PSP also had the ultrafast battery draining mechanical optical drive in it. That was never a good idea.
Four to five hours is very reasonable for a handheld gaming device. It’s not a phone.
The DS Lite had ridiculous battery life, well over 10 hours.
That had never occured to me. I’d go “what were they thinking?!”… if I had noticed it, ha ha ha, great point!
Everyone knew that was going to kill the battery life. It actually helped the original DS last longer IIRC and that only got more evident when the DS Lite was released and just plain shattered the PSP’s battery life as others have noted.
DS Lite was a bit of an anomaly, though. It was kind of perfectly timed with battery tech improvements as well as low power draw electronics and screens really coming into their own. DS wasn’t exactly a powerhouse of a device, but the battery did have to drive two screens, which it did really well.
How long do current iPads run for if playing games without stopping? That would be your best comparison to a Switch Lite in 2019 IMO.
One thing I do want to point out about PSP is that it is an excellent portable PlayStation. There are about ten to twenty games exclusive to that machine that are great and worth playing, but its real value to me is to play all the PSOne Classics that came to PS3 and I snagged for like $3-$5 a piece.
Oh, you meant to write “PS Vita”. :)
It has access to those same PSOne games plus many PSP originals, on a nicer, bigger screen. And the Vita’s own library can’t compete with vast size of the 3DS’ library, but it still had quite a a number of fantastic games, especially for fans of JRPGs and indie games.
I don’t follow the indie game scene much but I did manage to pick up Guacamele, Hotline Miami, Shovel Knight and Salt and Sanctuary for the Vita. And recently got a Limited Run Games edition of Bastion which I got ages ago on PC (and I think Xbox 360) and just never got around to playing it… I think I will better enjoy this type of game on the go (or for my bedtime gaming).
Battery life wasn’t great on most of the portables except for the DS Lite, as mentioned already. But the New 3DS XL gets me around 6 to 7 hours. Enough for my weekly commute to work.
If I’m not mistaken, there are a number of PSOne Classics that do not work on Vita, which is why PSP is the best option. Plus I don’t need a better screen for games we all played over composite connections on CRTs. I actually prefer the older tech here.
You’re right, I forgot I wasn’t able to get Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Silent Hill to work on the Vita. Still, was able to get all of these working:
Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX
Chrono Chross
Vagrant Story
Tomb Raider I, II, III
Castlevania: SOTN
Legend of Dragoon
Mega Man 8
Resident Evil 1, 2, 3
Front Mission 3
Suikoden 1 & 2
WIld Arms 1 & 2
Xenogears
Parasite EVE 1 & 2
Syphon Filter 1, 2, 3
Dino Crisis
And sure, not like these older lower resolution games look better on Vita than PSP, but the slightly bigger screen is nice to have.
I still use my PSP for disc-only titles. Actually picked up FF Crisis Core and the two original Syphon Filter games for it recently.
Yeah, it’s not the end of the world, but Vita is a pricey proposition by comparison. I just never saw anything that was exclusive to Vita that sold me on the device.
That’s also a good list! I have most of those as digital purchases myself, even if I owned them on disc.
A lot of actual PSP games worth playing also aren’t available digitally and therefore not available on Vita unless you do a bunch of work to get homebrew working and sideload ISOs of those games. The PSP is still well worth owning, and has a larger library of its own exclusive games worth playing than the Vita does.
I found these videos on YouTube where some guy bought 20 broken Switches and opens them all up to try and fix them. I don’t know why but it’s damned entrancing. I can’t stop watching! What’s going to be the problem with the next Switch?
4-5 hours for a handheld system is more than enough IMO. I almost never need it for that long, but if I do, I bring this along with me:
14:40 is the money shot.
I moved in April and found my DS Lite in a bin in the basement. It was still charged and turned on. I put it there at least 5 years ago.
Ha, I found my DSLite the other day, must have been 5 or 6 years since using it. Started right up again with green light!
Has anyone played Blasphemous? Looks suitably weird and soulslike.
I’m kind of in the market for a portable console and the new Switch lite looks great. But the Switch games are sooo expensive. Steam sales have really spoiled me. Not sure what I’m going to do.
I bought a game on the nintendo store last night, on sale, for $0.09.
The online store always has some very good, steam-like sales.
(The game was called membrane, by the way… it’s pretty cool. especially for 9 cents)
I’ll have to take a look.
There are tons of less expensive games on the eShop. Pretty much only new AAA and Nintendo titles are at the $60 price. My friend has a switch and exclusively uses one of those game trading website services. I guess he’s bought 1 or 2 games, traded them to get others, and only ever paid postage. Can’t remember which site he uses.
I understand Fenris’ point: there is switch tax (usually 25 to 30%) on about any smaller game on the Switch. Publishers are sure having their fun there. and some flood the shop with fake heavy discounts for games hardly ever priced at their full value, a practice common on the Apple Store and which we are relatively spared on Steam.
See if there’s any cheap stuff here that takes your fancy.