Sony has done some incredible things in the console market and the release of the PlayStation 5 appears to be a game changer. That being said, Sony has struggled to find their footing with the handheld market. Sony turned out some worthwhile entries for their handheld PSP, but it was easy to skip the hardware in favor of Nintendo's alternative.
The PSP found curious angles to spin-off beloved franchises, but there were also plenty of misfires that only spoke to the fact that the handheld wasn't essential. There are plenty of the regrettable PSP games, but these are the bottom of the barrel.
10 Street Supremacy (Score: 41)
There's an interesting period in video games where suddenly fast or creative racing games weren't enough and players were hungry for a demolition aspect to their racers. Titles like Vigilante 8 and Twisted Metal helped lead the pack, but Street Supremacy was the PSP's misguided attempt in the genre.
Street Supremacy relies on multiplayer and co-op play to add to its more destructive tendencies, but most of the game doesn't click together and the cars still feel generic when they're trying to be over the top.
9 Pocket Racers (Score: 39)
Mario Kart reignited players' love with cute and colorful racing titles, but the number of clones that came out to diminishing results shows that it's harder to make work than it looks. Pocket Racers attempts to create a new and friendly racers that pokes fun at the small nature of the PSP, but it turns into the exact kind of game that's wrong with the genre.
If this is the only racing game that someone's played then it would maybe be enjoyable, but otherwise there are so many games that do it better and have more personality.
8 Dead Or Alive Paradise (Score: 38)
The Dead or Alive games may have started as an exaggerated fighting franchise, but it's embraced fan service over the years and become more of a parody of itself. The fighting games have slowly turned back around, but it's games like Dead or Alive Paradise that pushed it to its breaking point.
The PSP spin-off takes the beach volleyball aspect of Dead or Alive Xtreme and doubles down on the idea. It's a strange collection of games that show the franchise at its most shallow.
7 Legend Of The Dragon (Score: 38)
Legend of the Dragon may sound like a forgettable PlayStation era JRPG, but it's actually a useless fighting game that never took off that’s based on an animated series of the same name. Fighting games could have really helped drive the PSP, but Legend of the Dragon is the worst example of how to do it.
The game features two dozen characters and plenty of environments to fight in, but it brings nothing new to the fighting genre and as a multi-platform release the PSP version is the most inferior of the lot.
6 Napoleon Dynamite: The Game (Score: 37)
Napoleon Dynamite is an entertaining enough feature film, but it's not something that anyone was asking to see get the video game treatment. The PSP's Napoleon Dynamite: The Game is the epitome of low-hanging fruit and it came during the height of easy mini-game collection cash-ins.
This title takes the Napoleon Dynamite character and builds a number of mindless mini-games off of him. This is the kind of game that can be played through in an afternoon and then never touched again. It manages to even tarnish the Napoleon Dynamite name.
5 Pocket Pool (Score: 37)
There are plenty of video games that really don't have much to offer than some cheap titillation, with sports games being some of the most egregious examples. Apparently scantily clad characters and mature themes can suddenly make something like golf of billiards appealing to a larger crowd.
Pocket Pool knows that it's an empty game, but it doesn't care, which perhaps makes it an even greater offense. The biggest problem here isn't how much the game panders, but that the pool gameplay isn't even that good.
4 TMNT (Score: 37)
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have made a decent mark on video games and turned out some particularly memorable games that are still fondly remembered. TMNT is not one of those titles and it takes a forgettable animated feature film and delivers a generic action brawler.
Not only is the game a poor interpretation of the Turtles, but it features muddy and repetitive gameplay makes this one hard to enjoy. The Ninja Turtles should be fun and energized, but this has a muted color palette and is needlessly gritty in areas, too.
3 Air Conflicts: Aces Of World War II (Score: 36)
Flight simulators can be a very niche genre of games, but they're the kind of material that could work really well on a handheld like the PSP. Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II prides itself on its realism as it bases many of its missions from actual historical events.
The title plays well enough and there's a decent multiplayer mode that's available, but it's just not a very exciting game. Despite how there are nearly 250 missions available, this is only entertaining for die-hard flight sim fans and even then it's still fairly repetitive.
2 Dave Mirra BMX Challenge (Score: 32)
The Dave Mirra BMX series never reached the same heights of popularity as the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, but they found their audience and turned out a number of sequels. Dave Mirra BMX Challenge is towards the end of that run and this new entry brings very little new to the floundering series.
There are exhibition, career, and quickplay modes to keep players busy, but there's still not a ton to keep fans busy here. The Wii version isn't much better, but it's still slightly better. The PSP original is buggy and not a good representation of the franchise.
1 Dragon Ball: Evolution (Score: 28)
Dragon Ball: Evolution is notorious for not only being one of the worst live-action adaptations ever made, but it nearly did irreparable damage to the Dragon Ball franchise. It should come as no surprise that this game isn't anything revelatory.
It retains the awkward sensibilities of the film, but pairs it together with clunky action when there was already adequate Dragon Ball fighting games on the market. Much like Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game, this should have never been attempted in the first place.