Cave Story and Dracula Chronicle X on the psp was pretty great!

PATA PATA PATA PON!

Locoroco. It was just so sweet and cheerful.

Loco Roco was nice and I don't think its been mentioned.

Nobody mentioned Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep. That's pretty much kh1/2 off ps2 except on a handheld. Super cool and replayable game.

Brave Story is a great RPG that doesn't overstay it's welcome and that I've enjoyed a lot. The enemy design was what really got me into it at the time, but the fun story and quality of life features kept me going

LocoRoco, Patapon, the God of War priquel and Crisis Core

And also Armored Core Formula Front, it's such a weird game in the series.

Oh, and Carnage Heart EXA. I've never managed to actually get far, but it's the most unique mecha game there is. You program your mecha from scratch using logic blocks, and you can make it fully autonomous, fully manual (but you have to program each button press), or a combination of two. It takes as many hours to learn as an Armored Core game would take to complete.

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters.

Played through that sucker more times than I care to admit to.

Yeah, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite was probably also the game I spent most time on my PSP.

It depends on what games you like, but I loved Persona 3 Portable and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
If you liked Monster Hunter, you could also try God Eater. It is a really gold Monster Hunter Like with a good story!

Original games - LocoRoco Midnight Carnival, Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII, Daxter, Trails in the Sky trilogy, LittleBigPlanet PSP, Silent Hill Origins, MGS Peace Walker, Gran Turismo... Remasters/ports: SMT Persona 2 Innocent Sin, Lunar SSSC, Breath of Fire III, Tales of Eternia (all of these games are JRPG, and all of them are the best version of these games in my opinion), Crazy Taxi, Prince of Persia games, Tomb Raider games...

There's a disturbing lack of Phantasy Star Portable 1 & 2 in this thread.

Also want to second Rock Band Unplugged because it has similar gameplay to the ps2 game Amplitude.

I played Lumines so much I would see squares when I closed my eyes

Final Fantasy Dissidia duo decim and Crisis Core were the only games I really enjoyed on the PSP.

I still have my PSP on my desk, on who knows how many battery replacements. I come back for:

• Burnout Legends
• Locoroco
• Lumines & Lumines II
• N+
• Echochrome
• Guilty Gear XX

• Field Commander
• Gran Turismo
• Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars (the best GTA)
• Hellboy The Science of Evil
• Jackass The Game
• Killzone Liberation
• Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops & Peace Walker
• Midnight Club LA Remix
• Motorstorm Arctic Edge
• Socom Fireteam Bravo 1-3
• Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron
• Twisted Metal Head On
• Untold Legends Brotherhood of the Blade
• Worms Open Warfare 2
• Ys Seven

I never owned a PSP, but tried a few in an emulator. Really missed out on a fantastic device and game library. I think there are some obvious famous games that many recommend, as such

• Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7
• God of War - Ghost of Sparta
• Grand Theft Auto Liberty/Vice City Stories
• Lumines
• Metal Gear Acid / Peace Walker / Portable Ops Plus
• Monser Hunger Freedom Unite
• Persona 2 Innocent Sin
• Ratchet and Clank Size Matters

Also kind of ports I think, maybe new games in series, I'm not sure. But just able to play these on a portable device is awesome:

• Gran Turisomo
• Littlle Big Planet
• MotorStorm: Arctic Edge
• OutRun 2006 - Coast 2 Coast
• Tekken 6

I didn't play much on PSP yet. Following are also interesting:

• Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex
• Hot Shots Golf
• Jeanne d'Arc
• R-Type Command
• Tekken - Dark Resurrection
• Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins
• WipEout Pure

And the list goes on and on. This was an awesome handheld.

Patapon 2

Jeanne D'Arc

A fantastic RPG.

There are plenty of good titles already mentioned here so I'll go with something less popular.

• PangYa: Fantasy Golf - it's a golf game, as you can guess from the title. It has simple but really fun gameplay with customisable characters (outfits and equipment, the latter affects character stats). It also has a story mode to get you started.
• Puzzle Quest - RPG with match 3 gameplay for combat. Really addictive in a "just one more quest" kind of way.
• Ridge Racer 2 - it's Ridge Racer. Riiiiiidge Racer! Tons of content, bunch of modes, fun to control - it's great! Might be my favourite handheld racing game (and definitely one I spent the most time with). It's pretty much a celebration of the franchise until that point, especially the classic era.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

My favorite is when I go pspspspspsp to my dog and he comes over for cuddles.

No but really, if we're talking full exclusives, Ridge Racers 2 is pretty much all the good stuff about the old RR series but with better graphics and most of the content from all games. If we're talking non exclusives (sometimes the best version though), Final Fantasy IV, Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles, Final Fantasy Tactics WoTL, and Tactics Ogre, Let US Cling Together are pretty top tier

The only game that others haven't mentioned but I think you should definitely check out is Ace Combat X (never mind Joint Assault though).

Well, there's no competition. It's Danganronpa.

Oh and the Parodius collection is also great.

• Fifa Streets
• Sims 2: I really liked the story mode of it where you had to solve different quests to ger your car back

wipEout, Jeanne d'arc, Battlefront, locorocco, peace walker, Ys seven, Mega Man Powered Up, Gran Turismo, Dissida, Final Fantasy Tactics, Ghosts of Sparta

Crisis Core Dissidia Locoroco Lumines

And the vast catalog of PS1 games you could download from the PSN store.

MHFU is definitely my favorite too. very fond memories as I'd get together with my friends (who had moved away) once or twice a year to do the big hunts we struggled with on our own.

I also really liked star wars battlefront: (rogue squadron?). was a bit shit to aim with no second stick but I remember the incinerator plus a lock-on killed anything real quick.

I’m not going to lie even when it was brand new I thought the PSP’s graphics were lame for 3D games and never wanted one. But it might have been the prevalent art style.

Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilmaniis a really good rogue like, that actually plays like rouge (the original game), but has a lot of nice gameplay additions, a crazy anime story, permanent upgrades and enough depth to stay interesting

I really loved playing the racing games on it. -Ridge Racers -Gran Turismo -Street Supremacy (Tokyo Xtreme Racers) -Initial D: Street Stage

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions

Arguably the best way to experience the game.