So today’s article I wrote is just me plodding along wondering out loud why the Sony PSP has become so popular again all of a sudden.
I mean, clearly “so popular” is an exaggeration in the grand scheme of things, these are no-doubt extremely small numbers compared to other handhelds available. Scrolling social media really has shown a lot of them on feeds for me in 2026.
If you’re interested in why I think they’re showing up more lately, then read on with my article. I go through a reason in each ‘section’, but If you’ve got your own ideas, I’d love to hear them below here. Oh and if you’re thinking:
“hey there’s no in-depth investigative journalism here, it just looks like they wanted an excuse to write about the PSP!!!”
…you’d be right. I’ve been obsessed with them lately. This is my 4th PSP article in a very short time. I do so love them!
Anyway, if you want to see some old PSP TV ads, some nostalgia, and want to chat about PSPs (plz do), then here’s the link:
The Vita also rips (arguably more) ass, as it does everything the PSP does and more, it’s also the easiest console to hack there has ever been. I picked up a Japanese one for like 90 bucks and it’s one of the best all around devices there is.
Hacking it also let’s you swap O and X for canceling and selecting. To my knowledge, that’s the only downside of getting a Japanese Vita.
O is maru, X is batsu. Maru = circle for yes and X = Batsu for incorrect. Japanese people make the same gestures with their arms to signal if something is right or wrong. It’s funny that they changed it for the west, I wonder what would’ve happened if they didn’t
Yeah, Japan was actually surprised when American game devs started using X for confirm. They never even anticipated that it would happen, because the X/O symbolism is so heavily engrained in their society that it was glaringly obvious to them that O was confirm. Their original intent was always to use the Nintendo layout for confirm/cancel, but then western devs misunderstood the buttons and swapped them.
To them, an O is like a checkmark or thumbs up emoji. Imagine if an American console maker developed a console with a thumbs up button, and Asian devs started using the thumbs up button as Cancel. The American console manufacturer would probably be pretty fucking confused by the decision too.
I get that confusion in Baseball. Crossed arms and “no” gesture means safe, thumbs up means out? I guess it makes sense from the perspective of the pitching side. But I always have to remember which is which.
That’s a two second fix.