PSP appreciation thread

[17daysolderthannes]

all hail the golden PSP! now kenny for your reward we present you this golden keanu reeves statue.

Seriously though I want a PSP slim so bad, so can someone that really knows about PSP tell me the following:

1. best site on how to mod it to play emulators and ISOs for PSP and PSX
2. are there any versions/revisions besides slim and "fat"? Which one is the best? I definitely want the A/V outs, that is a must.
3. best versions of emulators for it (NES, SNES, Genesis, PSX are the most important, but others would be nice)
4. What accessories are must haves if I were to buy the basic black slim (normally retails for $160~$170, that one)

My friend showed me his modded one today and there is no choice but to get one myself. Its especially good because I don't have a high capacity MP3 player (2 128MB players, one with an SD slot so its actually at 640MB at the moment) so I can just use the PSP.

[FoxHound]

With the New FF7 on PSP, It is now time to get one Exclusive games that I like make me gets systems I normally would not get. Like Sega Saturn never would of gotten it until I saw House of the dead be made for it at the end of its life.

[Black_Tiger]

Like I said, an awful piece of crap.

Sega advertised it for being the first new single-player-PS since MD-days, beside it´s online-play.

PSU plays like this: 12 chapters, in the beginning of each you get your mission. You visit one of three planets (all based on the old ones). You cannot move freely across the planets, you are taken by shuttle from town to the mission. The towns, consisting of 3 or 4 screens, look bustling with people, but 99% of those "NPCs" disappear into thin air when you get closer to them; usually it goes the other way around in games, with characters disappearing in the distance to avoid pushing the hardware too far. Congrats for that idea, Sega!

Now, the missions consist of you with a few AI-controlled Party-members walking around and button-mashing to kill monsters. Every place, even forests (!), are divided into relatively small rooms with laser bars or doors blocking the way. In order to open those barriers and proceed to the next room you kill all enemies that pop up out of nowhere to get some keycode. Then you go to the next room, kill all and so on....

Battles are awesome thanks to the AI-party: You can not adjust their behavior in any way. That is not all, you cannot even access an inventory for them to equip them; all of this is pre-set and cannot be changed at all. Awesome! Never seen an RPG where you cannot equip your party! This makes your fellow-fighters pretty useless. BTW, you have to be quick when clicking through menues, because the game continues in the meantime. Logical for online-playing, but for the so fully developed single-player mode? Bah.

Thankfully the story is so damn boring you won´t be wanting to meddle with all these problems for long and put it aside.

So you're judging/condemning the MORPG solely on the tacked on offline mode which itself has already been revamped?

[17daysolderthannes]

Seriously though I want a PSP slim so bad, so can someone that really knows about PSP tell me the following:

1. best site on how to mod it to play emulators and ISOs for PSP and PSX
2. are there any versions/revisions besides slim and "fat"? Which one is the best? I definitely want the A/V outs, that is a must.
3. best versions of emulators for it (NES, SNES, Genesis, PSX are the most important, but others would be nice)
4. What accessories are must haves if I were to buy the basic black slim (normally retails for $160~$170, that one)

My friend showed me his modded one today and there is no choice but to get one myself. Its especially good because I don't have a high capacity MP3 player (2 128MB players, one with an SD slot so its actually at 640MB at the moment) so I can just use the PSP.

please? Sorry, but I knew if I didn't repost no one would read the older post and respond as thats how things usually go on internet forums.

[George Foreman]

Has anyone played Time Crisis with the GunCon on the PSP? That would, like, sooo totally rule. Also, do the Logitech streeing wheels/pedals work for the PS1 versions of Gran Turismo when played on the PSP?

LOLOlololo!!!!

But, yeah, the PSP ain't too bad, it has an almost better port of Monster Hunter 1 & 2(I say almost better as you have to use the face buttons instead of the 2nd analog stick). I'm actually thinking of picking another one up(old roomates broke the first one).

[108 Stars]

So you're judging/condemning the MORPG solely on the tacked on offline mode which itself has already been revamped?

I am judging the offline mode because it was announced to be a full-quality solo-RPG this time. In wich way has it been revamped BTW? By the add-on for which I have to pay full price AGAIN?
About the online mode, I can´t say I believe it has much potential either; the dungeons remain way too tedious with it´s ever repeating flow of kill enemies-open door, and all freedom is restricted by the small rooms. The battle system remains lame, and the empty worlds with no interaction with non-party members makes you wonder why you have to pay as much as for a real MMORPG. On top of that there is little to nothing to do beside fighting.

[David J.]

Keep in mind, if you buy a slim PSP... only the component videos can play games, and do everything else, while the composite videos only play movies, pictures, and music, but NO games.

[Earthworm_Jim_Fan]

The only games on the PSP that apeal to me are the Sonic Rivals series. I like having the ability to be able to hook it up to the TV so I don't have to play on such a small screen.

Other than that, long live the DS! Or in my opinon, the Game Boy Player!

[17daysolderthannes]

Keep in mind, if you buy a slim PSP... only the component videos can play games, and do everything else, while the composite videos only play movies, pictures, and music, but NO games.

huh? why?

[David J.]

Hmm... I might look into that.

There's a bit left I want to buy:

Daxter
Exit
Lumines
Lumines 2
Patapon
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
R-type Command
Wipeout Pulse
Wipeout Fusion

[Elusive]

1. best site on how to mod it to play emulators and ISOs for PSP and PSX
2. are there any versions/revisions besides slim and "fat"? Which one is the best? I definitely want the A/V outs, that is a must.
3. best versions of emulators for it (NES, SNES, Genesis, PSX are the most important, but others would be nice)
4. What accessories are must haves if I were to buy the basic black slim (normally retails for $160~$170, that one)

1) The guide I used was at pspslimhacks.com. They're the best place to ask for technical advice and information.
2) Only the Slim has video-out: other than that, it's slightly lighter. That's the most noticable difference.
3) There's a port of PicoDrive to the PSP that can run Mega-CD games as well as Mega Drive ROMs - I don't use any of the other systems. Try pspslimhacks.com.
4) You'll *need* a Mini-USB -> USB cable if you want to connect it to a PC or flash new firmware, but you can get them at pretty much any shop that sells electronics. You'll also *need* a Memory Stick Pro Duo card to hold game saves and other stuff - you can get them from 128MB to 8GB. Other than that, there's stuff like car adapters, cases, and screen protectors - I got a Starter Pack with my PSP simply because I wanted the case.

Modding a PSP - i.e. flashing new firmware - requires a) a special 'Pandora' battery and b) modified firmware placed on a customised Memory Stick. After that, it's a case of following the prompts on your PSP.

[David J.]

Well I got a non-GH copy of Wipeout Pure... I am the happy. Now the only PH games I have to deal with are Daxter and Lumnies...

I despise GH copies.

[17daysolderthannes]

1) The guide I used was at pspslimhacks.com. They're the best place to ask for technical advice and information.
2) Only the Slim has video-out: other than that, it's slightly lighter. That's the most noticable difference.
3) There's a port of PicoDrive to the PSP that can run Mega-CD games as well as Mega Drive ROMs - I don't use any of the other systems. Try pspslimhacks.com.
4) You'll *need* a Mini-USB -> USB cable if you want to connect it to a PC or flash new firmware, but you can get them at pretty much any shop that sells electronics. You'll also *need* a Memory Stick Pro Duo card to hold game saves and other stuff - you can get them from 128MB to 8GB. Other than that, there's stuff like car adapters, cases, and screen protectors - I got a Starter Pack with my PSP simply because I wanted the case.

Modding a PSP - i.e. flashing new firmware - requires a) a special 'Pandora' battery and b) modified firmware placed on a customised Memory Stick. After that, it's a case of following the prompts on your PSP.

Sounds good, thanks, I saw that site when I searched google but wasn't sure if it was good or not. Can you do all the formatting etc. with a Mac? I also have parallels that runs Windows XP on my Mac, any idea if that will work if the transfer software isn't for OS X?

[David J.]

You don't need software... I transfer my files like I would a pen drive. Just make sure the files go where they need to go to, and that's REAL simple.

[Elusive]

Sounds good, thanks, I saw that site when I searched google but wasn't sure if it was good or not. Can you do all the formatting etc. with a Mac? I also have parallels that runs Windows XP on my Mac, any idea if that will work if the transfer software isn't for OS X?

The PSP connects as a USB Mass Storage device - just like any other USB flash drive - so you can fiddle around with the contents of the Memory Stick as much as you like without needing a special program. The firmware is stored on the PSP, not the Memory Stick, so it's pretty much impossible to brick the thing this way.

To put custom firmware on the Memory Stick, though, I *had* to use a program designed for Windows XP; it just didn't work on my Vista laptop.