handhelds Archives - Intensive Gaming Diary

Here’s a blog post about PSP (PlayStation Portable). I bought one this year. Why would you want to get a PSP in 2024? Here are some reasons…

PSP is very cheap today. I paid 80 euros for it. It has been some months already. I really like the device. I got also an adapter and a memory card (microSDHC) that holds 32 GB of storage. The deal included also a charging cable. I actually had to buy the memory card and adapter separately so they weren’t included in the price of 80 euros.

What are some good games for PSP? I bought three games: Colin Mcrae Rally 2005, Marvel – Ultimate Alliance 2 and NBA 2K13. These are just some examples. You are actually able to play PlayStation 1 games on PSP. The games seem to be more advanced than PS1 games as PSP was released later than PS1.

You can also play games like Metal Gear Solid – Peacemaker, Silent Hill – Shattered Memories, God of War – Ghost Of Sparta and Gran Turismo just to name a few. There are a total of almost 2000 games in the library of PSP games. Many of the games are ports of well-known titles.

I just today read some news that Sony might be working on a new portable gaming console. We have seen a handheld console already after PSP. That device was PS Vita.

We have seen how Nintendo Switch can be played in a handheld mode and it can also be connected to a television screen. Right now Switch is in the top five of the gaming consoles that are sold most. The top position is held now by Sony PlayStation 2 and Switch is actually on the third spot right after Nintendo DS. I do own also a Nintendo DS.

I am not very comfortable playing a handheld device. I enjoy more about a gaming console when I can connect it to a big screen and play it with a good quality gaming controller. I like to sit and lean my back towards a comfortable chair or a sofa when I play.

Handheld devices can be nice if you are on the move. It is very nice to play a device like PSP in a hotel room for example. A handheld device is good when you don’t want to carry around many cables and other heavy equipment.

You can also check some games on a PSP emulator also. There is a very nice emulator called PPSSPP. The games do have some limitations and cannot be compared to some device that gets connected to a 4K or Full HD screen. Also the controls are a bit compromised.

This thing in this featured image is Super Game Boy. Can you guess what it can accomplish? Yes, to play Game Boy Games on Super Nintendo. So there’s an adapter and a Game Boy game which happens to be a good Game Boy game and it is…Super Mario Land.

Why and how did I start getting into Game Boy games? I just figured that there might be something interesting here. It all started as I played Zelda – Link’s Awakening. You know, that’s a Game Boy game and a good one, I can tell you that. So I started to get an idea out of this.

So, there are games being developed for some system. If you happen to be a game developer you have to take in consideration many things about on what device the game can be played on. Game Boy certainly has limitations but just look at these two games that I have mentioned here. They are of very good quality.

How limited is Game Boy as a gaming system? We can start from the screen resolution…or so called resolution. Game Boy actually has a resolution of 160×144 pixels with an aspect ratio of 10:9. That’s a small screen for a handheld gaming console. It’s actually so small that sometimes while I was testing Super Mario Land, just moments ago, I felt a bit of clumsiness because there just are so few pixels for controlling and actually moving your character.

What are some other limitations? There are only a limited amount of colors. Originally Game Boy had four shades of green on the screen. Where Game Boy really excels is the battery life. You can play 16 hours with four AA-batteries. To make a comparison Game Gear provided playing time of three to five hours with six AAA-batteries. Also Game Gear had a colour screen of 32 colors. What about sound? It is a bit limited. But you have to consider that this handheld gaming device came to markets in 1989.

Playing Game Boy games with Super Game Boy is fun. I have a total of five games for Game Boy at the moment. I also got myself a Game Boy Color some time ago. I am not so excited right now about it. Actually I found out that the screen was very dim and it makes playing it a bit of a pain. So I prefer my Super Game Boy adapter.

So I found some time today to spend with games and gaming. I am content that I also had time to write this blog post. I have been lately busy with work, reading books and making music.

Intensive Gaming Diary

Tag: handhelds

Why I Bought PSP In 2024?

Playing Game Boy Games (And Not Taking It Too Seriously)