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PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable

Manufacturer
Sony
Production
2004–2014
Generation
Gen 7
Type
Handheld
Launch price
$249
Units sold
82.0M

About PlayStation Portable

The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, and is the first handheld installment in the PlayStation line of consoles. As a seventh generation console, the PSP competed with the Nintendo DS.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).

Read about the PlayStation Portable in the Chapter 6: HD and Motion era of our long-form console history.

Library & collector facts

Software library

1,958licensed games

  • North America: 1,100
  • Japan: 1,500
  • PAL: 1,300

Lineage

PlayStation PortablePlayStation Vita →

Release timeline

🇯🇵 Japan
December 12, 2004
🇺🇸 North America
March 24, 2005
🇪🇺 Europe / PAL
September 1, 2005
🇦🇺 Australia
September 1, 2005
Lifespan
10 years on market

Pricing

Launch price (2004)

🇺🇸 USD
$249

Launch titles & exclusives

Launch titles

Wipeout Pure · Lumines · Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix · Need for Speed Underground Rivals · Twisted Metal: Head-On · Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade · Ridge Racer · Spider-Man 2 · Tiger Woods PGA Tour · MediEvil Resurrection

Pack-in game

None standard (various retailer bundles included Spider-Man 2 UMD movie)

Notable exclusives

God of War: Chains of Olympus / Ghost of Sparta · Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII · Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions · Persona 3 Portable · Monster Hunter Freedom Unite / Portable 3rd · Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker / Portable Ops · Patapon trilogy · LocoRoco trilogy · Daxter · Lumines · Jeanne d'Arc · Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together · Valkyria Chronicles II / III · The 3rd Birthday · Dissidia Final Fantasy · Ys Seven / Oath in Felghana

Final licensed game

Retro City Rampage DX (2016, JP minis) was among the last; commercial production ended in 2014

Most valuable collectible

Metal Slug Anthology UMD (~$100+); Hellboy: The Science of Evil sealed; many UMD movies (the failed UMD video format) now command odd collector values; sealed launch Value Packs

Variants of PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable Go2009

Hardware specs

Os
PlayStation Portable system software
Cpu
222–333 MHz MIPS32 R4000-based
Gpu
Custom Rendering Engine + Surface Engine GPU, 2.6 GFLOPS
Ram
32 Megabyte, MB (PSP-1000); 64 MB (2000, 3000, Go, E1000) (system RAM), 2 MB (video RAM)
Sound
Stereo speakers, mono speaker (PSP-E1000), 3.5 mm headphone jack
Weight
PSP-1000:, 280 g, PSP-2000/3000:, 189 g, PSP Go (PSP-N1000):, 158 g, PSP Street (PSP-E1000):, 223 g
Dimensions
PSP-1000:, 74 mm (h), 170 mm (w), 23 mm (d), PSP-2000/3000:, 71 mm (h), 169 mm (w), 19 mm (d), PSP Go (PSP-N1000):, 69 mm (h), 128 mm (w), 16.5 mm (d), PSP Street (PSP-E1000):, 73 mm (h), 172 mm (w), 21.5 mm (d)
Display Output
4.3-inch (110 mm), 480 × 272 pixels with 24-bit color, 30:17 widescreen TFT LCD, PSP Go: 3.8 in, other models: 4.3 in
Storage Internal
Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, PSP Go: Memory Stick Micro (M2) and 16 GB flash memory

Hardware revisions

  • PSP-1000 (Phat)(2004)

    original launch hardware, infrared port, full UMD drive, ~4-hour battery

    ⚠ many criticized 'square button doesn't always register' early QC defect (Sony issued statements)

  • PSP-2000 (Slim & Lite)(2007)

    33% lighter, video output to TV, faster RAM

  • PSP-3000(2008)

    built-in microphone, improved screen with less ghosting

  • PSP Go (PSP-N1000)(2009)

    slide-out form factor, no UMD drive (digital-only), commercial failure

  • PSP Street / E1000(2011)

    budget EU model, no WiFi

Launch colorways & special editions

Launch colors
Piano Black (launch)
Special editions
  • Ceramic White
  • Silver
  • Pink
  • Spider-Man 2 Edition (UMD movie bundle)
  • Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core Edition (gold/silver, JP)
  • God of War Edition (red)
  • Monster Hunter Editions (multiple JP)
  • Hannah Montana Edition
  • Madden Limited Edition
  • Daxter Edition
  • Star Ocean Edition

Modding scene

Difficulty
soft-mod
Custom firmware
Custom Firmware (M33 — Dark Alex, 6.61 PRO-C, ChickHEN); the original 'softmod everywhere' platform
PSP-1000 (TA-082/TA-086 motherboards aside) supports the easiest softmod ever shipped via Pandora's Battery (a service-mode battery hack); later models require ChickHEN or 6.20 TN exploits but eventually became fully softmoddable on every firmware up to 6.61; remains a gold-standard emulation handheld

Reception & legacy

Launch reception

Strong — first serious threat to Nintendo's handheld dominance; praised for graphics (near-PS2 quality) and multimedia (music, video, photos)

Notable controversies

UMD movie format failed (every studio pulled out within a few years); PSP Go (2009) was a digital-only commercial flop; Sony's loose attitude toward homebrew/CFW resulted in massive piracy that hurt third-party support late in the lifecycle

Cultural significance

Sold ~80M units, the most successful non-Nintendo handheld; defined the 'console-quality handheld' marketing position later inherited by Vita and Steam Deck; remains beloved for its emulation capabilities and its uniquely strong Japanese RPG library

References

More from Sony

PlayStation 5
2020
PlayStation 4
2013
PlayStation Vita
2011
PlayStation 3
2006
PlayStation 2
2000
PlayStation
1994

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