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Underrated PSP Games - UMD or PSN

Accoun

Member
- Corpse Party (people on GAF seem to rightfully love it, but outside I don't hear much about it)
- Initial D Street Stage (my favourite car racer on PSP. You'd have to import, though)
- Powder (homebrew)
- Velocity (has a Vita "HD" version)
 

uncleslappy

nethack is my favorite dark souls clone
Thanks, guys! Lots of good stuff to go on here! I'm gonna hit up my local indie game shop this evening!
 

Tain

Member
I'll repost this:

Carnage Heart EXA

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1. What is it?
A game where you customize combat robots, program their AI end-to-end (complete with PSP input hooks if you want some real-time control) using a grid-based logic diagramming system, and then send them to battle.

2. Why do you feel it is underrated?
It's a PSP game that was released in North America digital-only in 2013 at $30 and it probably wasn't very widely-advertised. Among the forums I read, barely anybody has tried this game.

3. Why should we play it?
It's incredibly complicated and even the tutorial is satisfying. Full disclosure? The tutorial took me hours and provided its own challenges near the end, and I haven't even beaten the first real mission yet. You have a ton of control over the behavior of these robots, and the interface makes things a hell of a lot of fun to tweak. If you've played Spacechem you can understand the appeal, though I'd say that thematically and aesthetically this blows it out of the water.

Some screens:
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Izuna

Banned
Alright, here goes!

1st Up! Bounty Hounds
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This game is absolutely amazing until its first completion where the story gets completely looney, but it is pretty much a single player Phantasy Star Online 2. Not too much enemy variety, but the combat was exciting.

2nd Up! Key of Heaven/Kingdom of Paradise
key-of-heaven.988056.jpg


The story is horrible, and so are the characters, but this story-driven combat RPGish game had one of most glorious combat systems ever. You had pretty much hundreds of attacks and you could arrange them in custom combos. You could essentially puzzle together a stun attack, followed by a launcher, some quick attack to hit someone else or area of effect or... Well pretty much, the custom combo system had only really been revisited in PSO2 (the real PSO2) with allowing you to put Photon Arts in any order, but it was much more fun in this game.

The story does suck and its sequel is absolutely attrocious however.

--

3rd Up! Brave Story

No actually, I'm just kidding. This award goes to Dragoneer's Aria!!!

Dragoneers-Aria-5.jpg


This RPG is pretty much one of the best RPGs ever during the first maybe third of the game. But that's something right? Later on you soon realise that the whole game is sort of about perfect timing with the guard mechanic because the difficult spikes in this game are just brutal, and you are given the ability to block 100% of damage if you are a QTE jedi. Still, unlike Brave Story, which was just a decent spin-off of a really sweet Anime movie, this game had character like no other and is an absolute blast -- just don't try the multiplayer.

--

Now there are some amazing PSP games we all know. PSPo2, MonHan, Ridge Racer, Mercury etc. (... the Final Fantasy ports) -- but these games are lost gems that unfortunately would never be given a second chance in the industry. Man I would love a properly done Key of Heaven...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fjwj2rYJKg Just listen to that!
 

Tizoc

Member
Half Minute Hero - best game on the psp for me. kind of an arcade action rpg.
Growlanser : wayfarer of time - brilliant branching rpg with a fairly unique battle system
Hexyz Force - rpg where you can fast forward battles
Mega Man Maverick Hunter - remake of megaman x with a cool new mode where you play as vile, which is lots of fun
Kenka Bancho Badass Rumble - run around a town on a school trip to try and beat up the strongest people from other schools or have fun on the trip with your friends. Not really sure how to genre it. simulation/action?

Star Ocean 2 & BOF3 are good if you didn't play them on the psx. BOF3 is only available in europe though

Was gonna recommend BoF3, but your list is pretty solid and I have most of those games on my US PSN account =)
Bizarre that BoF3 is only on EU and JPN PSN tbh, but I may just grab BoF3 if ever it goes on sale on EU PSN @_@
 

Moofers

Member
Brave Story is a great little jrpg. Fun characters and a good, classic battle system with awesome team-up moves.
 
I liked Jeanne D'Arc a lot. Fun SRPG.

For those saying that Trails In The Sky is great, please elaborate...I have it on my Vita, I've played a couple hours, and it seems okay. What makes it essential?
 

bomer

Member
Definitely Megaman Maverick Hunters X. I'm playing it again the last two mornings on the train. On the final boss stage (Chameleon). Looks great on vita and plays just as well as the original with a few little twists. On PSN as well.
 

Famassu

Member
Horde is unarguably the most underrated psp game. No one ever recommends it not because it's no good, but because no one has played it. Dragon wrecking shit, so fun.
 
Get Patapon 2, get back into it (give it a little time) play one of the best games ever created (in my opinion, seriously so good, I think 2 is MUCH better than the first)

I HIGHLY recommend Dissidia. Holy crap I had so much fun with that game. The ultimate tribute to Final Fantasy, and actually good!

Any of the brilliant SRPG's. Wild Arms XF, Jeanne D' Arc, Disgaea, Tactics Ogre, etc etc etc

Crisis Core is very good if you're an action RPG fan.

God of War games were amazing.

Killzone Liberation!

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite!

Man I loved the PSP. Seriously one of the best / underated libraries.
 

kurbaan

Banned
You said the magic words. If you haven't played Trails in the Sky, you haven't played every good JRPG that's worth playing.

250px-Loh6_The_Legend_of_Heroes_Trails_in_the_Sky.jpg



Until everyone that has a shred of interest in JRPGs has at least tried Trails in the Sky for themselves, it REMAINS underrated. Even on GAF. Where it is rated higher than anywhere else.

Can you play it on Vita?
 

Mozendo

Member
Persona 3 is an absolute must. Don't even think about it, just forget everything else and play that because that'll last you the equivalent of all the games listed if you complete it to the end.

All Persona fans are converts OP. And most people that play Persona games called Persona 3 or Persona 4 seem to stick to being fans like glue.

It's like you people are oblivious to what underrated means.

Class of Heroes
Gitaroo Man: Lives
Gurumin
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
Yggdra Union
Riveria: the promised land
ClaDun
 

Ratrat

Member
Get Patapon 2, get back into it (give it a little time) play one of the best games ever created (in my opinion, seriously so good, I think 2 is MUCH better than the first)

I HIGHLY recommend Dissidia. Holy crap I had so much fun with that game. The ultimate tribute to Final Fantasy, and actually good!

Any of the brilliant SRPG's. Wild Arms XF, Jeanne D' Arc, Disgaea, Tactics Ogre, etc etc etc

Crisis Core is very good if you're an action RPG fan.

God of War games were amazing.

Killzone Liberation!

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite!

Man I loved the PSP. Seriously one of the best / underated libraries.
These are great but hardly underrated or unknown.
Probably in the top 10 best selling psp games.
 

2+2=5

The Amiga Brotherhood
If you like puzzle games buy ABSOLUTELY Archibald's Adventures, a minis, it's really awesome, another puzzle game i really loved is Crystal Mines.
If you like twin stick shooters buy Dracula Undead Awakening, another minis.
 
These are great but hardly underrated or unknown.
Probably in the top 10 best selling psp games.

you are absolutely correct. I saw the words "PSP" and started foaming at the mouth over Patapon 2.

I still say that game is under appreciated, and would definitely be pleased if OP picked it up! It carries over to Vita!
 
Dead Head Fred - Fun 3rd person action... adventure game where you can rip the heads off your enemies and swap them with your own. Some give you new abilities or just act as disguises. It's a bit clunky and the camera can be annoying at times, but still enjoyable. The writing is also excellent. At one point there was going to be a HD port of this for the 360/PS3, but that was cancelled years ago. So yeah, Dead Head Fred remains a PSP exclusive.

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Bomberman - Not to be confused with the PSP's Bomberman Land, this was just called Bomberman, and it's a fantastic nod to the Super Bomberman series. Single player mode where you progress through different worlds complete with boss fights and a great deathmatch mode.

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Taito Legends Power-Up - The PSP version of Taito Legends was different to the PS2/Xbox/PC collections, as it contained four entirely new versions of Balloon Bomber, Crazy Balloon, Cameltry and The Legend of Kage that were exclusive to the PSP. The updated Cameltry is especially rad. Reviews at the time rarely ever mentioned this. =\ There's also about 20 ports of Taito arcade games in there.

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Hammerin' Hero (US) / GenSan (EU) - The last ever Hammerin' Harry game before he became nothing more than a pachinko machine theme. Platformer/beat 'em up with absurd humour and situations. Just crazy fun. Frame rate can be bloody awful though. Then again, it is an Irem game, so that's like their trademark or something.

This game might be hard to come by these days, dunno. I've never once seen the Euro version around.

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Will post some more later probably.
 
You said the magic words. If you haven't played Trails in the Sky, you haven't played every good JRPG that's worth playing.

250px-Loh6_The_Legend_of_Heroes_Trails_in_the_Sky.jpg



Until everyone that has a shred of interest in JRPGs has at least tried Trails in the Sky for themselves, it REMAINS underrated. Even on GAF. Where it is rated higher than anywhere else.

Thread's over. We have a winner!

Now go to PSN and start buying copies to support translation of the sequels!
 
Patchwork Heroes - Cut up invading wooden ships. Hard to explain, but it's a blast
Pursuit Force - Ridiculous car chase action game. Sequel is great too.
Syphon Filter - A couple of good ones
Motorstorm Arctic Edge - If you like the series
Twisted Metal Head On - If you like the series
Ultimate Ghosts & Goblins
The Red Star - beat em up
 

Alric

Member
These are some I don't think got enough recognition for how fun they were.

Ball Z: Shin Budokai 2
Jean D' Arc
Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony
Dead Head Fred
Dungeon and Dragons Tactics
Valkyrie Profile Lenneth
Star Ocean First Departure
Killzone Liberation
MegaMan PowerUp
 
Another vote for Trails in the Sky. That game is great on every level.

Also recommended:

Hot Shots Tennis
Sid Meier's Pirates

Patapon 2 and Lumines are fantastic as well, but don't know that I'd call them underrated.
 

Jacobbles

Member
Brave Story is a cute little JRPG that doesn't get much love and is worth checking out. I don't think it's on PSN though sadly :(
 

koma

Member
Another underrated game that was not mentioned yet is Jikandia: The Timeless Land

Jikandia_-_The_Timeless_Land_US_Cover.jpg


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"In Jikandia, you must travel through dungeons in search of your friends. You can set the time limit for each dungeon yourself! Dungeons are altered in several ways according to the time limit you set, so no adventure is the same twice! The longer you spend in one, the more likely you'll come across rare items and treasure chests...but you'll also face more monsters and difficult traps. Also, by meeting certain requirements, you can unlock specific events and cause legendary items to appear."

Then Umihara Kawase PSP is super fun if you love weird platformer, even with all its bugs:

UmiharaKawase_PSP_boxart.jpg


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Already mentioned, ZHP: Unlosing Ranger VS Darknight is an awesome, underrated roguelike game:

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spineduke

Unconfirmed Member
Patchwork Heroes - you play a motley crew tasked with taking down a fleet of invading warships with nothing but your cutting saw. The gameplay is really fun, there's quite a bit of content and visually it's got a very unique look to it. Wish this was available in HD!

 

batbeg

Member
I know it isn't a popular opinion but Popolocrois was one of my favorite JRPGs for the platform with a charming story, cute graphics, an interesting battle system and of course shitty loading as the main negative
 

Ironmask

Member
I was very into the psp, since i used to waste 3 hours of commuting for about two years with it.

What i played and felt underrated are:

Unbound Saga
The best brawler game for the PSP, a smart story, good characters, funny situations, decent enemy ai, good use of scenario and weapons available. They squeezed the memory of the PSP to put so much orgasm inside
UnboundSaga_PSPscreenshots062209_0000_Layer_10.jpg


Fat Princess
a really good multiplayer game, even if played solo. a lot of maps, characters and game modes to play with
fat-princess-03.jpg


Patchwork Heroes
as mentioned a few posts before me, also i loved the east european like soundtrack
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Kenka Bancho BadAss Rumble
Kenka_Bancho_9.jpeg

a really good game, one of the few that kept its japanese cultural references and a good brawler

Half Minute Hero
Half-Minute-Hero.jpg

a non stop arcade game filled with silly/funny stories and rpg references

Locoroco 1&2
everybody loves Patapon, but his little brother is poor talked about. I can assure you that behind the simple controls there's a deep and involving games. Also both my wife and my daughter like it and that means always something good.
locoroco-01.jpg


Mawaskes
A puzzle game with a great learning curve, the easy levels are just right to get you in the game, then it goes to really really difficult challenges if you dare. Also you can customize your avatar with strange shapes, i enjoyed it but i don't know why.
puzzle-guzzle-20.jpg
 

Jucksalbe

Banned
Brave Story is a cute little JRPG that doesn't get much love and is worth checking out. I don't think it's on PSN though sadly :(

It was on PSN, but they removed it a short while ago. It's also one of the few games that don't work on Vita (unless they changed that recently).
 

kazegami

Member
Kenka Bancho and Patchwork Heroes are great games. Besides of them, play Zettai Zetsumei Toshii 3 if you can. Even if it is Japanese, it is so much fun.
 
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