DS vs PSP rewind....Did you think the new handheld king had arrived after playing the PSP?

[nogoodnamesleft]

Ill be honest-i did. I bought a DS on launch and i loved it even with the pretty average launch but once i got my hands on the psp i imported.....lord have mercy i was like "Nintendo is fucked....damn." I felt kinda bad for them at the time because ive always had a bit of a soft spot for their games, but damn that psp was sex in your hands. Ridge Racers just blew my mind like few have.

Did you own both? What was your reaction and opinion of the situation? Of course we know how it turned out and in the end i loved LOVED both handhelds for totally different reasons. What an amazing period in general to be into handheld gaming.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

psp is the GOAT handheld

 

[Radd Redd]

I've still got some umd movies in the closest. I did think the DS was in trouble. The revised DS was sexy though.

 

[Arklite]

It was unquestionably a better piece of hardware, but I never thought they'd be able to top Nintendo's game output. Shame Sony couldn't find a right spot to settle into handhelds in the end.

 

[IDreamOfHime]

DS sucked until the Lite came along. The games were great, but the hardware was cheap and ugly with awful dull screens.

The Lite is the GOAT of handhelds.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

I had both, and I was really disappointed with how uncomfortable the original model PSP was. The graphics and games were impressive but it felt like it was digging into my hand to hold it. I revisited PSP games on Vita and enjoyed them a lot more there.

As for the market, I didn't think Nintendo was in trouble. There was still a huge audience for Nintendo handhelds.

 

[Disco Infernal]

When I first used a DS Lite, I knew who the king was.

 

[Radd Redd]

I also liked how the DS Lite was BC with GBA games.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

50/50. I wasn't sure how the market would react, honestly. I was onboard day 1 for both in the US. DS had a ho-hum launch and PSP had a killer launch line-up. But after a few months I fell out of love with the PSP. Partially due to game selection over time but also because I grew to hate the loud, clunky UMD format and the PSP's relatively short battery life in comparison.

 

[vitormg]

Yeah, DS fat was pretty bad, but as soon as I got a DS lite, I knew what I'd be playing and that wasn't a PSP

 

[TheChrisGlass]

The PSP has held up a lot better than I imagined it would.
Got it a new battery and memory cards this year and the games are still great.

Going back to the original DS? Ewwww.

 

[It’s Time To Go]

I remember not much liking the OG DS model much, and the new console novelty of the PSP wore off fast in 2005. When the DS lite arrived then yes, I knew which the best console was.

 

[KalBalboa]

The PSP, to this day, still feels semi futuristic. That 16x9 LCD screen has some real 199X vibes I can't shake.

 

[Bane]

Nah. I'd been around long enough to see multiple handhelds touting better visuals/power go up against Nintendo and fail that I knew DS would be just fine.

 

[sixteen-bit]

PSP blew me away at the time but these days I can't really stand using one. Vita was a huge upgrade and I would play one over the PSP 100% of the time. And Adrenaline means I never have to go back, lol.

 

[Ultima_5]

I️ def was until the lite came out. The psp was such a good device. I️ missing having multiple handhelds honestly

 

[Garrison]

Yeah for sure. Psp was an amazing handheld. It was the first one that caught my Interest and since then it introduced me to handheld gaming which had me also get Nintendo handhelds as well.

PSP was very successful but everyone I know had it hacked. Guess that messed up game sales like crazy. Sony also never got it right with portable games, always trying to make "portable versions" of existing console games and non existent marketing.

Nintendo on the other hand had portable exclusives right from the get go with Tetris and Pokemon.

I think they started to understand and were headed in the right direction games wise on the vita with tearaway and other games here and there but it was too late.... Vita probably murdered to save the PS3.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

PSP felt like it was made exactly for people like me.

It was like a PS2 in your hands that had even more stuff like multimedia features.

You could play PS2 quality games, handheld quality games, watch/listen music and videos or even entire films, browse the internet and more.

It was so mind blowing at the time.

 

[GamerJM]

My prediction basically ended up coming true: I thought both would do very well but the DS would do better because of stuff like Pokemon.

 

[BasilZero]

I didnt think Nintendo handhelds were in trouble but the PSP was and still imo the best handheld game system and imo the better of the two systems between DS and PSP.

 

[Truly Gargantuan]

Even back then the narrative was "Sonys gonna have to put in A LOT of work to knock Nintendo off the handheld throne."

 

[brinstar]

The PSP was impressive to me but I knew DS would be fine because it would have Pokémon

 

[TortadeJamon]

Yes, and despite its flaws it was far better than the DS, in large part because it didn't give me crippling hand cramps like the other one did. A direct followup to the GBA would've been much better than what we got.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

No, but they soon will be when the Steam Deck arrives

Spoiler

/jk

 

[tokkun]

PSP was very successful but everyone I know had it hacked. Guess that messed up game sales like crazy.

Click to shrink...

I never really got this argument, because the DS was even easier to hack.

PSP required people to install custom firmware, whereas DS flashcarts were being sold for $30 by shady vendors all over the place.

 

[In Amber Clad]

PSP sure had some hype behind it. My dad even bought one, and he has never had any interest in games at all. He loves his tech though, and bought it more for the multimedia capabilities. Then he got bored of it and gave it to me \o/

I remember being very underwhelmed with the DS at reveal, personally. I did eventually get one (a DSi) and had a fair bit of fun with it, but I ended up preferring the PSP.

 

[TaySan]

PSP was the GOAT handheld and the games hold up well even today.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

PSP > DS in every single way. Hardware, game library, the feel of the system. I hate the stylus touch controls and the only thing the two screens meant for me was that DS/3DS games are doomed to die on those platforms unless the devs care to give them major overhauls. So, yeah, I thought Sony was at least going to be competitive to Nintendo in the portable space for awhile. Hell, I used my PSP to watch anime I downloaded, listen to all my mp3s on long car trips, read comic books, browse the internet. The PSP was essential to my teen years. It was my smartphone before I had a smartphone, just without the phone part.

It was clear pretty early on into the Vita's life that such a battle was lost, of course.

 

[Jakenbakin]

I so fucking loved my PSP. I have been a Nintendo and Sony fan my whole life more or less, and those were some obnoxious years first from my Sony brethren, then my Nintendo brethren. Two great platforms killing it and the internet fanbases seemed to hate it haha.

 

[Viewt]

The DS absolutely was in trouble. But the combined push of the DS Lite and an absolutely stellar rush of software post-E3 2005 erased any ground Sony had built up. The PSP was still a big success and a super cool system, but it was only a real contender for the throne in its first year.

 

[Jamix012]

I think if it came around today, I'd think Ninty was in trouble, but around DS launch I was a fanboyish literal child and was convinced nothing could dethrone them.

 

[.exe]

Great hardware and I did think it was the more compelling device at the time. Still do. Shame how Sony botched the follow-up.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

Once the DS Lite launched, the platform really took off.

The DS really found its groove in time and the DS did so well. The first party titles were well designed around the system's limitations and the touch screen was super fun for the time opening up new gameplay ideas.

That being said, the PSP was awesome. But it had issues.
- Quality control problems with dead pixels.
- Long load times with UMDs
-Games essentially trying to be console games and thus often being watered down PS2 ports. System limitations were not often favorable for what the game was trying to do.
-Battery life was not as good as the DS.
-Memory Stick Pro Duos were not great as SD cards were cheaper for the time.

I absolutely loved my PSP. Especially with the ability to run homebrew. Having music and videos to watch on the go was great as well. Definitely some really awesome gems on the PSP, too.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

I admit that I didn't understand the appeal of the DS until I played one 2-3 years into its lifecycle. Then I completely understood it and felt like it was the best handheld on the market.

PSP didn't interest me, but I thought it looked like the better device for the average consumer at launch.

 

[Radd Redd]

The biggest reason I bought a psp was because I didn't have an MP3 player at the time and the psp could play mp3s and movies. PSP playing games we're a bonus. I'm shocked it didn't do better.

 

[Inugami]

Owned both, but I just never fell in love with any of the games.... I used it 100x more as a portable SNES and PS1 machine than as a PSP.

Those memory stick prices were brutal though. At least until adapters became common place to use SD cards.

 

[shadowman16]

I STILL prefer the PSP compared to the DS (and 3DS). Just has a great range of games that I love returning to - from those excellent Ridge Racer games, two exclusive (and excellent) Ryu Ga Gotoku games, tons of great Capcom games etc.
Still one of the top 3 handheld libraries for me no doubt.

 

[PianoBlack]

Obviously the DS ended up selling a lot more, but I'd absolutely take the PSP and indeed its library over the DS. There's a reason it's basically the only successful non-Nintendo handheld ever to exist.

 

[Stowaway Silfer]

Was too young to know or care about sales stuff like that. I will say though that once I became interested in that and found out the DS was not only more popular than the PSP but so much more popular, that blew my mind. I liked the DS and some people around me had one but EVERYONE had a PSP lol. I liked it so much more and It just seemed so much cooler than the DS with its games and media capabilities that I couldn't believe it was less popular.

 

[Jhey Cyphre]

By the time I got a PSP the writing was on the wall. Still, for a while the PSP was my go-to handheld. Mostly because of the Persona series.

 

[Advance.Wars.Sgt.]

Nope, because even back then I knew one had Pokemon and the other didn't.

Sony honestly never had a chance. They were going up against the progenitors of handheld gaming itself. It was like spawning on the enemy team's home base.

 

[Hailinel]

I always thought that the games press people celebrating the PSP as the new king were extremely premature.

 

[bionic77]

Like with most of this shit I don't know but Sony was dominating the console industry so it didn't seem like a stretch that they could also dominate handhelds.

I definitely thought Nintendo was trouble.

But at the end gen I thought the DS was one of the best consoles I had ever played. The second screen and touch were both genius moves.

 

[kurahador]

Nah. Playing a game in dual screen really blew my mind back then that a mere pretty graphic isn't suffice for me. And for PSP, it took years for the graphic to actually impress me with God Of War and Kingdom Hearts BBS.

 

[Orioto]

I was watching some emulated psp games and damn those games look fiiiine in 4k, clean as fuck.

 

[Glimlocker]

Absolutely, I thought that Nintendo was done in the handheld business.
Granted, I was in high school, but still.

Nonetheless, my high school friends and I went to Best Buy on a school trip and we all bought a DS - and then played touch screen games like PictoChat and other wireless games on the trip back. We then brought it on every extracurricular activity throughout high school.

It was within a high schooler's budget and it was a ton of fun - nobody cared about the PSP after that.
The only people I personally knew with a PSP were adults...

And once the Lite dropped? Yeah, DS just took over.

 

[BetterGraphics]

I imported a launch PSP-1000 from Japan with Ridge Racer.

I was pretty convinced this was going to be the dominant handheld, but by the end of the generation I was all in on my DS.

 

[Unknownlight]

I wasn't thinking in terms of sales back then, but I'll go against the grain and say that the DS (Lite, specifically) felt more "futuristic" at the time. The PSP had better graphics, but everything else about the DS felt so novel. The weird dual screens felt like something a sci-fi show would make up without thinking about the practicality of it. Playing Nintendogs felt completely unlike anything else—petting them with the (still new and novel) touch screen, speaking into the microphone and the dogs reacting appropriately, the simple-but-effective AI of the dogs... I could show it to anyone and everyone would think that it was incredibly cool and new and a lot of them started wondering if they should buy a DS too.

The PSP was great too, but it felt like more of the same.

 

[Wreckord Collection]

I was super impressed with the PSP until I saw a friend of mine take a UMD out of the PSP and put in a new one. It looked fragile, clunky, and something that few parents would feel comfortable handing over to younger kids.

Still glad the PSP exists. We got some great games and it pushed Nintendo to make some much-needed edits/rework for the DS Lite (which I think is in the top three best pieces of hardware they've ever made).

 

[Garrison]

I never really got this argument, because the DS was even easier to hack.

PSP required people to install custom firmware, whereas DS flashcarts were being sold for $30 by shady vendors all over the place.

Click to shrink...

All talking from my own experience of course but in reality something being easier to hack isn't going to necessarily equal greater numbers just due to it's ease. Most ds users I encountered during the time where kids who got their software from mom and pop. Meanwhile all psp users I knew where older players who either got psps hacked by themselves or had it hacked for them.