ago.
Definitely time for you to jump back into the PSP!
You know, I’ll check out that sort of port of GTA III to Liberty City Stories.
I am not really a fan of GTA III but after reading that write up about it does sound worth while to check out.
I’ll try to get it running on real hardware but I’ll likely play it within PPSSPP because my psp unit has been opened multiple times & has grime plus bubbles on/in the screen.
Just checking out custom firmware now is crazy how dated the software I currently have installed. Like another world
I never has an original psp, but I had a psp-go. It was great! I primarily used it to emulate the nes and Genesis. Not many people liked the other slide out screen aesthetic but it was one of my favorite parts of the design. It reminded me of the Motorola sidekick.
I have a JP launch edition PSP as my prized possession - but always wanted a PSP Go.
How were the ergonomics?
I had one. It was great.
As far as hardware design goes, I think Sony just nailed it with this PSP
I love my PSP and all the games on it, but the Vita with it’s two analog sticks was 100% the better design.
PS Vita supremacy
PS Vita and RG Vita…just because I can
I have both! A couple PSPs actually. The Vita is better for ALMOST everything—I have the OLED model, and it can play PSP and PSX games. My one complaint: the buttons and D-Pad on the Vita are not anywhere near as good as the PSP for my favorite portable game: DJ Max Portable. I had modded my PSP’s buttons and D-Pad as well, so they’re extremely sensitive.
For any other game, the Vita is the clear winner. It emulates much better, and well… it can play Vita games!
cant remember what ever happened to mine. It was such an amazing device, I remember I had a lot of fun with it as a little kid. idk if its nostalgia but I feel like i would appreciate it even more nowadays if I still had it. :(
Sorry for your (PSP) loss :(
I’m not picking up a psp.
I’m just emulating it on my steam deck.
I recently (a year ago) bought my first portable PS system, a Vita. Fantastic console, thriving ‘underground’ community. Just caught the tail end of all its online services working before they’ll be shut down this year.
I picked one up today and then put it back down. I was cleaning and organizing.
Now you made me go and buy an IPS screen for my GBA. Shame on you!
Everyone? Like even my neighbor?
Yeah… Rrrrrright…
You knew exactly what I meant by my headline with this article. If you thought I literally meant every person alive then you’ve got a rough go ahead of you!
Clickbaity title be clickbaity.
