The Playstation Vita was released in 2011 as direct competition to Nintendo's flagship handheld device at the time, the Nintendo 3DS. It was a direct successor to the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and improved upon its design and functionality in practically every single way. The PSP went on to sell over 80 million units and had a strong and passionate player base - a follow-up then, of course, made a lot of sense for Sony.
Unfortunately, the Vita only managed to sell around 15 million units and as a result, was the last handheld console released by Sony, unless you count the PlayStation Portal. We do not. In fact, the Vita was the final non-Nintendo portable handheld console to release from any of the major platform holders and left Nintendo to sweep up the rest of the market share from 2017 onwards with the release of the Nintendo Switch.
And yet, in our opinion, the Vita still very much competes with the original Switch console and even out-performs it in many respects. Despite being nearly 15 years old, selling poorly and barely being supported for as long as the PSP by Sony, it still had an incredible lineup of first and third-part games. Being way ahead of its time (much like the PSP), the Vita still holds up incredibly well today.
With handheld gaming receiving somewhat of a comeback, with the successor to the Switch soon to release, the popularity of the PlayStation Portal, handheld PCs such as the Steam Deck and even rumours that both Sony and Microsoft are working on new handheld devices - we think now is a perfect time to look back on arguably the most impressive handheld ever released and more specifically its excellent library of games. We might do a retrospective on the console, its features, its influence and legacy in another article one day (comment if you'd like to see this), but for now, let's focus on the games!
To lay down some ground rules, these lists will not include any community ports, homebrew games or emulated PSP or PS1 titles. We'll simply be looking at some of the top ten native PlayStation Vita games in each of eleven different genres. We'll also be avoiding the majority of Eastern region imports, we include three in total but that's mostly because they're too good to ignore in their respective genres in our opinion (plus English patches exist for them). We've listed a few collections or games with very similar sequels to single entries to help keep the lists varied and diverse.
ACTION ADVENTURE
- Uncharted: Golden Abyss
- God of War Collection
- Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
- Gravity Rush
- Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation
- Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus 1 or 2
- Batman: Arkham Origins - Blackgate
- The Amazing Spider-man
- Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles
- Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen
Action adventure games are surprisingly where the Vita pulls its biggest punches, with the top three or four games essentially being must-haves for the system. Uncharted: Golden Aybss, while not ground-breaking, is essentially a fully-formed Uncharted experience that looks, plays and performs incredibly well considering the hardware. Each of those in the top ten here bring visuals that have no right being on such a tiny machine. Treasure-hunting, demon-slaying, stealthy-sneaking, city-swinging - this genre has it all!
ACTION RPG
- Dragon’s Quest Heroes II (Japan Import)
- Soul Sacrifice: Delta
- Silent Hill: Book of Memories
- God Eater: Resurrection or Rage Burst
- Phantasy Star Nova (Japan Import)
- Bastion
- Salt and Sanctuary
- The Bard’s Tale
- Secret of Mana
- Dungeon Hunter: Alliance
That's a lot of variety in this genre for the Vita, but some of the more impressive titles are unfortunately Japanese exclusives, they can be imported and English-patched, but out of the box they can feel a little out of reach. That said there are still some really solid alternatives, including a surprising but decent genre switch from the Silent Hill franchise, a SNES remake in Secret of Mana, Indie hits in Bastion and Salt & Sanctuary and even a we've got Diablo at home offering from Dungeon Hunter.
CASUAL ADVENTURE
- Tearaway
- Ratchet and Clank Trilogy or GForce
- Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
- Touch my Katamari
- Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Sly Cooper Trilogy or Thieves in Time
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz
- Jak and Daxter Trilogy
- SpongeBob HeroPants
- Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom
Despite not being a Nintendo console, the Vita has more than enough family fun to offer in the casual and adventure genres. There are nine Lego games, four Ratchet and Clank titles, three Jak and Daxter adventures and four Sly Cooper romps to dig your teeth into! Tearaway takes centre stage for us just down to being charming, polished and content-rich and while the performance of the Jak and Daxter titles almost kicks them out of the top ten, everything else is hours of good fun.
FIGHTER / BEAT ‘EM UP
- Dead or Alive 5 Plus
- Mortal Kombat
- Street Fighter vs Tekken
- Injustice: Gods Among Us – Ultimate Edition
- Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
- PlayStation All-Stars
- Guilty Gear: XX Accent Core Plus R
- Skullgirls: 2nd Encore
- Kung Fury
- 99Vidas
Most key fighting franchises of the time made an appearance on the Vita, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Dead or Alive, Tekken, Marvel, Injustice, Guilty Gear - even a first-party brawler in the form of PlayStation All-Stars. All are handicapped slightly from being on a less powerful machine but there's so much choice that you're bound to find one that fits your playstyle if fighting games are your jam. We'd recommend trying one from the top 5 and one from the lower 5, unless you're a fighting game fanatic you'll usually find a few that match your preferences and keep you going for years.
PLATFORMER / METROIDVANIA
- LittleBigPlanet – PS Vita
- Rayman Origins or Legends
- Chasm
- Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
- Axiom Verge
- Slain
- Super Meat Boy
- SteamWorld Dig 1 or 2
- Superfrog
- Putty Squad
There are so many platformers and metroidvania-style games on Vita that we considered splitting them into two different lists, but we feel this would result in diminishing returns in terms of quality, besides the last two (which we're mostly adding due to Amiga-nostalgia), which while brilliant, likely wouldn't end up in most player's top ten - the rest are all incredibly unique and enjoyable games that bring a lot of replayability and content to the Vita's library. But there's a lot more, this top ten is just scratching the surface. Start here by all means, but you don't have to look far for a bunch more great platformers.
PUZZLE
- Hitman Go or Lara Croft Go
- Tetris Ultimate or Puyo Puyo Tetris (Japan Import)
- Metropolis: Lex Obscura
- Lumines: Electronic Symphony
- Limbo
- FEZ
- Lemmings: Touch
- Slayaway: Butcher’s Cut
- Stealth Inc. 1 or 2
- NekoBuro – Cats Block
This is also a genre we considered splitting in two between puzzlers and match-3 games, while we have a soft spot for match-3 generally, you don't exactly need a top ten list for them, so we snuck them into this list instead. Absolute stand-outs for us are the phenomenal 'Go' games from Square Enix, while not necessarily stellar ports, they are fundamentally great games. The rest are a varied toss-up of puzzlers of different types, from line-clearing to match-making to problem-solving and even to camper-slaying, puzzle offerings on the Vita are varied and interesting.
RACING
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed
- MXGP
- MotorStorm RC
- WipeOut 2048
- Ridge Racer
- ModNation Racers
- WRC 3, 4 or 5
- Asphalt: Injection
- Urban Trial Freestyle
Another genre where the Vita has a really solid offering, most of them could just easily take the top spot for the thing they do right - fun! The black magic involved in packing the whole open world of NFS Most Wanted into something the size of a well-used soap bar is too impressive not to mention. The rest in the top ten all bring something unique, Sonic All-Stars bring a fun and chaotic cast of known characters, MotorStorm brings a tight and energetic remote-controlled car experience, WipeOut brings adrenaline and futuristic vibes, ModNation yanks cart racing away from Mario's lock and key and Urban Trials induces that "just one more try" mentality.
ROGUELIKES / ROGUELITES
- Darkest Dungeon
- Risk of Rain
- The Binding of Isaac
- ScourgeBringer
- Crypt of the NecroDancer
- Rogue Legacy
- Spelunky
- Demon’s Tier+
- Nuclear Throne
- Don’t Starve - Giant Edition
Given their most recent surge in popularity, the Vita has a surprisingly large amount of Rogue-likes in its library, we could easily double the size of this list and still not run out of really cool titles. Nearly all the godfathers of the modern rogue-like movement are represented here and they all receive relatively decent ports too, with good performance and visuals. While it isn't our strongest preference for genre, we can at least appreciate the unique and challenging pressures and choices they put on you, it certainly makes you value the livelihood of your character a little more!
SANDBOX / OPEN-WORLD
- Stardew Valley
- Terraria
- Minecraft - Vita Edition
- Shakedown: Hawaii
- Dragon Quest Builders
- Roundabout
- Retro City Rampage DX
- Disney Infinity 2.0
- My Singing Monsters
- BigFest
The three absolute beasts of sandbox games are all here, Stardew, Terraria and Minecraft - we almost stopped at number three! Nuff said! But no, all the games in this list have something really cool to offer with lots of freedom, open worlds and toys to play with. But you could just as easily pick one of the top three games and never play anything else, they're just that good! If you're in the mood to be creative or just build your own fun at your own pace, the Vita has more than enough options for you. Shakedown and Retro City Rampage also have GTA1 retro vibes to them, which is a style not explored enough these days.
SHOOTER
- Killzone: Mercenary
- Resistance: Burning Skies
- Resident Evil: Revelations 2
- Unit 13
- Call of Duty: Black Ops – Declassified
- Borderlands 2
- Helldivers
- Dead Nation
- Earth Defense Force 2017 or Invaders from Planet Space
- Duke Nukem 3D – Atomic Edition
You'd think this is where the Vita would suffer, and in some aspects, it does a little - it has to. But at the same time, there are some incredibly impressive games in the shooter genre for the Vita, most of all in the first-person titles. Killzone: Mercenary has many wishing it got a full console release and while the Vita ports of Resident Evil, Black Ops and Borderlands 2 have some drawbacks, particularly the latter, they are still fully realised versions of their counterparts and are absolutely not a waste of time being played on the Vita if you align your expectations. And if all else fails, you can just play Duke Nukem 3D, which never gets old. That's a fact.
STRATEGY
- Civilization Revolution 2 Plus
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown Plus
- God Wars
- Breach & Clear
- Frozen Synapse Prime
- Worms: Revolution Extreme
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Hulk
- SteamWorld Heist
- Steam Tactics
- PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate HD
Some could say this is the genre most under-represented on the Vita, while still landing huge names such as XCOM, Civilization and Warhammer, the rest are indie-AA fodder that while still offering competent and enjoyable experiences in their own right, none of them are going to set your world on fire. That said we also think it's where some real hidden gems are hiding - Frozen Synapse and Steam Tactics go mostly forgotten and yet feel fresh and engaging in a genre overshadowed by the more recognisable names. Certainly room to explore, but not the blockbusters you may have hoped for.
BONUS: MOBILE
- Plants vs. Zombies
- Run Sackboy! Run!
- Jetpack Joyride
- Angry Birds Trilogy
- Fruit Ninja
- Fieldrunners 2
- Angry Birds Star Wars
- Age of Zombies
- Sparkle 1, 2 or Unleashed
- Burn the Rope
And our bonus group goes to a selection of games that found their footing on Android and iOS devices before being ported over to the Vita. While none of them would be headlining genre top tens themselves, we do think the excellent touch screen and slim / light form factor of the Vita translates really well to touch-screen mobile games. If you started as a mobile gamer and are making the jump to a handheld console like the Vita, these are some good titles that will help make the transition feel more natural.
And there it is, 110 games across 11 genres (plus ten mobile games)! We tried to bring variety to each list, naming some heavy hitters while also shining some light on a few hidden gems waiting to be discovered by more players.
We'd love to hear what some of you think, have you played on the Vita? Are there games in your collection that you would absolutely replace with another in our top tens? What games do you wish got a Vita release? Would you be interested in an article from Opium Pulses that goes into the history, influence and legacy of the Vita?
Here's hoping whatever Sony does next in the world of handhelds, that they do it as forward-thinking and as elegantly as they did with the Vita.
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