The PSP Was Too Early, Too Good, and Too Underrated for This World

The analog nub was basically a thumb blister generator. But man, that thing was trying to be a smartphone, a Netflix player, and a console before any of those things really knew what they were yet. And that’s what this post is about: how the PSP, clunky menus and all, was way, way ahead of its time.

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Drez

6/21/2025

a nintendo wii game controller sitting on top of a table

The PSP Was a Portal, Not Just a Console

Let’s start with this: the PSP could do everything.
It wasn’t just a gaming device, it was a full-on media center in your pocket. You could download music, watch movies, store photos, even browse the internet (sorta). Back in 2005. Let that sink in.

And the games? Absolute bangers. Metal Gear Acid, GTA: Liberty City Stories, Killzone: Liberation, and let’s not forget Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, which, honestly, still has one of the best endings in handheld gaming. Fun fact: The PSP sold over 80 million units worldwide, which is more than the PS5 has sold as of mid-2025. Wait, really? Yeah.

But here’s the kicker: It wasn’t the specs or even the games that made it magic. It was the vibe. It made you feel like you were holding the future. Like the world was finally portable.

The PSP Had Big Dreams in a Dial-Up World

Now, here’s where things get a little messy. The PSP had all these incredible ideas, Wi-Fi connectivity, downloadable games, even Skype calls, but it was shoved into a world that simply wasn’t ready. Most people didn’t have broadband at home, let alone the patience to update firmware using a USB cable that only worked if you held it just so. You’d try to connect your PSP to the internet, and it’d time out. So you’d manually input your router settings, no, not WPS, and wait three minutes just for the home screen of a webpage to load. It was like watching paint dry... through a magnifying glass... in dial-up. The PSP was the first handheld to feature built-in Wi-Fi, even before the Nintendo DS got its act together.
Too bad it shipped in an age when Starbucks didn’t even have free Wi-Fi yet. What really haunts me is how many people treated it like “just a gaming toy.” Even Sony seemed confused. They pushed UMD movies (why?), ignored the online potential, and kinda just... gave up by the time the PSP Go dropped (RIP). Sometimes, it felt like watching a genius kid in class get ignored because they talked weird and didn’t raise their hand the “right” way.

The PSP Modding Scene Was Pure Anarchy

Okay, confession time.
I definitely jailbroke my PSP. And if you had one, I bet you did too. Once you got your hands on custom firmware (shoutout to Dark_Alex, legend), the PSP basically turned into a hacker’s Disneyland. Emulators? . PS1 games? Homebrew apps? Sure. Did you know? The PSP could emulate SNES, GBA, and even some N64 games with decent performance, all from a 333 MHz processor and 32MB of RAM. That’s black magic. And this was years before “retro handhelds” became a TikTok trend. Back then, the PSP was your one-stop-shop for playing literally everything, as long as you were willing to void the warranty and risk bricking it. (Spoiler: I did. Twice.)

We Didn’t Deserve the PSP, and That’s On Us

The PSP didn’t fail. We failed it.
It came too early, asked too much of the world, and got replaced by smartphones that offered more convenience but way less soul. And yeah, I sound dramatic, but if you ever spent a whole summer with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite in your backpack and a dead pixel in the corner of your screen, you get it. Now, every time I see some overpriced PSP at a retro shop with a dusty screen and a $110 tag, I just think: “This thing could’ve ruled the world.”