Buying the PS Vita as a handheld in 2025?

San Dan Glokta

San Dan Glokta

Member


With all the news, hype, drama, backlash etc etc regarding the upcoming Switch2 it got me wondering about the Vita. Especially if used to its maximum capabilities with homebrewing/jailbreaking.

I had bought it around launch and played a few games on it for a couple months before selling it for a profit. Thought it was a nifty little thing and really enjoyed it apart from the memory card bullshit. I also got a 2nd hand Switch in 2020, tried a couple games on it but it felt way too flimsy and the button ergonomics were terrible for my big hands. Its still sitting somewhere in my brother's house since then.
Unless the Switch 2 feels completely different in my hands or there is a console-seller exclusive for me I don't plan to buy it. I know that Steam deck exists but for me it is not viable as a true handheld console because it's too bulky and I just don't see why I would go for it over a gaming laptop; which I have and use. The PSP, Vita, DS/3DS were great handhelds.

PS: The Vita oled 2000in black is sexy.

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I've been thinking about getting one instead of a PSP, recently. I'm missing some PSP action and I want to play on real hardware. I'm still on the fence tho.
 
San Dan Glokta said:
apart from the memory card bullshit
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They make a cartridge now that accepts an SD card, so if you hack your Vita you can have your system memory / games load from a regular ol SD card. Great for storing lots of games, emulators, and PSP stuff that can play natively (also with homebrew).

It's a good little system, but it's absolutely underpowered. The library of native games was... meh.
 
The OLED original Vita is a fantastic Ferrari of a handheld, but its library isn't for everyone. For fans of Japanese games it's a great library.
 
Grizzled Ghost said:
If pocketability is your only concern it's probably worth it. Otherwise a mobile controller/phone mount would cost less and offer more when connected to any modern smartphone.
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Pretty much this. There was a time when the Vita was a pretty good option for emulation but that was many years ago.
 
I mean objectively something like a Switch is better as it has a lot of those PSP/Vita games (ports) anyways and OLED version is great for battery/display. You can buy an add-on controller for $50ish that will make it sturdier and be more comfortable instead of joycons.

That said, PSP or Vita are easy to have and are great devices. Get a Vita, hack it, add microSD card and you are G2G.
 
Closer said:
I've been thinking about getting one instead of a PSP, recently. I'm missing some PSP action and I want to play on real hardware. I'm still on the fence tho.
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The best PSP is a Vita. Though I do like the portability of the PSP Go.

Depending on the games you're looking to play, the Vita fixes all of the weird PSP controls. Once you are in a PSP game you can open a menu and remap control so you can switch what either thumb stick does so the weird combinations of stick, d-pad, and face buttons, or shoulder buttons can be mapped to a modern left stick move character, right stick camera.

And while Sony dropped support to focus on the PS4 early on. So many indies gave you the PS3, PS4, and Vita versions with a single purchase. This made it an indie powerhouse which it seems like the Switch and Steam Deck are where people moved.

Modding and using an SD2Vita you can get around the memory card BS and have more storage than number of bubbles you can fit on the Vita's home page.
 
I loved my VITA. Incredible device.

But the library, man...

Buy a chinese android device where you can emulate it really well. Its much more worth it.
 
Cert.in.Death said:
There have been worse.

PS Move, PSPGo, PSVR2, Concord, among others.
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PS Vita flopped twice if we include PS TV.

Then again Concord closed a studio while PSVR2 have much less 1st party games than the Vita.
 
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Vita is my favorite handheld of all time, easily. Got mine in 2020 and played a ton throughout the pandemic. PKGJ makes finding games a breeze.

Nowadays it's a bit of a tougher choice though since Chinese retro handhelds like the Retroid Pocket 5 can emulate a much wider array of systems (up to most PS2/GC). The advantages of the Vita are going to be the Vita games themselves (including quite a few PS2 remasters like MGS2-3) and the greater convenience of PKGJ for sourcing games.
 
The BIGGEST issue which I found out the hard way is, if you brought it 2nd hand and it already had games on it, there is absolutely no way you can save your progress on ANY of the games as they are tied to someone else's account so effectively you have to wipe the whole system, and then add your own games, and lose the ones that came with it...
 
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RAIDEN1 said:
The BIGGEST issue which I found out the hard way is, if you brought it 2nd hand and it already had games on it, there is absolutely no way you can save your progress on ANY of the games as they are tied to someone else's account so effectively you have to wipe the whole system, and then add your own games, and lose the ones that came with it...
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how is that a problem? Who cares about other people's saves?
 
Besides the from factor. I would prob go with one of those retro emu Chinese handhelds instead. The newest models can run up to dreamcast/ps2/gc games if I'm not mistaken and can prob be had cheaper.
 
RAIDEN1 said:
The BIGGEST issue which I found out the hard way is, if you brought it 2nd hand and it already had games on it, there is absolutely no way you can save your progress on ANY of the games as they are tied to someone else's account so effectively you have to wipe the whole system, and then add your own games, and lose the ones that came with it...
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Games are tied to an account not a system. You'd want reset and log into your PSN account so you can get your own trophies.

Digital games are worthless, you can install any game you want on to the Vita.
 
They're not worth it now. For a little more than what you can find one on ebay for you can get a Retroid Pocket 5. It has a bigger OLED screen, same layout, and it runs android so you can emulate Vita using Vita3k and everything else up to the switch.
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alphachino said:
how is that a problem? Who cares about other people's saves?
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It's not about other peoples saves, it means I can't save any progress on any of the games, as I'm not able to login to the handheld, unless I did a system reboot/factory reboot, which in turn would mean I would lose all the pre-installed games that came with it....
 
Videos like this hype it up way too much. It's like those "Japan is living in the year 2050" videos and it's literally just a banana wrapped in single use plastic.

Quite frankly there isn't much left that's exclusive to the Vita that you can't play elsewhere. Gravity Rush? Play the PS4 remaster. Persona 4 Golden? It's on everything now. Killzone Mercenary? Over-rated tech demo game.

Honest advice - just get a Backbone controller for your phone if you really want to play PS1 and PSP games portably. Duckstation on Android blows the official PS1 emulation on Vita out the water and PPSSPP is in a good place.
 
I love my Vita, and it's still my portable system of choice on trips. Games like Killzone Liberation, Skyforce Anniversary, Dragon' s Crown, Hotline Miami, Soundshapes, Steamworld Dig 2, Odin Sphere, Mortal Kombat 9, Ultimate MvC3, and Wipeout 2048 all still have a lot of replay value for me.

And emulation is, eh, pretty solid. NES through PS1 plays flawlessly, and while it doesn't do Dreamcast games well per se, Powerstone Collection, Soul Calibur, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Last Blade 2 are all available on Vita either natively or through PSP.

That said, I think I mostly love it because I already own it and have set up exactly the library I want on it. As some here have said, there are other retro handhelds now that easily outperform it.
 
I got hyped by the forums and youtubers, got one, terrible ergonomics, could only hold it with the tips of my fingers, not made for adult hands
 
Hugare said:
I loved my VITA. Incredible device.

But the library, man...

Buy a chinese android device where you can emulate it really well. Its much more worth it.
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The library (when modded) includes all PSX, PSP and Vita games. That's thousands of titles.

Yeah, an emu handheld for $200-300 will play more, but Vita is still awesome.
 
StereoVsn said:
The library (when modded) includes all PSX, PSP and Vita games. That's thousands of titles.

Yeah, an emu handheld for $200-300 will play more, but Vita is still awesome.
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Yeah, I was mainly talking about Vita's own library

I basically used it as a PSP back then. Rayman Legends, Catherine and Persona 4 were the only Vita games that I were ever interested in.
 
Mine was a dedicated Super Stardust Delta player for years. Worth it. One of the few games where the back touchpad actually improved gameplay. Really well made, premium hardware.
 
I last played my OLED Vita last year, screen is still incredible, love the form factor, the weakest part of it really is the game library but if you go in with your eyes open then yea it's a great piece of technology. I dont think they are cheap.
 
It is a great handheld and I enjoyed it a lot. Eventually sold it though, the library simply wasn't good enough and I eventually ran out of games I wanted to play on it and felt like it wouldn't be missed. Still a great buy if you know the games you want.

I don't recommend it for PSP games though, the pixels are way too apparent and the awful dithering used everywhere in PSP games pops out a lot on the Vita OLED screen.
 
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ArtHands said:
PS Vita flopped twice if we include PS TV.

Then again Concord closed a studio while PSVR2 have much less 1st party games than the Vita.
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True. On the hardware front, [Vita] v. [PSMove] v. [PSVR2] is where my mind goes, despite enjoying all three of them quite a lot.

It all depends on which measuring stick you opt to utilize. If it's dollars and cents, PS3 and Concord are hard-pressed to be overtaken by anything in Sony's history.
 
Hugare said:
Yeah, I was mainly talking about Vita's own library

I basically used it as a PSP back then. Rayman Legends, Catherine and Persona 4 were the only Vita games that I were ever interested in.
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Vita had a ton of good games besides ones above like Murimasa, Toukiden, Oreshika, bunch of RPGs (especially DRPGs) and a metric ton of indies.

But either way being able to play PSX and PSP libraries well is a bonus.

That said unless one specifically wants certain Vita games, something like Odin 2 or even better Odin 2 Portal is a better bet.
 
Baemono said:
I got hyped by the forums and youtubers, got one, terrible ergonomics, could only hold it with the tips of my fingers, not made for adult hands
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The ergonomics are pretty bad, but I have that issue with all portables except for maybe the GBA, but I was using that as a kid.

Those grip attachments are amazing to fix this issue, but I do wish they were just better as is. The PS Portal may look weird/ugly, but you know it's super comfortable to hold.
 
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