PSP vs DSi

The Game Room
1

As I spend a LOT of time away from home, I’m thinking of getting a portable console and know very little about the two obvious contenders. I’m also having difficulty finding useful information on the net. The only reviews I’ve found comparing the two systems assume you are already generally familiar with the PSP and the earlier versions of the DS. They also tend to consider any comparison between the two to be an “apples and oranges” type thing, but they fail to say just what makes them so different from each other.

As an example of the sort of lack of information that is frustrating me, in one article about the newest versions of the PSP and DS, the PSP is knocked for still only having one analogue stick. On the other hand the DS seems to not have any analogue sticks at all and no mention is made of this being a problem. Why is “just one” analogue stick a problem on the PSP but having no sticks at all on the DS is just fine?

So here’re some specific questions for you gamer folk. Does the DS have any analogue sticks? If not, how well does a D-pad work as a controller? I like playing racing games (sim rather than arcade) and it seems that a D-pad would give on/off steering commands rather than letting me smoothly take turns, is this true?

I also play FPS games, how does the DS compare to the PSP for these?

Are there any key points about each system that I need to know to help me decide between them?

Here’s some more information that may help you help me. I like FPS, driving, turn based strategy, and some RPG games (I liked Oblivion and Fallout 3). I’m moderately musical and the Korg DS10 game for the DS looks interesting, the PSP seems to have nothing comparable. I have a Wii but aside from Wii Fit, I don’t play it, so the connectivity with the DS may be useful but it’s probably not as big a deal as if I used the Wii a lot. I don’t have a Playstation, my main console is an Xbox 360.

2

The DS has no analog sticks. As far as using the D-pad for a controller, I think it works fine. The DS has a pretty good D-pad as far as responsiveness goes (better than the PSP’s), but I’m not into racing games so I can’t comment on that specifically. Works find for Mario Kart though!

I’ll try to list some of the more notable games for the genres you like to get you started, so you can seek out more info if you want.

FPS-wise, probably the most notable one on the DS is Metroid Prime: Hunters, which has an interesting control setup where you use the stylus to aim and the d-pad to move. It actually works pretty well. There aren’t that many other FPSs. There are a couple of Call of Duty games, and Moon came out earlier this year; those are supposed to be decent. But I think what will make or break your enjoyment is whether you like the control setup.

PSP doesn’t have that many FPS games either, and I haven’t heard any real glowing reviews of any of them. I don’t keep track of the PSP scene as much as I do for the DS, though, so I may be missing some. Really, I feel like FPS games don’t translate to handhelds that well, so you may be disappointed no matter which one you go with.

For turn-based strategy you have Final Fantasy Tactics A2 on the DS (pretty fun), while the PSP has a remake of the original Final Fantasy Tactics. Disgaea has been remade on BOTH the PSP and the DS so that one’s a tossup. Jeanne d’Arc on PSP is supposed to be quite good but I haven’t played it, so not much I can say there. I think the DS has the edge in this category, as it also has two Advance Wars games, Civilization Revolution, and a remake of Front Mission (they sure like to put remakes on these systems).

RPG-wise, the DS two EXTREMELY good ones: The World Ends With You, and Chrono Trigger (yeah, another remake, but it’s easily one of the top few games ever made). There’s also a ton of Final Fantasies (remakes of III and IV, a sort of side-game for XII, and two Crystal Chronicles), two Dragon Quests (IV and V), and the Pokemon games. PSP has FF7: Crisis Core which I believe is supposed to be good, and a couple of Star Ocean games, although I’m not a big fan of the Star Ocean series. YMMV. I think the big draw here is Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, a remake (yeah, again) of another one of the best games ever. There’s a remake of Final Fantasy II, and that seems kind of lopsided to me – the DS gets the remake of IV, and the PSP gets the remake of what’s generally considered to be the worst Final Fantasy game?

Basically there are a ton of remakes for both these consoles, but generally they’re remaking great games, so it’s a good chance to play updated versions of classics you missed out on the first time (I feel like I should mention Maverick Hunter X for the PSP here).

Anyway, I don’t know if I can really recommend one over the other, but personally I think the DS has a better lineup of games. Actually, I think it has the strongest lineup of any console since the PS2.

As far as differences between the consoles themselves: I have no complaints about the DS (note : I have a DS Lite, not an original DS or a DSi. I would actually recommend the Lite over the DSi since it can play GBA games). The PSP, I have one complaint: the D-pad sucks, it’s pretty similar to the shitty D-pads found on dual shock controllers. I only have the PSP 1000 (the original model), though, and I’ve heard the D-pad is better on the 2000 and 3000.

3

I’ve had both of them for almost 5 years now and like them both for their own reasons but if you want a system with long battery life and a boatload of decent to great games the DS is the only way to go.

As far as the DSi I’m not getting it so I can’t comment on it.

4

I don’t have a problem with the PSP’s D-Pad.

I find the graphics on the PSP to be pretty much exactly the same as the PS2. (Maybe a little worse. But, it is close.) I am really impressed with how good games and movies can look on that little screen.

It sucks as a music player. But, I don’t know that the DSi is much better.

As a PSP owner I am jealous of the DS’s huge number of games. But, I haven’t been dissapointed with many of the games I have for the PSP. Lego Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman are all great fun. I have a couple of good racing games that are really good and have great graphics, but I can’t remember the name off the top of my head. One isn’t a traditionalcar game, but some sort of futuristic fast car. The other is just a regular car game. They are fun, but not really my top sort of game. So, that is ok.

I have a couple of fun puzzle games. Puzzle Quest is like some online game. Bejewled. But, it uses the bejewled scheme as battles. So, it is sort of like an RPG using bejweled as the battle system. Pretty fun.

There are a couple of bad graphic games that are a ton of fun. Like Exit. Where you use a little stick figure character to save people from burning buildings.

The Sony baseball game is a lot of fun. As is Madden. In fact, I think Madden on the PSP is one of the best versions I have played. They kept things simple. As they should have.

One nice thing about the PSP is the homebrew community. You need some techinical knowhow. But, doing it makes the machine a lot more fun to use. For instance. It enables you to copy your games to your memory stick, instead of having to swap out cartridges constantly.

It’s a personal thing. But, I do like the feel of holding the PSP better than the DS. Just feels a lot better.

There is another thing to consider. DSi versus other versions of the DS. From my perspective if you can get an earlier version much cheaper it is worth it. The upgrades to the DSi don’t seem worth it.

That probably made things even muddier. You’re welcome!

Oh. The Brain Age games on the DS are awesome. If you like sudoku type stuff you will never find anything similar on the PSP since there is no stylus or anything.

Have fun with whatever you get!

5

How much of a problem is the DSi not playing GBA games? I assume there is still a large library of DS games, so I’m not going to run out? Will it matter to me not having access to GBA games if I’m not familiar with any of them? By which I mean, is it primary a nostalgia thing?

6

Honestly, unless you already have a collection of GBA games, it shouldn’t affect you at all. I was never a fan of its library much (though it had a couple of great games), and find the DS’s selection to be a much superior. Plus, with you being new to the system, it will be quite some time before you run out of good games to play.

In regards to the PSP–I bought the 2000 when it launched and sold it a month later. I thought it was garbage–jack of all trades, master of none. It sucked as a music player, web browser, and video player, and its game selection didn’t appeal to me nearly as much as I expected it too, particularly as you can find better versions of most of its games on the PS2. Whereas the DS’s library is mostly original (thanks to its unique inputs) and features some truly great games you can’t find elsewhere.

7

Ok, thanks for everyone’s input. I’m sold on the DS (though I won’t be making a purchase for a week so keep the opinions coming.)

8

The DS is currently awash in turn-based strategy games. It’s actually kind of overwhelming, in a good way. Off the top of my head:

Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (easy, but so many things to do)
Disgaea DS
Advance Wars DS (fantastic, though not perfectly balanced)
Advance Wars Days of Ruin (challenging, post-apocalyptic setting, feature-light compared to DS)
Luminous Arc (cheesy story and horrific voice acting, but decent strategy fare)
Luminous Arc 2
Age of Kings (surprisingly decent)
Age of Mythology
Fire Emblem
Civilization Revolution
Rondo of Swords (haven’t played it, but it has a unique move-through battle system and is supposedly very hard)
It may be my favorite genre, and I’ve only managed to play less than half of the ones that seem at least decent. In general, the NDS is swimming in quality titles. And I would buy a DS Lite if I were you, as having access to Game Boy Advance games is actually quite a significant bonus, for games like Tactics Ogre, the Castlevanias, Metroid Fusion, Metroid Zero Mission (fantastic), etc.

9

There’s also been significant talk of being able to download older Gameboy/Gameboy Color/Gameboy Advance games to the internal memory of the DSi and playing them from there, as a sort of portable Virtual Console. But don’t let that sell you on the system, as it hasn’t been officially announced yet and may still be canceled or changed.
Personally, I love my DS lite, and whenever I forget it, I regret it. The library is just so enormous, with so much to do, that boredom isn’t really an option.

10

I just wanted to say that you can’t go wrong, either way. But, I really have to disagree Red’s depiction of the PSP as garbage. I think the video playback is great. And, while a lot of the games are ports. They are still fun and I can play them while waiting in waiting rooms. Which is really why I wanted a portable gaming device.

11

I’ve got both the PSP and the DSLite and I’ve homebrewed both. The PSP was a huge pain in the butt and the DS was a breeze. The plus is huge plus in portability for both systems and the PSP got a huge boost in battery life as it didn’t have to run the UMDs. Our two youngest kids also have DSes that I homebrewed and we took all three to India and didn’t have to worry about losing the cartridges as they each had about 15 games on their cards. (They also loved the Pictochat feature).

The PSP’s graphics are far superior to the DS. For comparison, think of the PSP on the same level as the PS2 and the DS on the same level as the NES. God of War blew me away with its level of detail. The DS hasn’t come close to touching that. Of course, games like Picross don’t need a high level of graphics to be fun.

The screen on the PSP is gorgeous and mine has a ton of scratches on it but they disappear when I’m playing. The DS has the bonus of closing the screens together but then loses it a bit by the fact that one has to poke at the screen to play.

The DS is a bit smaller and fits in the pocket better but both I found uncomfortable to hold after a while (I guess I have big hands, so that’s a problem). The PSP gives me hand cramps due to its button positioning and the DS’s stylus is a bit too small (I bought some telescoping styli which help). For the most part, games where the DS is held sideways offer a left handed option, but a couple don’t. (I can’t remember their names right now).

As for games, right now on the PSP I have:
Resistance Retribution
Star Ocean
God Of War
Family Guy
Me and My Katamari

All of which are quite awesome and beautiful on the small screen

My DS has:
Mario Kart
Mario Party
Guilty Gear Dust Strikers
GoldenEye
Phoenix Wright-Ace Attorney
Solitaire Overload
Hotel Dusk-Room 215
N+
Cooking Mama
Contra 4
Dementium
Exit
Moon
Driver’s Ed Portable (our 16 year old has to pass this before she can take her real driving test)
Henry Hatsworth
Professor Layton

Once again, all awesome games but completely different format than the PSP.

As for bonus stuff, the PSP’s online access is much, much easier that the DS’s. The PSP has it integrate whereas the DS needs a special cartridge for it. On the other hand, the DS’s ability to play against others is much more accessible. In some games, only one person needs the game and others can download it and play head-to-head.

All in all, I’d recommend the DS for the HUGE game library and variety. What I don’t understand is why one would want a DSi over the DSLite. The cameras don’t seem to be that much of a plus and the battery life is less. Not to mention the cost difference of $40.00 between them! (Gamestop still has the DSLite).

12

I can’t agree with this. I would say the DS is roughly on the level of the N64–I mean, they’ve ported Super Mario 64 to it. Even the GBA was at least on the level of the Super Nintendo. The DS is way ahead of the 8-bit NES.

13

Plus you lose GBA compatibilty. I wouldn’t mind this in an entriely new handheld but for something that is supposed to be an upgrade to an existing handheld that is unacceptable

14

Oops, sorry. I agree with your summation. I got my systems mixed up.

15

Bingo. The PSP is slightly under the PS2, whereas the same is true for the N64s and the DS. Like an NES? Seriously.

But that’s beside the point–who cares? Games should be about how fun they are, not how pretty they look. And the DS has that in spades.

I’m actually one of the few who disagrees with this (for the first two PSP models at least). For sure, the screen is larger than either of the DS’s, and has a higher resolution, but I found it to be crippled by its embarrassingly low refresh rate, causing severe ghosting (thereby actually affecting gameplay). In Castlevania, I couldn’t even discern my character from the background as he blends right in while moving! This apparently has been mostly rectified with the latest PSP, the 3000, but it also apparently has introduced a whole new problem that make 2D games look worse than the prior two models.

Umm, only for the web browser (which, to be fair, no one should use on either system has they’re both painful to use). The DS is perfectly capable of playing games online without any additional accessories–it has wifi built-in, like the PSP. And in those terms, I found the DS to offer the simpler online experience of the two–no accounts or anything needed, just click “wifi” and you’re online.

16

Those last 2 quotes were by stpauler, not me. And I agree with you on the ease of the DS’s wireless.

17

Whoops, sorry about that–that’s what I get for copying and pasting quote boxes. Lemme report it and try to get that fixed.

18

No big deal, I just pointed it out to prevent the conversation from getting too tangled or confusing

19

I own both, and I have to say my DS gets more use. I like the PSP, but if I don’t want to kid myself I’d say I got it specifically for Final Fantasy Tactics (one of the greatest stratRPGs ever. INFINITELY better than the crap FFTactics Advanced games) and FFCrises Core (which turned out to be kinda crap). The homebrew on it is very nice, though, and makes the system worth having.

As for teh DS, it’s got a vastly larger library of games in pretty much every dept. But one thing I don’t think anyone’s mentioned is hte size of utility games the thing has. I know people who use it as a cookbook, etc. I personally have a denshi jishou (electronic japanese dictionary) on mine and use the darn thing constantly, plus the touch pad let’s your write in kanji which is perfect.

The PSP has some damn good games, but the DS has the whole package imo. I don’t know much about the DSi, but the lack of GBA games isn’t that bad if you don’t already have a library of them.

20

It looks like the consensus is in, but given a couple of your initial criteria, I wanted to throw in my vote.

I use my DS a lot more than my PSP, and I recommend it to almost everyone who asks. The only exception is if someone asks mainly about strategy RPGs and FPS games. The PSP actually has a dearth of SRPGs, including, but not limited to, great remakes of Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea (in widescreen with sprites that can actually be seen), Jeanne d’Arc, Wild Arms XF, and Neverland Card Battles.

Other great RPGs include Star Oceans 1 & 2, FFVII: Crisis Core, Monster Hunter Freedom 1 & 2, Brave Story, Valkyrie Profile, the first Final Fantasy, and to some extent, Patapon. Upcoming RPGs include a 3D fighting game based on characters from all the Final Fantasys, and a full remake of the first Persona game.

FPS games aren’t handled extremely well on either handheld system, honestly, but the PSP has better chops for it. The 3D is much more detailed - even where the lack of dual analog sticks cripples it, a good auto-aim can usually make it fun enough. Sony’s release the usual Syphon Filter, SOCOM, and Ratchet & Clank games on the system, not to mention a Killzone spinoff. The DS has simplified ports of the last two Calls of Duty, a couple of experimental FPS’ known as Dementium and Moon, and a launch title, Metroid Prime Hunters. Check out some screenshots of FPS games to get a feel for the 3D capabilities of both systems. The DS is really made more for 2D games, and it succeeds wildly at those, which is why I play mine so much.

Just some thoughts. Ideally, it’d be nice to have both. The main reason I keep my PSP around is for Monster Hunter, Patapon, FFT, and a few coming-soon titles. The sleep functionality means it’s pretty good for RPGs on the go, but both systems have that.