Also my observation is that nothing that ever appear trendy on tiktok, instagram or youtube ever translate to real life. There are just an awful lot of super niche trends happening at the same time that only those in their respective algorithmic bubble are aware of.
It was(/is) a great device for playing ps1 and snes games. It doesn't seem so special now that there are so many emulation focused handhelds, but at the time it felt really awesome to be able to play games like that on a plane.
As an aside, I really liked the brief time I got to work on PSP software. From what I remember it was a fixed function GPU and a decent enough CPU that all felt really balanced for the time. After working on things like Gameboy Advance and a little bit of Nintenod DS, it felt like an ocean of possibility compared with those two. I'm sure if I was to go back to it now it would feel claustrophobic but at the time it was pretty comfy.
I have huge respect for the folks who spent countless hours freeing devices like the PSP from the control of the corporations that wanted them locked down. I think we'll need a lot more of that spirit in the years ahead...
I recently got a PSP (along with a special cable that I can use to hook it up to my TV); there is a pretty strong aftermarket ecosystem for them.
Pair that with a 30-40$ controller extension like the Razer Kishi and you have a really powerful retro gaming device.
It will be missing the haptics, the original display, the small UMD drive loading noises and vibrations – all that stuff was part of the experience as well.
For example, it took me a wrong time to realize why emulated Game Boy Color games felt so “off” until I learned that the original display had such an extremely narrow color gamut that mapping the GBC display output to full RGB is completely wrong. The same applies to the DMG and its shades-of-green (not grey!) display with its absurdly slow LCD ghosting that needs to be accurately emulated to see anything at all in a few games that made very clever use of the constraint as a feature.
There are some good shaders these days that try to approximate all that, but it’s still just that: An approximation.
You can of course buy that device, but from personal experience the novelty doesn't last very long and then it just becomes just another device in the drawer graveyard. Also no one's really making new PSP games anymore? so the novelty of the PSP remains in its construction and the software; which becomes limiting as time goes on.
The joystick, buttons all tend to break or stick after 20 years, replacements may or may not be easy to come by for most, so it just makes more sense into building your own retro game device that supports PSP emulation among others.
But there's something quite nostalgic about holding the console you had as a kid and going down a good old happy memory lane
Seeing what my PSP can do in 2026 (from emulating Switch through to Steam/GOG/Epic etc games), you can pry it from my cold dead hands. I do see the appeal tho, the PSP had nice hardware design going for it.
