this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2026
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Why Everyone’s Picking Up a PSP Again in 2026 (gardinerbryant.com)
submitted 4 months ago by muelltonne@feddit.org to c/retrogaming@lemmy.world
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[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 34 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Look at it!

PSP body

It just oozes cool. Ugh, I need to find mine in storage.

Funny how, in the PSP's hayday, staring at a little glowing rectangle in public felt so awkward. And now it's digital detox.

So I've started carrying this little guy around in public, as my “phone detox”:

And strangers approach me and ask “ohhh, what is that, a camera?" Like it's alien technology they didn't even know was an option. Same thing happens with my relative’s iPod, and I imagine a PSP would evoke a similar response.

I posit that people want dumb electronics. They want to be liberated from addictive smartphone slop. They just don’t realize it until they see it exists.

[–] stargazingpenguin@lemmy.zip 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I found myself using my smartphone so little anymore that when it wore out I bought a Mudita Kompakt instead. It's not quite to the level of a flip phone, (I wanted something that I could still read e-books on.) but I'm still amazed by how many comments I get on it when I have it out for something. The four or five days without charging is great!

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Oh, that looks awesome. Bookmarking that.

[–] stargazingpenguin@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

It's pretty great, as long as you're willing to use it the way it's designed. The camera isn't great, and the screen refresh rate is too low to play video. I often carry a small mirrorless camera around as well, so I don't really need that! I have it almost entirely stock other than adding a podcast app and a better notes app. The e-ink display is really nice for reading, and even though I prefer physical books, there are a lot of free e-books available!

Your mention of people commenting about your camera reminded me of it, because I've had the chance to talk to a lot of people about digital minimalism because of that. It seems I run into quite a number of people who are either fed up with the constant attention grabbing from their phone, or realize they have an addiction to it.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

You're selling me on it. It would make me carry a camera around even more.

I think my biggest issue would be banking, authentication, and a few "locked down" iOS-only apps.

Another is quick access to the camera for sharing, which I could do with the microSD slot or an external reader, I guess. But it'd be more clunky.

So I'd need to keep an iPhone around anyway, unfortunately. But I could certainly pare it down with some discipline.

[–] stargazingpenguin@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 months ago

Yeah, the banking and things like that probably wouldn't work well or at all. My previous phones were all de-Googled android, and a lot of that type of thing didn't work without Google Play Services. This phone is also a custom version of Android without the Google bits, so it would probably be the same issue.

The photo sharing I'm afraid I don't have a lot of ideas on, other than what you mentioned. It is possible to add non Mudita apps, so you might be able to get a camera app working. I know the Olympus/OM Systems app (the camera brand I use) wouldn't work on my other phones due to having the Google services stripped out of them though.

[–] Arcadeep@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Man, I want to go back to an old flip phone so badly, but I drive around a lot in unfamiliar places for work so I need a GPS and also listen to audio books to keep awake so I'd prefer something to play those. I just wish there was one with some kind of map app so I don't need to carry 3 separate devices around

[–] stargazingpenguin@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 months ago

There are actually some flip phones with Google Maps or alternatives available, but using it on that screen size could be a bit complicated! I remember looking at some of them when I was deciding on a new phone. A lot of them run on something called KaiOS, which is Linux based but not Android. They have their own app store of basic apps that can be used on it.

[–] vogi@piefed.social 2 points 3 months ago

Funny how, in the PSP’s hayday, staring at a little glowing rectangle in public felt so awkward. And now it’s digital detox.

I have exactly the same feeling. I always have my DSi around and occasional break it out for a round of Picross in the subway. It would be so weird doing that in 2009. At least where I live.

[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 31 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Native hardware gaming is great and the PSP was a solid device, but if anyone is new to this and interested in a gaming console for PSP, then just pick up a Mangmi Air X (or if you're rich then go for a Retroid Pocket 5 for AMOLED awesomeness).

I sold my modded PSP 1000 seven years ago and think I maybe should have held onto it now that I'm back into retro games and PSP had a game library that holds up so well today.

[–] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

What are the physical dimensions of the Mangmi? Does it fit in a big pocket, like about the same size as the PSP 1000? Or are all these handhelds still too big for that?

EFIT: It is bigger than the PSP 1000.

[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Yes it's bigger and less pocketable, but you also get a bigger and better quality screen. If you want something very small and pocketable then there's the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro.

You can do comparisons on this site and overlay the images of the consoles to get an idea of sizes.

[–] tomkatt@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

https://retrosizer.com/?psp-2000:129,96~psp

Good place to compare device sizes.

[–] PerfectDark@lemmy.world 20 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Oh what a lovely thing to see, this is my article!

I've still got a couple other PSP articles on the go (it has become an obsession of mine)

Primary of which is my attempts to get an interview with someone from the original hardware design team. I've chatted a couple times to him, but the momentum seems to have stalled a little (though I'm not giving up on that idea!), I really want to share that story.

I've also chatted to one of the developers of Daxter, who said he's not at all interested in a interview, since he has well and truly moved on. But he did show me a preproduction PSP the team got to work on Daxter, and he kept!

[–] kingblaaak@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

can just get a psp emulator on the steam deck, gg

[–] a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

Don't need JNCOS to put a psp in the pocket.

[–] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The sheer amount of games you can run on that thing is absurd. Besides its own library, you can also run PSX games on it.

Then you get into hacking. Want to unlock it so that you can run homebrew stuff like emulators? Just copy a custom firmware (CFW) to your memory card, run it, and you're done. If you want to lock it again, it's just as easy. There isn't any risk of bricking your PSP, because the CFW doesn't make any permanent changes to your device!

So, now you can run emulators and play NES, Genesis, Gameboy, GBA, etc. There's also a bunch of homebrew games, but they can be buggy and difficult to get running.

[–] Tim_Bisley@piefed.social 7 points 4 months ago

I have a vita and a PSP. The PSP battery got spicy sitting in the closet but I was able to pick up a replacement easily.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

The only thing I tend to use my PSP for anymore is for irShell to control the TV. Our generic universal remote doesn't have an Info button to see the title of the show we're watching, but the remote profile for the PSP has it 👍

[–] k0e3@lemmy.ca 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Because it's the next retroconsole craze and people are jumping on the bandwagon.

[–] Solrac@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I dunnno, kinda makes me wanna get a Vita instead...

[–] k0e3@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 months ago

We should totally beat the rush and buy all the Vitas.

[–] the16bitgamer@programming.dev 6 points 4 months ago

What I miss about this era of portable gaming was that it was:

  1. Portable

  2. Fun, pocket games had a different design ethos around it. Longer play sessions were allowed since you can play it everywhere. But it never made you feel like you couldn't put it down since you might have to drop what you were doing to make your next connection. It's why I think Pokemon has been so successful. Outside of the elite 4, you could pause at any time and moment with no penalties in your game.

My recommendations for unique games for those who want them.

Pixel Junk Monsters - Tower Defence

The Sims 2 - Seriously a fun adventure game in the theme of the Sims.

Patapon 1 or 2 - Rythem adventure game

EveryDay Shooter - Twin stick shooter

[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

I love the big screen, So fresh and so clean

[–] Xinstal@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

PSP Street (E1000) are fun, love my one I picked up a couple of years back, nice to be fully offline

[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago

I still have one and a vita. they are on a coffee table just sitting there. None of the original psp games were particularly memorable to me but on vita I wish I could play gravity rush for the first time again. except for the lava area, fuck that shit.

[–] UxyIVrljPeRl@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

I just baugth a pspi6 to finally finish that psp project with the broken one i have.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I still have mine. Fully modded, tbh didn't like many PSP games and it's way better for emulation

[–] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Calling that "modding" is amusing. The PSP is so hackable, you just run an app and you're done. No risk of bricking it, and if you want to un-mod it, it's just as easy.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Indeed. There are definitely modifications, otherwise it wouldn't work the way it does :P