Going Portable
Hopping on the PSP bandwagon
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Apologies for the way too delayed post. I’m not switching my posting day just struggling to re-find my routines after starting a new job. The next post is still planned for March 2nd. See ya then!
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One of my most frequent sources of gaming entertainment and news is the podcast Into the Aether. Every summer the hosts have been doing a season kickoff that coincides with a retrospective of a specific console. This time around they gave a heads-up that the focus will be on Sony’s 2005 handheld, the PlayStation Portable - encouraging listeners to play along if possible. Quite serendipitous as I’d already been itching to revisit the device’s catalog, so I went on the hunt. Luckily, after a couple weeks I found a red PSP-3000 in good condition at a local game store. Although there was a beautiful, in-box copy of Persona 3 Portable that was calling my name, I decided for a cheaper title just to make sure the device actually worked.
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Released in 2007, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters is the first spin-off of the popular franchise to be released for the PSP. A little web searching revealed that, surprisingly, it is one of the best-selling PSP games ever. I use that adverb because after playing for a couple of hours in the year 2025 I can only describe it as intensely average.
The setup is simple. Our titular heroes are attempting to enjoy a vacation when a little girl is kidnapped by a group of robots. During the act, the captors drop an artifact belonging to a race of creatures that may or may not exist. So the duo go off to learn more and rescue the child. Oh, and Captain Qwark is tagging along so he can search for his parents on their computer or something. As I said, I’m only a couple of hours in so maybe this expands into a universe-spanning epic tale, but early indications signal the opposite. It’s a small scale adventure for a small scale device.
While not overly exciting, the simple story isn’t a big concern because the meat and potatoes of the franchise are still there. Size Matters doesn’t deviate from what people love about the franchise - creative gunplay in fun environments. If you’ve played any other Ratchet & Clank game this one will be immediately familiar. If you like running, jumping, or shooting it’s all here! Things are definitely toned down a bit due to the simplicity of the hardware - there’s a level of flair you might find in other entries that the PSP isn’t able to match. So it all leads to a fun-enough, muted version of better games you’ve played elsewhere.
That said, I still find myself impressed. I’ll share deeper thoughts as I play more games on the device, but playing on original PSP hardware is a treat. Sure, I can feel the compromises, but Size Matters is still a PS2 quality game running on a tiny handheld just a few years after the larger console’s release. In fact, it’s so close to what one would expect on the PS2 that the game would eventually be ported onto the console just a year later. I may not be giving a standing ovation for what Size Matters is as a game, but that it exists at all gets a little round of applause from me.
Bonus Bits:
The Best Way to Play PSP Games in 2025
I hate to repeat my sources in back-to-back newsletters, but the timing of this post and companion video could not have come at a better time. Brendon is one of the hosts of the aforementioned podcast, and his rundown of the many ways one could get into the PSP is a helpful primer for anyone looking to do so themselves.