If there is one market Nintendo has remained the king in, it’s the handheld one. That’s not counting phones as that is like a whole other market. Many have tried to overthrow the Nintendo line of handhelds including Atari and Sega, but they all seem to fail.

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Sony came close with the PSP. It had the lofty goal of not just being a gaming experience, but a life experience. Users were able to take photos, watch movies, listen to music, and so on. If Sony focused the PSP on games rather than other media, perhaps it would have beaten the DS. Maybe these forgotten franchises could have moved past this generation which includes the PS3 as well.

8 Death Jr.

Exploring the world in Death Jr

Death Jr. was an early attempt at creating a new platforming mascot for the PSP via Konami. Players took on the role of the titular son of Death to try and help the underworld from being taken over by an even worse fate thanks to Pandora’s Box being opened. Jump around, solve puzzles, swipe enemies with a scythe, and repeat. It had a good run for what it was with the first game debuting on PSP. The sequel would release on the Wii as well as the PSP and the final entry was a DS exclusive.

7 Half-Minute Hero

Promo art featuring characters in Half-Minute Hero

Half-Minute Hero was an ingenious RPG that gave players literally thirty seconds to save the world. Each chapter of the game had players restart at level one. Players would enter battles randomly on a world map which would play out automatically. The goal was to get as strong as possible to beat the boss of that chapter within the time limit. While thirty seconds was the given time, there were ways to restore that clock or to pause it with gold and various power-ups. This PSP exclusive would eventually get ported to the Xbox 360 and PC with the PSP sequel being exclusive to Japan initially. That version never came over to the West but a PC port did happen.

6 LocoRoco

Exploring the world in LocoRoco

LocoRoco is a puzzle platformer series with one of the cheeriest vibes and soundtracks around. Players would have to tilt their PSP with the shoulder buttons to get these little critters to move. Each character had their own style of singing, so, it was possible to play a level multiple times and get a new background theme.

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The main two games were PSP exclusives at first but eventually, they did get remastered for the PS4. There were two spinoffs as well but those played a bit differently akin to interactive pieces of art rather than core games.

5 Metal Gear Acid

Promo art featuring characters in Metal Gear Acid

Metal Gear Acid was a spinoff for the series that took place in an alternate timeline. Instead of being a stealth action game, it was a tactical RPG with card-based combat. Players would use cards to move around, peek behind corners, hide in boxes, attack with weapons, and so on. It was an interesting idea that got better with the one sequel. The visuals were upgraded to a cel-shaded art style and the game was packaged with 3D goggles to make the game pop. Both games are hidden PSP treasures in this long-running franchise.

4 Patapon

A cutscene featuring characters in Patapon

Patapon is another unique PSP series with a catchy soundtrack. It’s a rhythm game mashed up with an RPG with Pikmin elements. Players have to control a drum beat so that their soldiers will march to the tune. The better the rhythm, the stronger these little guys will be. There were three games on PSP with the first two getting remastered on PS4. The third, sadly, never got the same treatment and lays dormant along with this franchise overall.

3 Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero?

Fighting enemies in Prinny Can I Really Be The Hero

Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? is a spinoff from the Disgaea series. Instead of it being a tactical RPG, the two games released were 2D platform action games. Players assumed control of an army of the series’ iconic Prinny mascots.

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When one died, another took their place. These games were PSP exclusives until they got ported to the Switch with virtually no improvements. At least this series got some recent love and attention.

2 R-Type Command

Fighting a battle in R-Type Command

R-Type was a somewhat big space shooter series in the 80s and 90s. Seemingly no fan ever dreamed of the day when this series would be turned into a tactical RPG. That’s exactly what R-Type Command was, a strategy RPG set in space with ships standing in for soldiers. It was a unique concept at the time that was reviewed well but didn’t traffic a lot of attention due to the exclusive platform. This might be why the sequel was never released outside of Japan although thankfully fans took it upon themselves to patch it into English.

1 Tales Of The World: Radiant Mythology

Fighting enemies in Tales Of The World Radiant Mythology

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology was the first in a trilogy of spinoffs from the main action RPG series. They were more like dungeon-crawlers than epic quests to save the world. The other unique thing about this series is that it crossed over characters from the franchise up to that point. The first game was released here but the two PSP sequels were not. Fans have done some English work on those too though, so they are available if one looks hard enough.

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