The Nintendo DS launched at the beginning of the company’s big push toward family-centered gaming. While the juggernaut developer/publisher had always put family gaming first, that became the sole focus of the Wii, and later the Nintendo DS Lite. On the opposite end, Sony’s PSP offered a more high-tech handheld gaming experience, with graphics said to be just as good as the PS2’s. This niche worked out pretty well for both consoles, and the PSP’s launch line-up offers a neat glimpse at where the handheld was heading.
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The Highlights From the PSP’s US Launch Line-Up
Ape Escape: On The Loose Darkstalker Chronicle: The Chaos Tower Dynasty Warriors Gretzky NHL Lumines Metal Gear Acid NBA Need for Speed Underground: Rivals NFL Street 2 Unleashed Ridge Racer Spider-Man 2 Tiger Woods PGA Tour Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 Remix Twisted Metal: Head On Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade Wipeout Pure World Tour Soccer
The PSP had quite a diverse selection of games when it launched in the US in March 2005. Of course, no console launch is complete without its fair share of racing and sports games, and the PSP had plenty of those. Need for Speed Underground: Rivals is certainly one of the biggest standout titles in the PSP’s initial launch line-up, showcasing the power of the little handheld console perfectly. Need for Speed managed to retain the bombastic nature of its big console counterpart, with intense racing mechanics, great track design, and superb visuals. However, the better-reviewed racing game on the PSP’s launch list was Ridge Racer, a racing game built from the ground up solely to showcase exactly what the PSP was offering, and what set it apart from the competition.
On the sports side of things, all the usual faces showed up. Early adopters of the PSP had their pick between several baseball and basketball games, ranging from Tiger Woods PGA Tour and NBA to NFL Street 2 Unleashed and Gretzky NHL, all of which were solid handheld versions of the iconic sports. Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 Remix was one of the better launch-day sports offerings, being an exact replica of the excellent PS2 game and proving that Sony wasn’t lying during the console’s marketing.
A few familiar franchises came to the PSP on day one, though with a few little tweaks. Ape Escape: On the Loose is a remake of the beloved first game originally released on the PS1, but didn’t quite live up to fan expectations, suffering from some strange control choices and flat-out awful camera controls. Dynasty Warriors also made its way to the PSP, and critics had similar complaints to those found in Ape Escape, with the game feeling like a clunky adaptation for the PSP. Metal Gear Acid received more favorable reviews from critics, but Konami decided to take a completely different route with it. As opposed to simply porting over a previous game in the franchise, Konami decided to produce a Metal Gear-themed card/action game hybrid, and the results were surprisingly good, with a lot of passion clearly put into the project.
Even Marvel found its way to the PSP on launch day with Spider-Man 2, a direct tie-in with the 2004 movie. While Spider-Man 2 lacks the open-world and web-swinging of its big brother console counterparts, the PSP iteration is surprisingly solid, offering some responsive combat and plenty of thrilling action set pieces. But by far one of the best-reviewed launch titles for the PSP is Wipeout Pure, a phenomenal entry in the Sci-Fi racing franchise that earned near-perfect scores across the board for its incredible visuals, fast-paced gameplay, and wealth of content.
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