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[Theslammer]

"Never Stop Playing"

Previous threads:

Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom (1985)
Sega Genesis/Mega Drive (1989)
Super NES (1991)
Sega CD (1992)
Nintendo 64 (1996)
Sega Dreamcast (1999)
Sony Playstation 2 (2000)
Game Boy Advance (2001)
Microsoft Xbox (2001)
Nintendo DS (2004)
Playstation Portable (2005)
Microsoft Xbox 360 (2005)
Nintendo Wii U (2012)
Sony Playstation 4 (2013)
Microsoft Xbox One (2013)

Vita's sales started off well enough, and the launch was varied and well-supported, especially by Sony. It's actually amazing to me that, after 2013, support from Sony would plummet. Media Molecule was able to bring Tearaway to the system (and bring a fantastic version to the PS4 that's its own game, really) in 2013, but by and large, it quickly went to niche product.

I've never read an in-depth article about what went wrong, but I think much of the response is the price of the system and especially the price of the memory cards. It's a pity since now only is it a good handheld, but it made for a good companion piece to the PS4.

However, it did produce many good games, plus housed a ton of indie games on-the-go. And the original OLED was a great screen. Putting aside the obvious point that people wanting something they bought to be supported, I can definitely see from that launch why people had even higher expectations for the system and were hoping for more support long-term.

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Army Corps of Hell
Asphalt: Injection
Augmented Reality: Cliff Diving
Augmented Reality: Fireworks
Augmented Reality: Table Soccer
Ben 10: Galactic Racing
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
Dungeon Hunter: Alliance

Dynasty Warriors Next
Escape Plan
F1 2011
FIFA Soccer

Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational
Hustle Kings
Little Deviants
Lumines Electronic Symphony
Michael Jackson: The Experience HD

ModNation Racers: Road Trip
Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus
Plants vs. Zombies
Rayman Origins
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen

Super Stardust Delta
Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack
Touch My Katamari
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition

Wipeout 2048

Japanese launch: December 17, 2011

AR Combat DigiQ
Army Corps of Hell
Asphalt: Injection
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
Disgaea 3 Return
Dream Club Zero Portable
Dark Quest: Alliance
Dynasty Warriors Next
Everybody's Golf 6
F1 2011
Little Deviants
Lord of Apocalypse
Mahjong Fight Club: Shinsei Zenkoku Taisen Ban
Michael Jackson: The Experience HD
Minna to Issho
Monster Radar
NAX Music Player
NicoNico
Ridge Racer
Shinobido 2: Tales of the Ninja
Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru: 11 Ninme no Suspect
Touch My Katamari
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Virtua Tennis 4

European launch: February 22, 2012

A-Men
Army Corps of Hell
Asphalt: Injection
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
Dungeon Hunter: Alliance
Dynasty Warriors Next
Escape Plan
Everybody’s Golf: World Invitational
F1 2011
FIFA Football
Frobisher Says!
Hustle Kings
Little Deviants
Lumines Electronic Symphony
Michael Jackson: The Experience HD
ModNation Racers: Road Trip
MotorStorm: RC
Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus
Putty Squad
Rayman Origins
Reality Fighters
Ridge Racer
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen
Smart As
Super Stardust Delta
t@g
Top Darts
Touch My Katamari
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition
Wipeout 2048

 

[bibs]

While later support trailed off quickly, it's launch was quite impressive. Almost the complete opposite of the Switch situation where it had only one main game, but now is quickly picking up steam.

 

[Cookie18]

It is still an awesome console. I’ve got tons of games still in my backlog for it. I had a hard time choosing between my Vita and Switch when taking just one for extended travelling. I took the Switch but I still miss my Vita.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Memory cards and the loss of Monster Hunter killed the system.

I really don't understand what the hell they were thinking with the memory cards. It's much easier to buy a $300 system than a $200 system with an extra mandatory $100 purchase on top of that. Extremely high memory prices also discouraged people from buying games (for space issues), which is an incredibly stupid thing to do.

 

[Not Drake]

Wipeout 2048 was fantastic, despite the fact it ran at 30FPS. Gravity Rush managed to create a wonderful world and deliver it on a small device. I was really impressed by it at the time. It's still my favorite game on the system too. I expected Uncharted GA to be really poor, but outside of tacked on motion mechanics it was really a full Uncharted game. Then there was Lumines that stole a lot of my free time and Virtua Tennis 4 which was the Perfect Fit™ for the system. Small DL titles like Super Stardust and Motorstorm RC were great too.

The launch was insane in my opinion. No console that I remember came close to delivering so many quality titles day one. I still use my launch Vita on a regular basis, but I wish we got more titles like Killzone Merc or Soul Sacrifice. What could have been...

 

[Noisepurge]

Grabbed it at launch with Uncharted, Wipeout and Stardust. Great selection of launch games.
Still play it to this day, even though i have upgraded to an orange Vita 2000.

Currently playing Ys 7 to get to Ys 8.

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

I've never been so hyped for a console launch, and so disappointed at the death of a system than the vita. So much potential.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

Enjoyed this launch despite it being very low key. While there wasn't a single standout game, there was so much variety on offer and it's great to be able to dip in and out of many different games on launch day.

I remember receiving my Vita with Rayman Origins and Blazblue, then within a few days picking up Everybody's Golf, Motorstorm RC, Touch My Katamari and Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

While there weren't many releases after launch, I was playing the Daily International Tournament without fail on Everybody's Golf up until the version 2.00 update. Good times.

Few would disagree that this was the single biggest disappointment.

I still use my Vita today for the odd game. While a lot of its shortcomings are due to the decline of the handheld market, Sony should be commended for turning a bad situation around and using Vita to lower their barrier of entry for publishing across all their formats.

Gravity Rush managed to create a wonderful world and deliver it on a small device...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Gravity Rush was June or July? I remember it arriving in Japan around May - imported Gravity Daze but my copy never arrived in the mail...

 

[flipswitch]

Still my favourite launch lineup.

 

[Cozmogramma]

Best launch line up of all time. Five and a half years later and I still have a big backlog.

 

[Not Drake]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Gravity Rush was June or July? I remember it arriving in Japan around May - imported Gravity Daze but my copy never arrived in the mail...

Oh that's right. I don't know why I remember it being a launch title for the console.

 

[Kresnik258]

Personally, I wasn't a massive fan of Vita's 2012 (too many western games) but I have to admit the launch was really impressive. I didn't actually get one until LBP landed in October (I think?) but ended up buying a load of launch games that ended up being among my favourites on the system.

WipEout 2048 is brilliant (I wrote a review about it here) and is probably my favourite entry ever thanks to being able to get HD/Fury as DLC. Uncharted was also a brilliant piece of tech and more enjoyable than the reviews led me to believe; and Everybody's Golf was loads of fun too.

Personally, I felt like a lot of games slipped through the cracks too just because there were so many launch titles. Shinobido 2 is really under-rated (review here) as a sandbox stealth game and is something I still come back to time and time again. Modnation Racers also has the best single player campaign in the series (review here) and I feel like people just completely overlooked it due to the lack of online.

Loved loads of other stuff too - Super Stardust; Touch My Katamari; Dynasty Warriors Next etc. Could've done with fewer games based on gimmicks, but still a fantastic launch.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

Oh that's right. I don't know why I remember it being a launch title for the console.

You just jogged my memory. It was penned in for launch but got delayed at the last minute.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Sony were being really tight with their money, the PS4 hadn't become a runaway success yet and they were still trying to find their feet. There was also a (misguided) belief that smartphones had ended the era of the portable console. Nintendo could get away with it because they were selling to kids, but for Sony it seemed like they were putting the Vita out there because the PSP had been too successful to just drop that market altogether, especially in Asia - but they were ready to jump out the moment things didn't look like a big success. And yes, not being able to keep Monster Hunter definitely played into that.

And yes, it was over-engineered and overpriced. It absolutely didn't need front and back cameras, the rear touch screen was only useful in a tiny number of games, and the 3G was a non-starter from jump. On the flip side, only having the one set of triggers was an under-engineer, it totally undermined the syatem as a PS4 controller/remote play device. And yes, the memory card thing was a stumble, though they were rightly very concerned about piracy after the way things went with the PSP. And then there was the Vita TV, which bizarrely couldn't play many of the system's biggest games.

Supporting two systems and dragging major first party studios off of more potentially profitable PS4 projects seemed counterproductive to them at the time, so the plug was pulled.

All that said? The Vita's a success to me, it's probably my favourite handheld ever. I got it in 2013 with the Walking Dead bundle and it's still my most played system even with a PS4. Being able to lay in bed and play rpgs is the system's true killer app. With PS Classics and digital PSP games the library is way bigger than people think - though so is the native Vita library, which I believe is at 1500+ games now.

There was this wrongheaded notion that the system was dead once Sony stopped producing games, but it's trundled on in Japan to this day, and many of its best games have come out since then, with plenty of those games still seeing English releases.

Looking at Japanese sales nimbers it's hard to deny that with the arrival of the Switch the system is in its sunset, but I think we'll still be seeing late Vita releases in 2019.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

Personally, I wasn't a massive fan of Vita's 2012 (too many western games).

But that support never came back anyway - 2012 was the last and only time Vita received games like Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

Great call on Shinobido 2, by the way. It's a shame the DLC got delisted for it due to Namco losing the publishing rights. Wish the game would get relisted but I suspect a new listing would be a new SKU for the game, so DLC and saves would be incompatible.

 

[massoluk]

I have a shit tons of backlog on it filled with PS1 and PS2 games. Yet, it still sit in my drawer for months now...

At least I managed to finish P4G and also got my fill with Musou games on it.

 

[axisofweevils]

As a handheld gamer and a VN fan, I really like the Vita. However, it often feels like you're working against the machine itself. The expensive Memory Cards and the way it erases data when you try to change region are all so consumer unfriendly.

 

[Theslammer]

As a handheld gamer and a VN fan, I really like the Vita. However, it often feels like you're working against the machine itself. The expensive Memory Cards and the way it erases data when you try to change region are all so consumer unfriendly.

WHAT?!

 

[Kresnik258]

But that support never came back anyway - 2012 was the last and only time Vita received games like Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

Great call on Shinobido 2, by the way. It's a shame the DLC got delisted for it due to Namco losing the publishing rights. Wish the game would get relisted but I suspect a new listing would be a new SKU for the game, so DLC and saves would be incompatible.

I know. I liked Vita more as the Japanese gaming machine it was from 2014 onwards than the western handheld it was in 2012 and 2013. Don't get me wrong, I loved for plenty of games during that time (Killzone; LBP & Tearaway are among my favourite titles on Vita), but I felt it was a better machine during like 2014-2016.

re. Shinobido, the DLC was trash anyway. Like literally, I don't think it added to the game at all. It is a shame it got de-listed though.

 

[massoluk]

WHAT?!

Yeah, it actually is a thing. It was a pain trying to get that Gundam game DLC when you main PSN account is US, but the DLC is in Asian..

 

[Hamster Plugin]

WHAT?!

You can't change regions on the Vita. Your system will be bound to your PSN account and you must reset the entire system to factory settings to switch to a different one.

 

[ffvorax]

I love this console, it's on par with the Game Boy to me! I played on both a lot of games and enjoyed them as never again on a portable!

I still buy and play with it a lot, I actually buyed it some months after release and have been happy with it along the years...

Also best portable hardware EVER. Fast, easy to understand, comfortable.

It's a shame that it didn't sold enough to see a new VITA... probably...

Actually playing Hatoful Boyfriend after finishing Hyperdimension Neptunia 3rd, and next is Danganronpa V3!

Also how not to remember the fantastic retro catalogue? (PSP-PSONE?)

I have the "old" 1000, but I plan to buy one of the new models before they go out of stock. (unless they announce PV2 with the same retro support)


The launch lineup was good, I remember:
Escape Plan (not perfect but I liked the style)
Everybody Golf (Fantastic!)
Lumines Electronic Symphony (one of the best puzzle game ever?)
Motorstorm RC (a lot of fun)
Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus (so similar to the main game)
Rayman Origins (platinum the PS3 version, finished this again on portable, great game and perfect port)
Super Stardust (great game always)
Touch My Katamari (first time I played the series, crazy game!)
Uncharted: Golden Abyss(great action game, not as good as the main ones)
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Wipeout 2048 (killer app, incredible on portable)

And not too far I think also:
LBP Vita (my favourite of the series)
Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (Loved that game and it's humor helped me in a bad moment of my life)
Soul Sacrifice (that game had stile and was a lot of fun online!)


and a lot of other games.... I'm so sad that a console I liked so much didn't had a lot of success....

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I really love my Vita. It's got loads of great exclusive software and had some appropriately creative, silly software. Unfortunately just a few red marks against it were key in its downfall (no Monster Hunter, no GTA, expensive proprietary memory)

Some of my favourite games:
Tearaway
LBP Vita
Killzone Mercenary
Gravity Rush
Super Stardust Ultra (similar to the PS3 game, but perfect for the platform)
Motorstorm RC

It was also my favourite device for most indie games and had a beautiful design.

 

[Lord of Ostia]

It really did have a great launch lineup, so much variety and so many quality games. It's a shame Sony support pretty much dried up after 2013, and the big publishers never really tried much on the device. Still has tons of great indie games and Japanese games though. My Vita library is over 90 physical games and God knows how many digital. Love the system

 

[redcrayon]

I still love my Vita. Just the right size in terms of weight/dimensions. Finished Ys VIII on it last week and if that's the last major game I play on it, it'll be a great one to remember it for.

Ys Celceta, Killzone, Freedom Wars and Stranger of Sword City would probably round out a top five for me.

Another thing I'll remember it for: introducing me to Ys and the Trails RPGs.

 

[Theslammer]

Yeah, it actually is a thing. It was a pain trying to get that Gundam game DLC when you main PSN account is US, but the DLC is in Asian..

You can't change regions on the Vita. Your system will be bound to your PSN account and you must reset the entire system to factory settings to switch to a different one.

Geez. =\

I'm glad PS4's region free. That's how I bought the Bloodborne GOTY edition since I live in the US.

 

[Meffer]

Memory cards and the loss of Monster Hunter killed the system.

I really don't understand what the hell they were thinking with the memory cards. It's much easier to buy a $300 system than a $200 system with an extra mandatory $100 purchase on top of that. Extremely high memory prices also discouraged people from buying games (for space issues), which is an incredibly stupid thing to do.

Also the fact that a lot of good sales and number of games like indies were only on PSN. PS+ also netted you free games to download every month. So the memorycard issue was baffling on Sony’s part.

 

[Meffer]

Ultimately for me, the Switch is everything the Vita wanted to be in terms of functionality, features and more. I actually want to make a thread how similar the two are in that front.
The only reason I still have mine is because of the games I have on it.

 

[bobbytkc]

It was worth every penny i spent on it. I think the main problem is that sony does not really have the first party capabilities to make it a success. It also comes with many caveats such as the memory card issue.

I still play it today.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Geez. =\

I'm glad PS4's region free. That's how I bought the Bloodborne GOTY edition since I live in the US.

The Vita is also region free. It has the same region restrictions as the PS4 does, where you can't use DLC from a different region than your game. So if you had the European Bloodborne standard edition, you can't buy DLC (The Old Hunters) for it with your US PSN account, you would have to switch to a European one.

The Vita doesn't let you switch accounts like the PS4 does, which is the problem if you have a game from another region.

 

[ffvorax]

Ultimately for me, the Switch is everything the Vita wanted to be in terms of functionality, features and more. I actually want to make a thread how similar the two are in that front.
The only reason I still have mine is because of the games I have on it.

Just out of curiosity, what are the functionality the Switch have and that VITA wanted to but didn't get?
Could be an interesting thread.
Region free, youtube (no more... ), browser, fast OS, good and various start lineup,trophy support, retro game supporto (PSP,PSONE) remote play,...? I think the Switch looks good for the future (can be the next "vita" thx to third party support finally on N), but as a launch console has a lot of "lacks".

Oh I just noticed the NEAR is not even cited in all the thread... nice idea but completely unused after... like ever used... maybe just some launch titles... I never get why sony do this with some features....

 

[Theslammer]

Also the fact that a lot of good sales and number of games like indies were only on PSN. PS+ also netted you free games to download every month. So the memorycard issue was baffling on Sony's part.

I still don't have a Vita. But just in case, I download those PS+ games every month. xD~~

It was worth every penny i spent on it. I think the main problem is that sony does not really have the first party capabilities to make it a success. It also comes with many caveats such as the memory card issue.

I still play it today.

Yeah, while I love their first party output, specifically since the PS2 days, I don't think they have enough first parties to go between two systems with development times being as long as they are on the console/PC front. It was easier during the PS2 days since development times and teams were smaller, so they could more feasibly support both systems.

If Bend were still doing handhelds primarily, that would mean no Days Gone on PS4 for me, and I'm really looking forward to that.

The Vita is also region free. It has the same region restrictions as the PS4 does, where you can't use DLC from a different region than your game. So if you had the European Bloodborne standard edition, you can't buy DLC (The Old Hunters) for it with your US PSN account, you would have to switch to a European one.

The Vita doesn't let you switch accounts like the PS4 does, which is the problem if you have a game from another region.

The Vita is also region free. It has the same region restrictions as the PS4 does, where you can't use DLC from a different region than your game. So if you had the European Bloodborne standard edition, you can't buy DLC (The Old Hunters) for it with your US PSN account, you would have to switch to a European one.

The Vita doesn't let you switch accounts like the PS4 does, which is the problem if you have a game from another region.

Huh, I didn't know that. Thankfully, I got the GOTY edition for Bloodborne, so Old Hunters was there. =P

But this is good info to know. Thanks.

 

[EmiPrime]

And yes, it was over-engineered and overpriced. It absolutely didn't need front and back cameras, the rear touch screen was only useful in a tiny number of games, and the 3G was a non-starter from jump. On the flip side, only having the one set of triggers was an under-engineer, it totally undermined the syatem as a PS4 controller/remote play device. And yes, the memory card thing was a stumble, though they were rightly very concerned about piracy after the way things went with the PSP. And then there was the Vita TV, which bizarrely couldn't play many of the system's biggest games.

Yep. I love "gimmicks" but the rear touch pad, front touch screen and front and back cameras were pointless guff that increased the price. Should have had one SKU too and axed the 3G model. A lower launch price and micro SD card compatibility massively reducing the price of entry and it could have been a minor success on the same level as the PSP.

 

[OCD Guy]

The vita could have been brilliant but Sony themselves didn't seem to give a shit about it, they also made a major mistake by yet again forcing a proprietary format on consumers.

With all of that said, if Sony release a handheld with access to the PS4 library (vita remote play doesn't count) then I'll be there day one.....

 

[RalchAC]

The device had quite good first party support for the first two years, and I'll never get tired of
saying it. There were content droughts, yeah, and I think it was a mistake releasing handheld spin offs of popular franchises so close to the latest mainline entry (IIRC, Golden Abyss launched in Japan in the same month as UC3 and both Liberation and AC3 were released in the Fall season).

But there are a lot of gems out there. You mentioned Tearaway. Gravity Rush was an amazing game. People like to dump Soul Sacrifice as a "MonHun clone" despite how different and cool it actually is. Killzone Mercenary was a really good shooter and looked gorgeous. A lot of people talk about LBP Vita as the best entry in the series.

It may have been a bit underpowered for its own sake (seeing how a lot of 7th gen games couldn't run on the system, but the tech wasn't there TBH), and it didn't release in a "perfect storm" situation to get console games on the go, as opposed to the PSP which got a lot of games due to the fact that a lot of devs were doing PS2/Wii/PSP multiplats at the time.

But it's still a really unique and cool device, with awesome games if you are into the sort of genres that have florished in the system, and I feel it was the starting push for Sony's big indie push during 2013-16.

 

[ffvorax]

Yep. I love "gimmicks" but the rear touch pad, front touch screen and front and back cameras were pointless guff that increased the price. Should have had one SKU too and axed the 3G model. A lower launch price and micro SD card compatibility massively reducing the price of entry and it could have been a minor success on the same level as the PSP.

3G model... lol what a waste it was!
Rear touchpad was used in so few games... and it was good and bad... for sure it was unecessary at the end... also back camera...

IF there will be a VITA2 they should be more "concrete".

Also Sony... please... Memory Card... not proprietary this time ok? Or at least no so damn expensive!

 

[Metalgus]

Great launch for sure. Uncharted and Hot Shots were great and complimented each other nicely. I'm still rocking the First Edition Bundle case by the way. It's a bit bulky but I like it :

 

[Kresnik258]

Yep. I love "gimmicks" but the rear touch pad, front touch screen and front and back cameras were pointless guff that increased the price. Should have had one SKU too and axed the 3G model. A lower launch price and micro SD card compatibility massively reducing the price of entry and it could have been a minor success on the same level as the PSP.

I actually really like the front touch, and use it to navigate most of the time. I think there are a handful of games that use it really well too and it's useful for menus and stuff.

Could've done without the rest though. I've never used the cameras and reach touch isn't something I'm massively keen on - although if they axed that, I'd expect them to have used L2/R2 buttons instead.

 

[Arklite]

Virtua Tennis, Wipeout, and Killzone were absolute witchcraft, visually. The Vita itself feels like a premium product that put the PS3's lack of multi tasking and party chat to shame. Even today it's more fleshed out network-wise compared to any portable.

Best original game: Gravity Rush
Personal Favorite: Freedom Wars. I wish this got a sequel.

 

[PantsuJo]

Memory cards and the loss of Monster Hunter killed the system.

I really don't understand what the hell they were thinking with the memory cards. It's much easier to buy a $300 system than a $200 system with an extra mandatory $100 purchase on top of that. Extremely high memory prices also discouraged people from buying games (for space issues), which is an incredibly stupid thing to do.

This is the truth, sadly.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

Yeah, it actually is a thing. It was a pain trying to get that Gundam game DLC when you main PSN account is US, but the DLC is in Asian..

The other thing which is nonsense is the Vita deleting saves when you delete games. I had a rude awakening on the day PS Plus came to Vita - deleted several games to make room for Uncharted (iirc one of the first Plus games) only to find my saves were wiped upon later redownloading them. I never did finish Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, and it was for this very reason...

For a final kick in the teeth, Sony did conveniently find a way to extract just the save data from digital copies of games - but you had to subscribe to PS Plus to upload and download games.

I currently have a 64GB Vita memory card (previously: 16GB, 8GB), but there are still games I can't fit on there which I can't keep the saves of.

This is the truth, sadly.

Having Monster Hunter probably wouldn't have changed much, though - Vita did best in Japan and Asia after all, and Monster Hunter wasn't a game changer for the 3DS outside of Japan.

The decline of the handheld market in general as publishers spent resources on mobile is probably the real culprit since it meant that there were less bespoke games being made. On both 3DS and Vita. I mean, there's a reason why Namco never came back to make more Ridge Racers, Ace Combats and Tekkens for either 3DS or Vita, and why the Tales games they did make had penny-pinching budgets compared with their last gen cousins on DS and PSP...

 

[bemusedchunk]

nintendo is doomed

 

[Fdkn]

I currently have a 64GB Vita memory card (previously: 16GB, 8GB), but there are still games I can't fit on there which I can't keep the saves of.

You can backup saves on PC (with the whole game data)

It's not ideal but just saying in case you didn't know.

 

[Kresnik258]

You can backup saves on PC (with the whole game data)

It's not ideal but just saying in case you didn't know.

Can also back up to PS3 too.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

You can backup saves on PC (with the whole game data)

It's not ideal but just saying in case you didn't know.

I know, but the amount of time it takes to write 2-4GB games to and from the Vita and rearrange all my software to fit said game back onto the memory card is ridiculous.

Can also back up to PS3 too.

Ha ha. My 2007 PS3 has a 40GB HDD, which already needs to be routinely cleared to make space for new game installs by itself.

---

Really, it shouldn't be hard for Sony to let users store saves independently of patch files (I couldn't delete Everybody's Golf with 500MB of patches because I'd lose my save), especially given limited storage space and regular sales on the PS Store.

Sony's refusal to improve the PS Vita's user experience in any meaningful way since 2012 is one of the biggest disappointments of the system. From what I remember the most significant user-facing update they issued since then was...antialiasing to the home menu icons.

 

[BomberMouse]

Best launch line up of all time. Five and a half years later and I still have a big backlog.

This is me. Best hanheld ever, love the 2000 model.

 

[ffvorax]

The other thing which is nonsense is the Vita deleting saves when you delete games. I had a rude awakening on the day PS Plus came to Vita - deleted several games to make room for Uncharted (iirc one of the first Plus games) only to find my saves were wiped upon later redownloading them. I never did finish Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, and it was for this very reason...

For a final kick in the teeth, Sony did conveniently find a way to extract just the save data from digital copies of games - but you had to subscribe to PS Plus to upload and download games.

I currently have a 64GB Vita memory card (previously: 16GB, 8GB), but there are still games I can't fit on there which I can't keep the saves of.

Just "open" the bubble, click on the PLUS sign, then upload it and check the box to auto upload it for the future...

Having Monster Hunter probably wouldn't have changed much, though - Vita did best in Japan and Asia after all, and Monster Hunter wasn't a game changer for the 3DS outside of Japan.

The decline of the handheld market in general as publishers spent resources on mobile is probably the real culprit since it meant that there were less bespoke games being made. On both 3DS and Vita. I mean, there's a reason why Namco never came back to make more Ridge Racers, Ace Combats and Tekkens for either 3DS or Vita, and why the Tales games they did make had penny-pinching budgets compared with their last gen cousins on DS and PSP...

I know it's not the best solution, but if you have PSPLUS you can backup the saves on the cloud... for some reason you must do it for every new game you install in the system, as far as i know there is no option to make it default for everything... but it's something.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

This is me. Best hanheld ever, love the 2000 model.

2000 model is amazing. Bought one because I loved the two-tone colour design of the 2013 units, and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the build and display considering all the doom-mongering about it not being an OLED display.

Couldn't go back to the 1000 model and its faux-chrome, iPhone 4-esque side strip. The 2000 is what the Vita design should have always been.

 

[pretty done]

I remember those 50 second Wipeout loads all too well. So glad the collection exists because man the Vita just was not good enough to properly run that game.

 

[Klart]

My favorite handheld. Such a great & powerful little machine. Still use it almost daily, for remote play or regular Vita play.