Here's Why The Sony PSP Was Way Ahead Of Its Time 

Honestly, anyone who says the PSP was a failure doesn't know what they're talking about...

PSP Is an amazing handheld that will never be forgotten!

The PSP slowly killed PC / console gaming for me. It was my first handheld gaming console and I realized then the convenience of portable gaming. Also... it pretty much started my Monster Hunter addiction.

I remember when it came out. I grew up in Eastern EU and the PSP was a massive hit. Almost no one brought Nintendo. Nintedo pullout of eastern eu market short after PSP was released

Seeing the PSP for the first time as a kid on a bus was mind blowing. I still remember he was playing a tony hawk game, and thinking it looks as good as my gamecube tony hawk game. Ive never been that amazed by technology since then.

Even as a Nintendo nerd, I still loved my psp. It had a great selection of games and it had mindblowing graphics for something that small at its time.

The PSP was the last time a console/handheld actually impressed me.

*One of the best handheld to pirate games*

I still own my SONY PSP! - And I love it!!

I owned the PSP 1000 from the beginning, it blowed my mind. A downgraded PS2 console portable this is so awesome ! Still own it and still have it and LOVE IT !

This system was so versatile, I honestly couldn't imagine having a multimedia center in my pocket before this system, I actually used it for backing tracks/clicktracks for my band and it had a sequencer called pspseq if you wanted to program a song on the go. It could run basically any emulator and ps1 games no problem. The community was awesome.

PSP days were some of my favorite as a kid. Learned so much about Wifi, memory cards, hacks, and whatnot through the PSP.

Seems he forgot one little detail. the 1000 model has 32MB of ram while the other models got 64MB of RAM.

That's it. This is a sign. I've been looking to buy one for awhile I've heard it's really good for emulation

Even now I'm still playing PSP games on my Vita

I remember around 05 towards the end of my junior year of high school i bought one of these and it came with spiderman. It felt so high tech back then

I had a sweet red God of War PSP and loved it.

Psp as a failure? Bithc please. It is one of the best handheld devices. I played the world out of mine. And the game library was great. Even now with vita I have many psp games on it. More then psvita games to be honest. (if we don't count ps2 ports as psvita games)

I love this style of video. Part mini-documentary, part deconstruction of system. Very informative and fun to watch!

Dark_AleX leaving? Nah, he just became the sole member of a Russian modding team by the name of M33 ;D

I miss the 'Fast Forward' segments when you unscrewed the consoles & when you put them back together. It gave off a feeling of being zen & I enjoyed listening to the music. 😄

The PSP got big when I was in high school, and I remember seeing it for the first time when a friend in class had it out. Considering the only game systems I'd ever owned before were gameboys, I couldn't believe it. It was one of the things that really felt like living in the future. But when I got it, I mostly ended up using it for its media functions. FFVII Advent Children was one I watched a lot.

my first Playstation product. I loved playing Ghost of Sparta on that bad boy

I remember getting my hand on the PSP first hand from one that a friend from Junior High had. I never owned one, but it was always mind blowing to see games that I would normally see on the PS2 be able to fit in my pocket. Super cool system, imo.

One thing I will never understand is why didn’t they make portable UMD players & try to replace portable DVD players?

Castlevania the Dracula X Chronicles is pretty awesome.

Some psp games from a 2005 console still got better graphics than 3ds games lol

Still one of the best handheld emulation devices in my opinion! Great feeling console, feels like a proper gaming machine (loved the DS but this felt like a beast in comparison and made the DS feel somewhat plasticy)

It was an amazing device. Great games, great (for a handheld) graphics, the ability to play MP3’s and watch movies. And it sold around 80 million units. Definitely not a failure.

Well, it's not like the DS wasn't pirate friendly.

Playing monster hunter on the psp with my friends was amazing back then

I used to own a PSP back in 2009 when I was in college and I recently decided to buy another one mostly to play my old time favorite Tag Force games (although I have other games to). Now PSP related videos are showing up in my recommends list. Is the PSP growing in popularity as a retro machine or does the universe just magically know what I'm doing all the time? lol

I remember finally hacking my PSP back in 2010-2011 just to install the GTA LCS cheat device man was it my dream coming true.

The thing that was sad about PSP, is how many that were sold purely to hack it

Sony suffered from apple syndrome - making their own memory cards that cant be used anywhere else and normal sd cards wont work

The screen size complaints get on my f ing nerves.

I used to own a PSP years ago, first game was Daxter (a spinoff of the Jak and Daxter series). Really miss it because it stopped working around 2010, i recall trying to play the Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker demo before it broke. One day i might go online and hunt down a new/refurished PSP with some games, just for the hell of it

The only reason I have a PSP now is to play Power Stone on the go

People seemed to forget that PSP was a revolutionary device. It was not just a game system, but it was the first all in one multimedia device. It had an internet browser, mp3 player, video player, camera, and an online media store. It may be hard to believe, but the PSP came out 2 years earlier than the iPod Touch and iPhone. It also featured a large 4.3 inch screen that smartphones didn't get until the early 2010s.

I stated this in your DS video after the suggestion of a PSP video, I recently did a case swap on my PSP and had to rely on videos from 2007-2009 in 240p. Seeing a tear down IN HD is a blessing for other people doing disassembly in the future. Thanks! 👍

Having this device back in the day, you were considered as the Richest kid. the poor, they happy enough to play a Java game in their phone.

I love that it was very fixable almost everything could be replaced by the consumer, I almost cried when my charging port broke, I asked my mom for money to buy a replacement part and did it myself. I still feel a great sense of satisfaction about it to this day!

Great video. Only the last minute really applies to the title, but it's still cool to get inside this thing and see what it's made of.

These awesome docu-techwave videos are awesome man, looking forward to more of these or wouldn't mind you redoing the previous consoles this way :)

i remember my brother being so excited that he had windows on his psp . idk why he was way too excited it making me laugh

PSP Go was way ahead of it's time. Had a TV dock, sync with a PS3 controller which would allow you to play your PSP and PS1 games on the go and on the tv. And it was digital distribution only.

I remember the PSP fondly, when I started working part time this was one of the first things I brought for myself. Ah good times.

Great video my man!

Imagine in a few years time, if Sony could get PS4 performance on a handheld. Download-only games to cut costs, expandable memory. And some way to stream gameplay from the handheld to a TV through just a dongle, no plugging in or wires.

I loved my PSP, just not the nub. I carried mine around with me everywhere back in 2007. I finished the notable Final Fantasy VII for the first time on this console. Finishe many other games too. Loved this thing.

You read my mind! I'd been looking for a video like this about the PSP for a while now!

Happy New Year, I can't imagine recording a video after 4am on New Years Day. What a champion! :) great vid SW!

The psp Go have a tv docking Station and connect with a ps3 Controller... the psp Go was the nintendo switch back in time

Love my PSP, so many great games on it. I loved buying UMD movies for it, cause you could also play them on your tv with the video cord.

Wow this was awesome learning about some of the PSP's History! Awesome Video!

The experience of video playing on PSP doesn't feel impressive nowadays, but before the time of smart phones, being able to watch movies on the go on a decent screen was actually a pretty big deal.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker was hands done the best game ever on the PSP

Nice video, I remember having my PSP 1000 as a kid, i really liked to play Monster Hunter Freedom and Dungeon Seige on the console. I bought a vita a year ago and modded it so i could play any games i wanted on an SD and took a huge nostalgia trip by downloading most the psp games i had back then. I hope Sony makes another portable because they make great quality consoles, the reason thing the vita suffered was because of poor marketing and their expensive proprietary memory cards.

i really enjoy this documentary video format. Thanks spawn wave and please make more videos like this.

Nice tech wave video Jon(SW). The PSP done a great job for Sony and watching films on the go was a cool idea and one that I wish the Switch will do at some point aswell.

Idk if the psp was, but the vita surely was lmao

@SpawnWave I have a question, I own a PSP 1001 and it has trouble reading memory cards on and off. I bought a replacement memory card slot, however, before I open up my system to install it, I want to know if installation of this new part requires any desoldering/soldering?

I remember reading a Popular Science Magazine article about the PSP. I thought it was incredible with a web browser video player and game console. I got one the Christmas after it came out and loved it

Love these type of videos, keep up the good work!

Great handheld, so many games, so many memories (so many emulators). No doubt it was ahead of its time!

I love and will always love the PSP. Possibly my all time favorite handheld! So many memories, so many great games. Sony did well with the PSP.

Great video dude!

Nice video style.. I would be happy to see more like this

Oh yeah this was a good video bro. I like videos like this.

I really wish we had youtube in the 90s i really needed my stick fixes back in the day lol

Miss the days of playing Socom and Syphon Filter online with the voice chat... Definitely ahead of it's time.

Great video, Spawnwave! Every time i am looking at something to add to my collection, or to replace/repair a device i used to own, i see you make a video of each one within DAYS! Personally i am trying to find one of those upscalers specifically for the psp, but once i get a set of psp component cables, it will have to do, as the upscaler is discontinued :(

Pretty sure Sega was the innovator for handheld you could plug into your tv but okay

I have my psp modded. I love it now!

It's actually crazy when you think about it , you could carry around AAA looking games there was nothing close to it, no rival.

Awesome content like always keep up the good work

Man my PSP got me through highschool. Peace Walker, Seasons of Family Guy, Music, SNES emulator with Chrono Trigger and FF6...

I still have it in a safe place in my room, next my ps3 and ps4..... GUESS WHAT?? IT HAS A HEADPHONE JACK😍

Really enjoy this series you have going. 🙌🙌🙌

As an early adopter in Japan I think the PSP was running homebrew before June 2005. In fact, the 1.0 firmware it came with would just run any code you threw on it, there was basically no protection whatsoever. One of the first updates fixed it (Pretty sure 1.50 that US got at launch was the second update, there was one before that and was more minor, but can't remember which added the 'security' feature). I definitely remember the feeling of losing my ability to run an NES emulator when updating. I was fully into the PSP though, so updating it was still ok by me, just to see what would change. Also, consoles that could update was like a brand new concept, so seeing the scrolling in zoomed in pictures to change from 30 to 60fps with that first update, it was really cool to see a console improve.

I loved my psp :,). Shame the Vita was abandoned my Sony and the west.

It had great graphics TBH, definitely better than the DS, the DS just had better games

That screen came out in 2005... 4.3 inches!! The iPhone didn't have a screen bigger than that until a decade later with the iPhone 6 lol

I still have my PSP and I still love it. Sure, it doesn't get as much use now, but neither do my 3DS or Vita. My PS4 is my main system. However, if I ever need to kill some time and I'm not home, I consider all three systems equally. I may also have an interest in a specific game on one of those systems. I don't have a Switch yet (likely will soon), but it's a little too big to truck around the way I do my other handhelds. It would make for an ideal system for playing while sitting in my car, mind you (not while driving, obviously). In any case, what I love best about the PSP is both its simplicity and that it was way ahead of its time. It even made the leap to digital downloads pretty well, in spite of the PlayStation Store not existing when the PSP first launched. Yeah, crazy to think in retrospect.

Sony's handhelds were stronger than the competition (DS and 3DS), but lack a library of games compared to Nintendo.

was and still is an ABSOLUTE BEAST!!! - failure my ass... incredible portable ps2

When it came out, the graphics were so insane and unbeliavable that when I got one for the first time when I was a kid, my school mates would actually want to pay me to take turns playing it...

These tech waves are great. I love the production on them.

I've legit never heard a person say they consider the PSP a failure. You're the first. That shit was everywhere while growing up. I was the only kid on my block without one lol.

Be back in 15 mins to tell you how the video was!!

I just picked one up last week and So happy I did! Great video!

Love these videos man! Keep up the good work 👌

Wii u was the switch 1.0 but the Vita was way ahead of it's time just not marketing was not done right

psp my all time favourite handheld

Every hardcore gamer in East Asia owned at least one PSP - some of my acquaintances owned every generation of PSP and in multiple colours. Every day on the metro and in Mcdonalds you could see people playing Monster Hunter. I was never much of a console gamer but I also had one, and I was hugely impressed by the console, and I don't mean only the game library or the hardware design... I also loved the whole design philosophy of the PSP software. The design of the startup screen, intro and menu was so distinctively youthful and stylish.

Would be great if you actually talked about some of the best software for the systems too in this series

will you cover Soulja boy console being ahead of its time or the OUYA next?

Psp was a good device, from the era before Sony started going downhill. Now playstation is a joke

Great informative video spawn wave.

Great video!