20 PSP Minis games we want to play

The announcement of the PSP Minis “don’t call it an app store” app store has got us thinking. The PSPgo will, in gaming terms at least, be roughly equivalent to an iPhone touch with traditional gaming controls instead of a touchscreen.

With that in mind, we started thinking of all the promising games on iPhone that would have been improved by a more traditional control set-up . We also started thinking about the great iPhone games that could bring something of equal worth to the Minis service.

And we considered a few mobile and Xbox Live games that would be welcome on PSP. Basically, anything that’s compact yet distinctly and solidly ‘consoley’. That’s quite a range of games, but here a few of the more outstanding ones.

As always, give us your suggestions in the comments section below.

20 PSP Mini games we’d like to see

This is the first of several platform games included on our list, and there’s a reason for that. While the likes of Castle of Magic are brilliantly designed games and well worthy of your investment on iPhone or mobile, we can’t help but wish for digital controls when we play them. The PSP’s D-pad and buttons would make Castle of Magic shine even more.

The daddy of pacy platformers struggles more than most with the iPhone’s vague touch controls thanks to the extra pressure placed on your reactions by the blue hedgehog’s Bolt-beating speed.

It’s still eminently playable and gorgeous on the iPhone’s wide screen, but we could have that plus flawless controls on PSP Minis.

Unlike the other two platformers on our list, Spy Bot Chronicles was made with the iPhone in mind - and it shows.

It struggles the least with the lack of digital controls thanks to a slower pace and less intensive action. One thing’s for sure, though - the beautiful presentation and quirky gameplay would fit just as well on the Sony platform.

Gran Turismo is going to have the premium racing sector all sewn up on PSP, but Real Racing could be a worthy budget alternative.

That risks underselling the experience, in fact, because a properly calibrated PSP version of Real Racing would be one of the platform’s best racers any way you look at it. Firemint has proven pedigree on handheld systems, too.

In the same way that Real Racing could be the budget alternative to Gran Turismo, Low Grav Racer would complement WipeOut perfectly.

Sony Liverpool’s futuristic racing franchise is a clear inspiration for CobraMobile’s effort, right down to the use of pounding techno and neon-lit visuals.

Sony could save itself the trouble of trying to squeeze WipEout into Mini form by bringing Low Grav Racer onboard.

I have a confession to make - I don’t like playing football games on the iPhone. While many on the PG team would disagree with me, I feel that a genre that needs access to so many buttons at a fraction of a second’s notice just doesn’t translate well enough on touchscreen. PSP Minis could be the ultimate home for Gameloft’s mobile footy franchise.

It could be argued that the PSP lacks a classic Zelda-esque adventure at any level, so the arrival of the excellent Zenonia for a budget price would no doubt go down a storm.

The PSP is home to some excellent eastern RPGs, so this rather more action-oriented effort (along with the recently announced sequel) would slot in just perfectly.

Go! Go! has appeared on both mobile and iPhone so far, but it’s the former that received the highest praise from us.

The reason for that is simple - control. While it still plays brilliantly on iPhone, it’s a game that benefits from the certainty and precision that a physical input method provides. This, along with the classy presentation, makes the game perfectly suited to Sony’s new service.

The one N-Gage game we’d really like to see on a more popular platform, Reset Generation could finally receive the audience it deserves on Minis.

The game’s knowing nods to gaming lore and its inspired mish-mash of borrowed gameplay mechanics would really hit home with the savvy PSP-owning crowd, as would the artfully retro presentation.

Another game developed by Redlynx, but this time for PC and Xbox Live Arcade. Redlynx Trials is a simple game of manoeuvring your dirtbike across each hazard-strewn stage using balance and momentum.

It might be tough getting it all in to a sub-100MB package, but even a cut down version of this excellent game would be welcomed onto Minis.

We’ve raved about this mobile conversion of the excellent Xbox Live Arcade game plenty on Pocket Gamer. While the mobile version had to make the smallest of concessions by not displaying the whole game field in glorious widescreen, the PSP would have no such problems. Allied to the PSP’s decent D-pad (the 360’s is rubbish), this could be the finest version yet.

We can still scarcely believe what an excellent job was done with this Space Invaders reboot. It literally evolves the classic alien-blasting game play before your very eyes.

PSP already has its own excellent Space Invaders revamp in Revolution, but this is sufficiently different to complement it nicely should it make it to Minis. There’s a question of adapting to the landscape view, but evolution is the name of the game.

How Fishlabs managed to squeeze an epic free-form 3D space-sim onto a humble mobile phone is still the subject of much conjecture. We suspect witchcraft.

There followed an (eventually) excellent iPhone version, showing that the game was scaleable to more capable platforms. Time to complete the circle, then, and make an epic widescreen space opera with quality digital controls.

Digital Chocolate has always made mobile games with production values that are a cut above the rest. It would be a small hop, then, to take one of their best and most recent games, Captain Galactic, and place it onto the Minis service.

Its quirky take on interplanetary action and clever physics-based play would fit beautifully on PSP, as would the gorgeous comic-book style.

Spider is one of the most refreshingly brilliant games to have appeared on the iPhone. There’s only one problem - the controls can be a little awkward.

While converting them to the PSP’s traditional control system would mean losing a certain amount of tactile joy (flicking to make webs is ace), the improvements to directional control could more than make up for that.

“Advance Wars on your PSP” is something that Sony handheld owners have been yearning to hear for years. While the iPhone’s Mecho Wars doesn’t quite match Nintendo’s masterpiece, it’s one of the better - and one of the more stylish - efforts. It would be welcome as an early PSP Minis release.

If ever there was a quintessential example of “great game, shame about the controls” then Dropship on iPhone would be it.

It’s an excellent twist on the classic Lunar Lander's game play, which involves using small bursts of thrust to manoeuvre your space craft.

It’s the addition of a slightly counter-intuitive shooting element that poses a bit of a problem on iPhone, which a move to PSP would no doubt rectify.

People didn’t like the iPhone version of this '90s classic. It was seen as a clunky and rather cynical port with some woeful controls, which is a shame given the quality of the original action platformer.

Minis is the perfect chance to rectify the situation, presenting a faithful version of the game with proper digital controls.

It’s the same principle as found elsewhere in this article - Gangstar: West Coast Hustle would be brilliant as a budget alternative (or complement) to the don of open world crime games, Grand Theft Auto.

The PSP already has Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, but a Minis version of the near console-standard Gangstar (with a few extra side missions) would be most welcome.

Another thing the PSP possibly lacks is a strong kart racer in the mould of Mario Kart DS.

Krazy Kart Racing isn’t quite that good, but as a budget Minis title it would be a jolly good stand-in - especially with the implementation of some tighter digital controls.

Fans of the GBA will remember the earlier iteration, Konami Krazy Racers, which was an excellent Mario Kart clone, so an optimised PSP version could be great.