Should You Play Armored Core on PSP or PS2? 

Fair point, though man, the analog control for PS2 friggin hurts going back to now. Was doing Nexus a bit ago for Rocket Only, and boy did they come a long way by the PSP ports. It's easy to forget that feeling of not transitioning from forward to sideways smoothly.

@@ElSuperNova23 It's oddly specific, but I knew someone would care 😁

Not for all of them, I would need to double check, but I recall several issues like this still being present in PS2. There were a bunch of random "honestly who cares" kinds of things, though, like when you boot up the VS mode from the main menu, it gives you the names from 3 in SL.

@@CoffeePotato Oh yeah, I remember that one. Didn't make sense until I played 3 afterwards

Also the video has a few cuts here and there that cut you off mid-sentence just to let you know.

@@Aerynolae Oh, I know, had a rushed morning, noticed I messed those up ..and had one of those "if I save this for later, I'm going to forget, if I go back to fix it, I'm going to be late to a thing, and realistically tomorrow we're going to be talking about the gameplay trailer."

That beautiful abomination is brought to you by... Game FAQs random parts they added to PSP guide by someone I can't remember. Always forget those arms aren't original.

Sweet

Yup, that's the introduction to the game, no tutorials, no fanfare. "Whoever leaves this room alive gets promoted, hop to it, bitches!"

@@CoffeePotato I also tried chasing the other mech with the melee weapon. I never once got close enough to him them.

@@lurkerrekrul Ground strafing, I'm assuming? You can do some pretty nutty instant lock on cuts from the air.

Wasn't that only on Hard Mode? I have no idea, I've always had a fear of relying on the lockbox or energy weapons since being a kid, so that LB is either off of the screen or a rocket reticle most of the time 🤣

@@CoffeePotato Nope, not hardmode exclusive. Hard mode for the PSP versions just makes the lock box even smaller, on top of the screen crunch from being on PSP. Like I said, it's not that bad with 3 and Silent Line, but the PSP version of Last Raven has it's lock box even more crunched down compared to the PS2 version, which already had a much smaller lock box, combined with the general inaccuracy of weapons in Last Raven.

@@SiphonRayzarSee, I had asked on reddit abt PSP potentially being my way to play LR, only to hear this. Good to know I wasn't misled. Think I'll just play 3/SL on PSP & Nexus/LR on PS2. Thanks for bringing this up.

Depends on how you play. Personally I love the psp control scheme, but just like remapping left arm to L3 on controller due to the travel distance, On a Vita, it would be the back left touch pad instead, while on the PSP, the travel distance from the flat stick to Dpad feels super nice.

They play a lot better, it's a bummer Nexus never made it over.

@@CoffeePotato Yeah and Nexus was the one which would've really become way better with some fixes

Hah, it's me, the written stuff took so much longer to do that I ended up just doing videos for the most part. I love third gen, it's one of my "sit down and blaze through" games pretty regularly. Feels like a good luck ritual. Pick a gimmick, get A-1, Break a gigantic USB drive to open the sky, feel good.

@@CoffeePotato Yeah (early) 3rd is easily my favorite too. I only had Armored Core 3 for my ps2 as a kid (and battlefront 2 I guess) so for pretty much my entire pre-high school years I was just playing ac3 over and over and over. I remember the first time I defeated The Massive Weapon or whatever the submersible boss in AC3 was when I was like 9 and I fucking cried because I had been stuck there for a year or so. I never got to play Silent Line as a kid, or even a teenager, I only played it for the first time a couple of years ago when I decided to play through them all in order, but after having gotten loads of experience with every other AC game over the time period, I think Silent Line might just be my favorite of them all. Especially with that first person mode they added? oooooh yeaaaaa. I'm gettin' immersed in mech shit tonight and every other night of my life and no one can stop me...except maybe the actual first-person gameplay. But it still looks cool as fuck! I also really like Armored Core 2 becuz mars cool, and also because if Musk actually sets up over there, AC2 mars will actually be a pretty accurate prediction of the future tbh

It's especially jarring when you can compare them on the same device, and it's like "how did I tolerate this control clunk growing up?" Side note, touchscreen for offhand on Vita feels so good.

Might be there on LR, but the bigger ones, like the Avalon Hill sky box or Reservoir aren't.

How were the controls on the Vita?

​@@nathan3961 you can bind D-Pad to the right stick. remap the camera controls to the D-Pad and you're golden, two stick analogue control, boom!

Which one?

@@CoffeePotato all of it

@@ShadowLurker334 Google's got a million guides, it would be an easier way to get them listed. Just don't forget that ice scream scoop booster.

Sometimes, yeah. The PSP version fixed that stuff for the most part.

@@CoffeePotato this has been a huge facepalm moment for me, with how many hours I've put into the ps2 versions just because I thought the controls would be a little easier to get working with analog sticks (which was true, I guess, but now with the analog stick romhack out for all of the oldgen games that need it, it's obviously not anymore) and also because the graphics required less emulator tweaking to look "good." Last night I got PPSSPP set up and configured it for AC with the controls I like to use and...yeah, you're right. It even looks better because I can run it at a higher resolution and with more supersampling than I can on PCSX2. I feel like a dumbass...I knew about the extra content because I did play the PSP version (of 3) in high school, but I was just telling myself "come on, a few extra parts and arena fights aren't worth the clearly better ps2 version." At least I figured it out eventually. Thanks for that. But man. I feel really embarrassed now. | I guess the plus side is that now all of my handhelds that can play psp but not ps2 just got a new purpose, at least. And now I have a good reason to play through early 3rd gen again - not that I ever really need a reason, but hey.

Also, seeing you scroll through the arena list that fast because you didn't have to wait for the stupid spinning models to load, as well as those really really nice mission lists for each area.... Wow, man, I feel like an idiot. Why did I ever think the ps2 was more worth my time? Was it really just the controls?...maybe I had spoken to one of those people who convince themselves the AI is better, or something. But I doubt that, because the PS2 AIs downright have Down's Syndrome, and it's something I definitely noticed the very first time I went back into AC as a young adult - the amount of arena fights I won that I would have lost on PS2 if they kept shooting at me instead of suddenly stopping firing, turning into a wall, and boosting into the wall for 15 seconds...yeah, I don't really need you to tell me that the PSP AI is better. I believe it. Also, seeing Apple Boy in the first mission actually moving around and hitting things once or twice....sure, he's still not "GOOD," but I mean, have you ever just watched him on a PS2 playthrough? Dude has absolutely no chance of becoming a Raven if you aren't helping him. Sometimes I like to get on top of one of the buildings and just watch him flail around, boosting into walls, swording the air when the enemy is behind him....Heh. It's also fun to murder him and his voice line whining about it has always made me chuckle. Sigh, at least I know now, and at least I do know how to use PPSSPP pretty well. Thanks again tater.

@@CoffeePotato One question I have as to the superiority of the PSP version - is there any way to run it at 60fps? Does it run 60? Because I remember the PSP versions being locked to 30, and I don't remember what my ppsspp said last night (at work, being a good employee and writing long comments about armored core instead of doing what I should be doing...) as for the fps but psp only did 30, right? Is there any patches you know of, or emulator cheats or anything for 60fps? It's fine if not, I'm not actually that much of an fps snob and 30 is more than fine, especially in a game like ac3rdgen, so I don't actually care. But now that I think about it, it might have been the 60fps+easier analog controls that made me play ps2 for the past few years.

They're a fun puzzler, you can also see a lot of proto souls action in Shadow Tower

Cdromance seems good

​@@dunkeykung1162 this

Hey, it was the potato lobbing run, seemed appropriate

Using more than one type of core in your roster? That's a loadin' 🤣

Yeah, you're missing a booster, generator, limbs, or radiator.

@@CoffeePotato It was the booster. I was so fustrated that I forgot to add a booster.

Never noticed, but a few mentioned this.

Thanks for watching!

PS2 has the visuals, but it's barely better. In terms of emulation speed, how tight the controls respond, the bug fixes, PSP has everything else.

I'm like 99% sure the only reason we didn't get Nexus is because the size was slightly too big for a UMD or something

@@CoffeePotato yeah, it was on 2 PlayStation 2 discs so makes sense as I can’t think of any 2 UMD games, so that would make sense.

@@wannabkain4400Final Fantasy Type-0 was 2 UMD game but that’s the only one I remember. So it was definitely possible. But I think there is also the factor that Nexus wasn’t as good as 3, SL and LR. This probably also why Nine-Breaker was left out (already have Formula Front for arena-type game)

​@@fabulousneet1180 The thing with psp Formula Front is the fact that instead of porting the the PS2 version that actually had a better mode and feels like an actual career mode, they butchered it and put the game on PSP with the same freaking name, it's just so weird for me especially after playing the PS2 version of Formula Front lol

Eh...just turn up the resolution. Particle effects are nice and all, but when you feel the difference in analog inputs, even on the same controller, between AC Nexus and AC3...it's hard to go back to PS2.

@@CoffeePotato Do you have a video showing your preferred control layout for the PSP (PPSSPP)? I'm getting back on Armored Core Silent Line Portable after more than a decade, I'm using a Dual Shock 3 controller as the PSP controls are too hard for me to use.

Dang right it was. Schedule permitting, some of that is coming soon.

@@CoffeePotato Looking foward to it!!

Which hardware? PSP and Vita are God's gift to hands, and I won't hear otherwise 🤣

@@CoffeePotato i completed last raven on psp.. my fingers will never be the same anymore

Considering it already runs smoothly and a lot of things are tied to framerate, I doubt it.

Sure, Vita or Steamdeck would be best 👍