The PlayStation Portable was released in 2004 as direct competition to Nintendo's flagship handheld device at the time, the Nintendo DS. It was Sony's first venture into the handheld gaming market and was incredibly lucrative for them, selling over 80 million units across the PSP's lifetime. The success of the PSP directly led to the development and launch of the PlayStation Vita in 2011.

Despite releasing in 2004 (only four years after the PS2 and two years before the PS3), it boasted incredibly impressive power and functionality, rivalling the visual fidelity of PS2 titles and in some cases, early PS3 titles - all in the palm of your hand with decent battery life. When compared to its only real competition at the time, the Nintendo DS (which sold nearly twice as many units), the PSP appeared to be two generations ahead and has aged better for fans of retro games due to its traditional control method and lack of touch screens or sensors that are locked behind proprietary hardware, making emulation difficult or cumbersome.

Nintendo pulled way ahead in the next generation with its competition to the Vita, selling nearly as many Nintendo 3DS devices as Sony sold PSPs. But looking back, we think the PSP might actually be the most forward-thinking and impressive handheld console to ever release, the only real handicap was its lack of a second analogue stick - this omission would haunt Sony and software developers for the device for the whole of the PSP's life. This was corrected with the release of the Vita, but this unfortunately came too late.

That said, the PSP features a huge library of nearly 2,000 games from every genre under the sun. Developers came up with innovative ways to deal with the limited analogue functionality, some better than others. And emulation today allows once single-stick supported games to support dual-stick controls. PSP games play better today, DS games typically play worse (unless you're on native hardware).

With handheld gaming receiving somewhat of a comeback, with the successor to the Switch now in the wild, the popularity of the PlayStation Portal, handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck and even rumours that both Sony and Microsoft are working on new handheld devices - we think now is a perfect time to look back on arguably the most forward-thinking handheld ever released and more specifically its excellent library of games.

To lay down some ground rules, these lists will not include any community ports, homebrew games or emulated PS1 titles. We'll simply be looking at some of the top ten native PlayStation Portable games in each of eleven different genres. We'll also be avoiding Eastern region imports; native English ports only. We also won't be listing many Japanese-born titles in general. While they have millions of fans, we're not one of them, so this is very much a personally curated list. Finally, we've listed a few collections or games with very similar sequels as single entries to help keep the lists varied and diverse. 

ACTION ADVENTURE

1. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker / Portable Ops
2. Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
3. Silent Hill: Origins / Shattered Memories
4. Gun: Showdown
5. Avatar: The Game
6. Tomb Raider: Anniversary / Legend
7. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
8. Obscure: The Aftermath
9. MediEvil: Resurrection
10. Dead Head Fred

The PSP has some heavy hitters like Metal Gear, Assassin's Creed and Tomb Raider titles, but many of them are usually plagued with pretty frustrating camera controls. We've mixed this genre with more Horror-influenced titles as there aren't enough Horror games to fill a heavy-hitting top 10 (in our opinion). While not the PSP's strongest area, it does provide some really key titles that show what the humble handheld is really capable of, mostly notably Peace Walker.

ACTION RPG

1. Monster Hunter: Freedom / 2 / Unite
2. Phantasy Star Portable 1 / 2
3. Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade / Warrior's Code
4. Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony
5. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 1 / 2
6. Lord of Arcana
7. Dungeon Explorer
8. X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse
9. The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest
10. Dungeon Maker I / II

The Action RPG genre on the PSP is incredibly varied, especially if you prefer the style of games from Eastern developers. The single analogue stick doesn't have a lot of impact on this genre, so they feel really comfortable and at home on the PSP. Monster Hunter has a really strong presence on the machine, and Phantasy Star's portable iterations are good fun. There's some really surprising and interesting titles that haven't been much since, like Sony's Untold Legends series. For sheer content alone, however, the Monster Hunter games are the killer app.

CASUAL ADVENTURE

1. Crash of the Titans / Mind of Mutant
2. LittleBigPlanet
3. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
4. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
5. Toy Story 3
6. LEGO Series
7. Daxter
8. Secret Agent Clank
9. Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley
10. The Sims 2 / Pets / Castaway

An incredibly strong genre for the PSP. Huge adventure franchises like Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter are all featured multiple times, with other excellent iterations of titles like LittleBigPlanet, Toy Story 3 and LEGO titles to flesh out the selection. I imagine if you had a lot of work to do and an energy-leaking child, a PSP and one of each of these titles, they'd be kept busy until they fell asleep. Then you can pick up where they left off. There's also the Sims titles, which play completely differently to how you'd expect, but in a weirdly enjoyable way!

FIGHTER / BEAT ‘EM UP

1. Tekken 6 / Dark Resurrection
2. SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny
3. Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max
4. Mortal Kombat: Unchained
5. Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower
6. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus
7. The Warriors
8. Def Jam: Fight for NY
9. Fight Night Round 3
10. WWE All Stars

Fighters got really strong representation on the PSP. Goliaths like Tekken, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and SoulCalibur all stand tall and leave you wondering how they look and feel so good. Lucky for the PSP, analogue sticks are typically entirely ignored in fighting titles, so they translate to the hardware incredibly well. The best thing there is a ton of variety, meaning if you don't like one, there's a good chance you'll like one of the others. Rockstar's The Warriors port is also very faithful to the full release and feels like magic in handheld form. Great selection all around.

HACK AND SLASH

1. God of War: Chains of Olympus / Ghost of Sparta
2. Dante's Inferno
3. Manhunt 2
4. Prince of Persia: Rival Swords / Revelations / Forgotten Sands
5. Undead Knights
6. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
7. Gods Eater Burst
8. Ghost Rider
9. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
10. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

How do we talk about this category without just gushing about how incredible the God of War titles are? We'll try. There's a good chance if you played the PSP back in its heyday, you may have been first attracted by some of the larger names - Prince of Persia, Dante's Inferno, Manhunt 2, to name a few. Dante's Inferno is EA's incredibly visceral GoW-style descent into hell, and while not entirely what many would consider 'Hack and Slash', Manhunt 2 does at least involve both a lot of hacking and slashing, so it counts, ok? The Prince of Persia trilogy is a solid time, and the underrated Undead Knights is a great hacky, slashy gorefest.

RACING (CLASSIC)

1. Midnight Club 3 / L.A. Remix
2. Ridge Racer 1 / 2
3. Test Drive Unlimited
4. Gran Turismo
5. OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast
6. Sega Rally Revo
7. Need for Speed Series
8. Colin McRae DiRT 2 / Rally 2005
9. Juiced 1 / 2
10. WRC: World Rally Championship

Okay, so - the racing genre is HUGE on the PSP. It seemed like early-2000s gamers were racing game-obsessed, and the PSP didn't need complex control input to support them. So we've split it between more traditional-style and more arcadey/combative racing games. There's not a single game in either of these lists not worth at least trying, but blockbusters like Gran Turismo, Ridge Racer, Test Drive, Midnight Club and Need For Speed will keep you busy for hundreds of hours alone. OurRun 2006, Sega Rally and the Juiced games are surprisingly solid and often overshadowed by the bigger names.

RACING (COMBAT)

1. Burnout Legends / Dominator
2. FlatOut: Head On
3. Split/Second
4. MotorStorm: Arctic Edge
5. Twisted Metal: Head-On
6. Pursuit Force / Extreme Justice
7. Wipeout Pure / Pulse
8. Crash Tag Team Racing
9. Fired Up
10. Full Auto 2: Battlelines

Arguably the PSP's strongest offering. The games in this list are full of so much adrenaline and over-the-top action that they feel larger than the PSP itself! Burnout has no right being that faithful. Flatout feels like a miracle considering the direction it took after this point. Split/Second deserves WAY more love, and Twisted Metal is just as twisted and just as metal on the PSP as it is on mainline consoles. MotorStorm on the PSP is also a lot better than the Vita's release. Then there's just guilty pleasure scrappy fun found in the Pursuit Force, Fired Up and Full Auto titles. This selection goes hard.

OPEN WORLD / CRIME SIMS

1. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City / Vice City Stories
2. Driver 76
3. Gangs of London
4. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
5. The Godfather: Mob Wars
6. Miami Vice: The Game
7. Scarface: Money. Power. Respect.
8. Spider-Man 3
9. 50 Cent: Bulletproof - C-Unit Edition
10. Retro City Rampage

This genre has no right packing such a punch on the PSP. It's like it soaked up all the gangster movies of the late 90s and early 00s with the sole purpose of giving birth to PSP games. How does a single handheld have rarely seen video game adaptations of properties like The Godfather, Scarface and Miami Vice? Also, get this, Gangs of London is the third in The Getaway series of games, which had a TV series based on it 14 years later. I haven't even mentioned Grand Theft Auto or Driver yet. And I don't really need to, GTA is probably the crown jewel of the PSP and reason enough to buy one alone. 

SHOOTER - FIRST / THIRD PERSON

1. Medal of Honor: Heroes 1 / 2
2. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 1 / 2 /3
3. Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday
4. Resistance: Retribution
5. Brothers in Arms: D-Day
6. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
7. Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror / Logan's Shadow
8. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials
9. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Predator / Advanced Warfighter 2
10. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory

The shooter genre is a little messy on the PSP, but it is pretty vast, so we're splitting this list into two, also. This first one focuses on first and third-person shooters, which struggle due to the limited controls, as they typically play a lot better with a dual-analogue setup. But if you get used to the controls or emulate your way around the difficulties, there are some really competent and enjoyable shooters on the PSP. You know if you see a bunch of names such as SOCOM, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Brothers in Arms, Resistance, Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, that you're likely to find at least one game that speaks to you.

SHOOTER - EXTRA

1. Killzone: Liberation
2. Army of Two: The 40th Day
3. Dead to Rights: Reckoning
4. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike
5. Total Overdose: Chili Con Carnage
6. Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron / Elite Squadron
7. Metal Slug Anthology / XX
8. Infected
9. Star Wars Battlefront II
10. SWAT: Target Liberty

A weaker but more interesting selection of shooters. Killzone for sure steals the show, which is surprising as we're not exactly big fans of the home console versions, but the Killzone games on PSP and Vita are some of the better games on each system. Then there's a surprising version of Army of Two and lesser-known Total Overdose and Infected games, which have some real personality and style to them. If you primarily play shooters and have already played the more obvious games from our first list, go fishing in this one - you might just be surprised by what you find.

EXTREME SPORTS

1. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix / Project 8
2. SSX on Tour
3. MTX Mototrax
4. Dead or Alive Paradise
5. Shaun White Snowboarding
6. Skate Park City
7. MX vs. ATV Reflex
8. Dave Mirra BMX Challenge
9. ATV Offroad Fury 4
10. Freak Out: Extreme Freeride

Full disclosure, we're not big fans of traditional sports, even in digital form. But it felt wrong not to mention any sport-adjacent games at all, so we pulled together an Extreme Sports category, some more extreme than others. Of course, the Tony Hawks and SSX titles shine brightest here, but the Skate Park City and Shaun White offer decent alternatives, especially for those who have already seen everything the more well-known titles offer. There's also some great motocross representation on the PSP, even more than we list here. Not the strongest selection available, but one that didn't feel right, not to mention.

BONUS: MINIS

1. N.O.V.A: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance
2. Pac-Man: Championship Edition
3. Speedball 2: Evolution
4. Bloons TD
5. Fortix
6. Fieldrunners
7. Wizorb
8. The Terminator
9. Zombie Tycoon
10. OMG-Z

And our bonus group goes to the PlayStation Minis, which were smaller, more compact titles that you could compare to the PSP's version of mobile games. In fact, it featured many games originally released on mobile. We've tried to list titles known more for being Mini games or at least those that are difficult to find on mobile phones these days. N.O.V.A. is a great Halo-inspired shooter, Bloons TD is a great view into how that series started, and Fortix is a great spin on the Qix style of games. For the most part, you can sleep on the Mini titles, but for those interested, we've thrown 10 up that are worth checking out.

And there it is, 110 games across 11 genres (plus ten mini games)! We tried to bring variety to each list, naming some heavy hitters while also shining light on a few hidden gems waiting to be discovered by more players. 

We'd love to hear what some of you think. Have you played on the PSP? Are there games in your collection that you would absolutely replace with another in our top tens? What games do you wish received a PSP release?

Here's hoping whatever Sony does next in the world of handhelds, that they do it as forward-thinking and as elegantly as they did with the PSP.