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[Noncanon Ship]

Honestly, people keep saying 3DS had the games, Vita didn't but... I found way more games to play for my taste on Vita than on 3DS.

I think the only 3DS games I played were:
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf
- Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
- Nintendogs + Cats (briefly)
- Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies (+ dlc)
- Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice (+ dlc)

The rest of my playtime on 3DS was playing DS games. DS had an amazing library.

Personally, I played wayyy more games on Vita, and that's without even considering remote play too. Every time I played a game on 3DS, I wished I could be playing it on Vita instead. Thank god for the Switch, which I call Vita 2.

 

[FStubbs]

I will always despise the Vita. Sony chose to more or less abandon the Xperia Play right out the gate because of the Vita. Xperia Play was the perfect starting point for cell phone gaming and it never got a chance. And they didn't even stick around to support the Vita. Just Royal screw ups on every front.

You raise a good point. "Playstation Phone" mutated into the severely underpowered Xperia Play. Making an actual top line phone that could run Android and play Playstation games would have been an interesting successor to the PSP.

That being said, the memory cards and lack of first party support doomed the Vita.

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Vita talk always makes me sad.

 

[CamHostage]

Yep.
Though with both Borderlands and the initial plan for a COD port I think they were already doing the wrong thing. Vita just wasn't quite there with the power to run proper ports of these games. They should have made new games built from the ground up for it.

Sony should have invested in studios dong what what Capcom is doing with Monster Hunter Rise...

Thus Bioshock Vita (perhaps?)

I get what you're saying and agree, the Vita as just a port-down platform was never going to work. (I didn't like the MW/BO port idea for Call of Duty either, though I wonder what it was going to be.) Those games were valuable, and if it was powerful enough or was more consistent in getting core games, maybe it could have sustained better on ports, but these games were always the lesser version and they were nowhere near enough to maintain Vita if it wasn't going to have original titles.

Building games ground-up for Vita was going to be tough though, as costs were just out of control for that generation of game development. (PSP was sort of a sweet spot, and it got an insane degree of support.) It kind of started out working right with side-games on familiar engines like Assassin's Creed Liberation and LBP Vita, eventually Killzone Mercenaries (which ran on KZ3's engine,) but the hill got tall real fast as Vita launched soft and never gained speed. Then there was the subgame projects like Batman: Arkham Blackgate, Assassin's Creed Chronicles (also AC Lib,) and MotorStorm RC that were built in part for the platform but also fit well into the PSN ecosphere of downloadable franchise alt games, but for some reason the interest in subgames totally dried up on consoles around this time (partly because the big brands were doing annual releases so gamers were not interested in filler, whether it was good or not,) and that left Vita dry as well. Eventually PSVR came along too, and there was no way Sony could keep three pillars going (so far, even two pillars seems to too tall an order.)

That said, Vita was a really great platform for the games you didn't want to take the TV up for, like solo fighting games or long RPGs like P4G. Sometimes the games were too inferior to bother with, but other times they ran just fine (especially for a portable game, at that time) and were the games you were happy to buy on a handheld when you knew you wouldn't make time for them on a console. (Sad that the LEGO games on Vita were the mobile instead of console versions.) Indies thrived by having their games on Vita almost by default because Unity Engine was so well supported on Vita, and even all these years after Sony dropped the platform, there are Vita games releasing (meanwhile, the more successful 3DS has been mostly brick-breaker games and not much else since 2019.) Switch now is that go-to for me that I pick up when I don't want to take over the TV and crank up the surround, and it similarly is sometimes disappointing (why, Bloodstained, why?!) but other times is a great place to check out games that aren't AAA.

A name: Gio Corsi

The guy raised hype while Sony provided no games to back him up. Great guy, crappy Sony.

Well, Corsi was Senior Director, Third Party Production & Developer Relations (and then later Head of Global Second Party Games, which I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean?) His job was to hype the games not made by Sony. That pretty quickly the only games Vita had to hype were games not made by Sony, that is essentially how he came to prominence in the first place.

 

[howitis3]

do people not remember that it was 100$ for a memory card on the vita. The vita deserved to die.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Honestly, people keep saying 3DS had the games, Vita didn't but... I found way more games to play for my taste on Vita than on 3DS.

I think the only 3DS games I played were:
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf
- Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
- Nintendogs + Cats (briefly)
- Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies (+ dlc)
- Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice (+ dlc)

The rest of my playtime on 3DS was playing DS games. DS had an amazing library.

Personally, I played wayyy more games on Vita, and that's without even considering remote play too. Every time I played a game on 3DS, I wished I could be playing it on Vita instead. Thank god for the Switch, which I call Vita 2.

Yeah, I enjoyed way less games on 3DS then Vita. Honestly the only games I remember enjoying on 3DS was: OOT, Majoras, Fire Emblem Awakening, RE Revelations, and Luigis Mansion. The rest was all DS games.

And I agree on the Switch being the Vita 2. The Vita was a great "week" console and perfect for visual novels along with Indies and the Switch has definitely taken that spot.

 

[Danjin44]

Honestly, people keep saying 3DS had the games, Vita didn't but... I found way more games to play for my taste on Vita than on 3DS.

I think the only 3DS games I played were:
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf
- Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
- Nintendogs + Cats (briefly)
- Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies (+ dlc)
- Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice (+ dlc)

I don't see Kid Icarus Uprising on that list.

 

[bender]

I don't see Kid Icarus Uprising on that list.

 

[Esppiral]

I didn't have a Vita but based on the PSP I think the concept of portable console games (which was the what I saw as its main thing) is not what you want in reality.

I see this mantra repeated over an over again, yet the 3ds and the switch are full of those kind of games and ports from previous Nintendo home console games....

 

[QuantumZebra]

I own both and don't play on selling either (not like i'd get much anyway).

They're the last and best of their respective breeds.

 

[Redneckerz]

The Vita has had a significant homebrew post-relevancy. 3DS also had its fair share, but Vita has been very significant along with its TV brethren.

In professional games, 3DS severely lacked FPS titles. The unique hardware found in 3DS should have allowed for some interesting results, but alas, they never came.

 

[Danjin44]

I personally have zero issue with the game, it controlled exactly like Metroid Prime Hunter on DS.

 

[bender]

I personally have zero issue with the game, it controlled exactly like Metroid Prime Hunter on DS.

 

[DESTROYA]

One thing I miss about handheld gaming is the portability of just shoving a 3DS/VITA/PSP in your pocket and playing on the go or when bored.
Unfortunately my OG Switch isn’t exactly pocketable and not not buying a lite just to do that.
Still use my VITA and 3DS to this day and still buying games for both. Just glad a lot of games are still readily available for both , just picked up 7 games for my VITA for under $100.

 

[GetemMa]

It's not unjust. People want to play games, not carry around nice hardware that has no games.

What's unjust is Sony charging $250 for it, then requiring really expensive proprietary memory cards and then not really supporting it with software. Saying their efforts with software were half hearted would be extremely generous.

 

[iHaunter]

I'm glad Sony lost this battle and i hope they never make a handheld ever again

PSP was an amazing handheld from Sony, you doing a line or what?

 

[danielJackson]

Nintendo is greediest company of the three.

Their strategy sell lowest quality hardware possible with lowest specs possible to Maximise profits, with copy&paste low quality games, because they know that they can. And their low specs work best on their art style, so they can sell launch games at full price for years, because 3rd party games are so bad usually

Sadly it works = no pressure to Make good system and evolve

Sony tries to push boundaries and build best hardware with acceptable loss

Vita is still like 10 years ahead of switch in OS + features + just how good it feels as whole.

Using vita after switch is like "damn, this feels how high end quality handheld should feel like"

Good that PS5 won switch on sales at least at certain level (sold out globally, unlike switch that sold out only some areas)

 

[danielJackson]

It's not unjust. People want to play games, not carry around nice hardware that has no games.

What's unjust is Sony charging $250 for it, then requiring really expensive proprietary memory cards and then not really supporting it with software. Saying their efforts with software were half hearted would be extremely generous.

So Nintendo charging 349€ for switch with old stock tegra + tiny 32gb mem to save 5-10$ is not unjust?

Mem cards were over priced but switch should have been 199€ by those specs

 

[justiceiro]

It's a shame It end up not being sustainable, but I don't think it's the 3ds fault.

 

[FStubbs]

Nintendo is greediest company of the three.

Their strategy sell lowest quality hardware possible with lowest specs possible to Maximise profits, with copy&paste low quality games, because they know that they can. And their low specs work best on their art style, so they can sell launch games at full price for years, because 3rd party games are so bad usually

Sadly it works = no pressure to Make good system and evolve

Sony tries to push boundaries and build best hardware with acceptable loss

Vita is still like 10 years ahead of switch in OS + features + just how good it feels as whole.

Using vita after switch is like "damn, this feels how high end quality handheld should feel like"

Good that PS5 won switch on sales at least at certain level (sold out globally, unlike switch that sold out only some areas)

As far as a handheld goes, Switch was pretty competitive power-wise when it came out. A theoretical Vita successor would have been about the same power.

Going back in time, both N64 and Gamecube were beasts for their time as well.

And finally, even the NES was pretty good for 1983 (though 16 bit chips were available, so it wasn't bleeding edge).

 

[Inanilmaz]

I really liked the vita

Persona 4
Tearaway
Gravity Rush
Uncharted
Muramasa Rebirth
Odin Sphere
Touch My Katamari
Digimon
Everybodys Golf
God of War
Hotline Miami

 

[Mozza]

I'll say it first, Sony fans just don't want to actually buy games on PSP/Vita. They thought because handheld games are the lesser version of consoles they don't want to pay much for them.

Also PSP hardware sales only erupted because of piracy, software sales is abysmal in comparison. The loyal fanbase have never been there much.

Vita came with subsidized price, but it wouldn't stand a chance with its shit memory option to coup the cost. Overall it is just a bad harware when memory is considered.

Totally agree, the console was a paradise for hackers etc, the Vita was not, hence it's poor performance.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Can't wait to play these old home console games with an extremely deteriorated experience ! Look at Borderlands 2 on Vita, a great 15fps experience...

Releasing exclusives tailored for handheld gaming makes too much sense (turn based games, RPGs, 2D games, VNs, arcade games etc...).

Yes have some exclusives made for portable. I also think what Nintendo have been doing and having all there studios working on games for 1 device ( The Switch ) has helped wonders.. Its the future

I think PSP3 IN 2023 onwards can take games that run on PS5 4k and run them on a portable device at 30fps 720-900p etc. A 2017 Switch isn’t that far off, its not perfect but portable gaming is gonna get better and better. Downgrade the graphics, effects and resolution.

GTA 5 is a PS3/360 game. Portable machines can play it. Switch can play Witcher 3. Switch 2 will play Witcher 3 much better etc.

 

[Pejo]

I still take my Vita on every trip I go on. The remote play PS4 stuff works suprisingly well for anything that's not heavily latency based like fighters or pvp shooters. I personally use it to catch up on PS4 RPGs and racing games and such. I still haven't hacked mine yet, but it's on the "maybe to do" list. What I'm really waiting for is a Switch Pro so I can hack my OG Switch though, it's just too perfect as an emulator machine because it's either handheld or connected to the TV. I actually bought the component cables for my VITA, but it's a hassle to actually use it, and my current TV doesn't have Component-In, so I need to use a HDMI converter, and at that point it starts getting to be too much.

 

[P.Jack]

While I agree with the premise of this thread, the "most unjust result in the history of console wars" is still all about that Dreamcast. Going back to the sixth gen in present day only further cements this fact.

Miss me with that PoS2 and it's grainy ass, interlaced, slideshow gaming. I'll be rockin' 60 fps @ 480p all day motherfuckers!

Seriously though, having 480p all the way back in '98 is crazy, even though most games did, in fact, not run at 60 fps. The PS2, of course, had some games that supported 480p through component. For example, Tekken 5 looks unbelievable in 480p. But they where few and far inbetween, where as the Dreamcast had 480p support for most games. The difference in resolution is made all the more prevalent when viewed by todays standards. Talk about injustice!

 

[SirTerry-T]

No where near enough mentions for the Vita's best title in this thread...

 

[Robot Carnival]

I got the original DS way back then and didn't get a PSP. didn't really played much of the DS at the end. then when the next gen came out, I got the Vita and skipped the 3DS. I played it way more than the DS. it's in part due to some of my life changes getting me on the road more. but also it's simply a better piece of hardware for me. there were some good games on it too. I know for myself it's basically my Vanillaware machine. Muramasa, Dragon's Crown, Odin Sphere. I'm usually playing one of those back then. plus other games like Wipeout, Tokiden, World of Final Fantasy, Tearaway, Gravity Rush. at the end, I just like the offerings on the Vita more. not saying there are not better games on 3DS or something, but they often isn't for me. also, being able to remote play my PS4 is actually a great feature.

I feel if only Sony had not use their own storage card and open it up to normal SD card and stuff, the Vita would have done so much better and in turn attract more devs to make even better games for it. I'll probably get another Vita later down the road since I had lost mine for a long time now. might look up how to homebrew it and do some emulation gaming on it too once I get one again.

 

[eastcoastkody]

sony's fault for immediately abandoning it...which inturn made 3rd paries abandon it. I had like 2 of them.

 

[Zekra Dezivad]

Vita beaten itself

 

[RoboFu]

3ds had awesome games , the vita did not.
I was a dummy. I bought a vita day one with a few psp games and only played disappointing demos for a year before never touching it again. I never actually bought a vita game.

 

[Fat Frog]

What a crappy dimension for handheld gaming : The switch is not a good handheld, the Vita is dead, and mobile gaming is quite weak for old school gamers.

Let's face it:


They were the best for handheld gaming by faaaaaaaaar.

 

[Cherry Sonoshee]

Vita was pretty awful. Great hardware, but awful library. When the best thing about you is the ability to play PSP and PS1 games, you’ve fucked up. The best Vita stuff was ports. The rest of the library was moe otaku shit that I hate.

 

[cartman414]

Yeah, I enjoyed way less games on 3DS then Vita. Honestly the only games I remember enjoying on 3DS was: OOT, Majoras, Fire Emblem Awakening, RE Revelations, and Luigis Mansion. The rest was all DS games.

And I agree on the Switch being the Vita 2. The Vita was a great "week" console and perfect for visual novels along with Indies and the Switch has definitely taken that spot.

3DS also had the Etrian Odyssey games, SMTIV (as well as multiple spinoff ports), Zelda: aLbW, Bravely Default, DQ VII and VIII remakes...

 

[Entroyp]

Content is king.

 

[cartman414]

I agree.

If you take all handhelds ever. There are maybe 30 games that i would like to play. Handheld games always have an aura of being almost there but not quite.

There are a lot of all time handheld greats. Not every game needs to be AAA 3D blockbuster #259351682.

 

[BigTnaples]

Agreed. Hot take, the vita is the best console ever made.

 

[cireza]

Downgrade the graphics, effects and resolution.

This is the worst experience possible and Switch proves it every day. No hud optimization for small screen. Text is not made bigger. Devs are simply throwing the exact same picture of the home console version on the small Switch screen and call it a day.

Text is tiny. Space is wasted. Resolution is low. Framerates as well. Everything is blurry. Home console games on the go with shit ergonomics. There isn't a single thing that is optimized for handheld gaming in the end.

Doom 3 : ridiculously small text at the center of the screen.
FF X : as the game was optimized for handheld display in Vita, you actually get better menus and bigger text on Vita than on Switch.
Brigandine : I love this game. Some of the text in menus is really small.

Switch is having a great success but this certainly isn't for the best in terms of handheld experience.

 

[Porcile]

Vita means life, and expensive memory cards, and boring games.

 

[GymWolf]

That thing was only barely comfortable after i bought a grip for it, also the analogue stick was a joke.

Glad sony ditched it to concentrate their efforts on home console only.

 

[Kokoloko85]

This is the worst experience possible and Switch proves it every day. No hud optimization for small screen. Text is not made bigger. Devs are simply throwing the exact same picture of the home console version on the small Switch screen and call it a day.

Text is tiny. Space is wasted. Resolution is low. Framerates as well. Everything is blurry. Home console games on the go with shit ergonomics. There isn't a single thing that is optimized for handheld gaming in the end.

Doom 3 : ridiculously small text at the center of the screen.
FF X : as the game was optimized for handheld display in Vita, you actually get better menus and bigger text on Vita than on Switch.
Brigandine : I love this game. Some of the text in menus is really small.

Switch is having a great success but this certainly isn't for the best in terms of handheld experience.

I agree on text. Well some optimisation is needed for text and such, But mostly its been a great decision.
There main Zelda and Mario games on a handheld has been aweome. Along with games like a console Pikmin, Luigi’s mansion and so much more.
Fire Emblem was awesome, even though I mostly played it on TV lol

 

[Radical_3d]

On top of that the 3DS had an abysmal first year of games and the Vita has a fantastic launch. But the 3DS sold more so the Vita was left for dead because if you can’t beat your competition in it’s lowest moment what are the odds... People keep saying that it was because of the games but it was because of the brand. If it was about the games the 3DS would never had survived its first year.

 

[UnNamed]

3DS had a solid support from Nintendo, even now Nintendo is almost the only company who support 3DS. Vita was abandoned by Sony two years after it's release.

 

[jufonuk]

About a month ago or so I ordered a Vita (slim aqua blue) and a 2DS XL from Japan on Ebay. The 2DS arrived first and I spent about a week playing Chrono Trigger, which is now one of my favorite games of all time. While I was deciding what to play next (basically toggling between Dragon Quest VIII and Radiant Historia), the Vita arrived and I've barely been able to pick up the 2DS since.

The Vita is hands down the best designed portable device I've ever used, and that's including smartphones. Everything about it is perfect, from the size to the build quality and materials to the battery life. The 2DS XL is a total piece of junk next to it, with its 95 ppi (!!!) screen, slippery analog pad, ineffectual Thinkpad camera control nipple, janky resistive touchscreen, and borked ergonomics. Then there's the fact that all the games look like shit - I know the 3DS is supposed to be more powerful than the Wii, so why is it that direct ports of sixth generation and Wii games like Xenoblade Chronicles and Dragon Quest VIII look so goddamn awful? The 3DS is so compromised and poorly designed that it's almost shocking these two devices were released at around the same time.

The problem, of course, is that the only good Vita games appear to be a handful of PS2 ports (Persona 4, FFX, MGS2+3) and I guess some indies. I've been using it for PS1 and PSP JRPGs mostly and it feels like it's going totally to waste. A real shame that a handful of idiotic decisions from Sony (proprietary memory, adding to the cost with superfluous cameras and that back touchscreen, no plan for PS2 hardware emulation, no first-party games with appeal to the Japanese market) killed the best-designed handheld system of all time and allowed its thoroughly unworthy rival to run away with all the profits.

Dreamcast being the last sega console is the most unjust. That thing was a glorious machine.

 

[vkbest]

Sony made one of the same mistakes they did with the PSP. Instead of making portable console games, they made console games portable. That and propitiatory memory cards.

First the mistake you saying it’s the same reason Switch is selling so great. Desktop game on portable system. Second, the digital market was not so big as now, so proprietary cards is a pretty stupid excuse when the most people on the first years was buying physical games.

 

[Danjin44]

Games is the only thing that matters and Vita had some fantastic games but the fact is 3DS had much, much more.

 

[Bakkus]

Which games did Vita have of note you couldn't get on Steam?

 

[Quasicat]

I loved the Vita and played many games on it, but many of those were handheld ports of games I was playing on my PS3. The two games I played the most that were exclusive were Gravity Rush and Tearaway. Once those came out on the PS4, I had no need to play on my Vita anymore.

 

[grfunkulus]

About a month ago or so I ordered a Vita (slim aqua blue) and a 2DS XL from Japan on Ebay. The 2DS arrived first and I spent about a week playing Chrono Trigger, which is now one of my favorite games of all time. While I was deciding what to play next (basically toggling between Dragon Quest VIII and Radiant Historia), the Vita arrived and I've barely been able to pick up the 2DS since.

The Vita is hands down the best designed portable device I've ever used, and that's including smartphones. Everything about it is perfect, from the size to the build quality and materials to the battery life. The 2DS XL is a total piece of junk next to it, with its 95 ppi (!!!) screen, slippery analog pad, ineffectual Thinkpad camera control nipple, janky resistive touchscreen, and borked ergonomics. Then there's the fact that all the games look like shit - I know the 3DS is supposed to be more powerful than the Wii, so why is it that direct ports of sixth generation and Wii games like Xenoblade Chronicles and Dragon Quest VIII look so goddamn awful? The 3DS is so compromised and poorly designed that it's almost shocking these two devices were released at around the same time.

The problem, of course, is that the only good Vita games appear to be a handful of PS2 ports (Persona 4, FFX, MGS2+3) and I guess some indies. I've been using it for PS1 and PSP JRPGs mostly and it feels like it's going totally to waste. A real shame that a handful of idiotic decisions from Sony (proprietary memory, adding to the cost with superfluous cameras and that back touchscreen, no plan for PS2 hardware emulation, no first-party games with appeal to the Japanese market) killed the best-designed handheld system of all time and allowed its thoroughly unworthy rival to run away with all the profits.

How the fuck does this have so many upvotes?? Guy says he knows the 3ds was supposed to be more powerful than the Wii so he's using that as a benchmark for where the graphics should be (and consequently, why they were so disappointing). I bet he thinks his 5 year old smartphone is more powerful than a ps5

 

[Zog]

i'd love to replay Uncharted Golden Abyss on the big screen.

Get the Vita TV (PS TV).

 

[Sidney Prescott]

I think that 3DS was just more accessible. It may not have had better games, but it definitely suited more casual playstyles.