Alright so I saved up a budget to get myself a PS Vita since I sold my Xbox 360 for a decent price (was just collecting dust at this point). I was thinking about purchasing one today or tomorrow but I need a few helpful tips for purchasing one.

Alright so I am going to purchasing my Vita at my local Superstore in which they have a couple of bundles (They ran out of console only Vita's) for 200$CAD each, in which I am not sure which one is 'the best' I wrote them down on my notepad:

Black Ops Declassified Bundle

Borderlands 2 Bundle

Assassins Creed Bundle (White)

Walking Dead bundle

Also I heard some talk about OLED screens being better then LCD but I am not sure if that's true or false, I am still pretty confused on that.

Secondly, do I need to buy a memory card right away for the vita or should I wait? I know these come with a 4gb but do you guys recommend that I get a bigger stick? A 32gb goes for like 60$ or something insane like that so I sort of need to know lol

Thirdly, I am a big fan of RPG/JRPG so if I could get some game names that would be fantastic. I heard that the Vita had some good ones like Persona 4 Golden and Disgaea. I am also into puzzle type games and platformers :D

And finally, are there any good titles in the future to look up too? I heard that the Vita ain't doing too well but I used one at a friends and I LOVE the way it feels in your hands. I can actually play for long sessions without getting cramps unlike the 3DS (Still a great console though)

Anyways thanks for reading and hopefully you can help me out :D

How did that Vita version of Borderlands 2 play? I'd pick either that or Assassin's Creed. Neither is a particularly great bundle, but both seem all right. Walking Dead seems better played on a couch in front of a TV and Black Ops Declassified was, by all accounts, a turd.

The Vita has Persona 4 Golden - which is a required purchase if you're buying one, for the record - and Final Fantasy X, but I can't name many more JRPG's for it off the top of my head. I'm sort of against calling turn-based tactics games like Disgaea and Fire Emblem JRPG's because apart from being turn-based, those games actually feel pretty different. In any case, Disgaea is still a pretty good game if you like mechanics and numbers and grinding and stuff. I've also seen some praise for Ys: Memories of Celceta, an action-RPG, but I never got far into that game myself. In any case, the Vita's own library of games is sorely lacking.

The Vita's real strength lies with PS1 and PSP backwards compatibility and cross-platform indie games. If you want to play Spelunky or Rogue Legacy or Guacamelee on something portable, the Vita is for you. If you really like JRPG's, there are plenty of PS1 JRPG's to choose from and you can play every Final Fantasy game from I-X on it. You can also choose from the PS1 or PSP version of Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm pretty sure Tactics Ogre is on there as well.

I have a Vita with an OLED screen and it looks great, but I thought they were out of production. If I were buying one today, I'd rather buy one new.

You're going to get answers on both sides of the fence for the model of Vita to buy. I'm personally a fan of the original model with the OLED, but plenty of people like the 2000 for its grip changes. I'm pretty sure all of those bundles come with the 2000.

As far as memory cards go, the bigger the better (duh, right?) -- especially if you're buying mostly digital games. But I've managed to get by with a 16gb by deleting old game installs for the last few years.

P4G is a fantastic choice, but I'd also highly highly highly suggest playing the Danganronpa series. Also, if you have PS+ you'll end up with a solid library over time (until they finally pull the plug on the Vita games completely for that).

@believer258: I believe they are out of production but my town isn't very big and Superstore is usually for groceries, not electronics haha.

Except if the PS Vita really does play PS1 and PSP titles then that might be a instant sold right there. I have a lot of games I want to try out if they are available for download for a cheap price. I might even have to buy a memory card...

@bhizzy: Danganronpa was the game I was thinking about!! I totally forgot what the name was but I remember watching the anime a while back and loved it and I am guessing the game will probably be waaay better :D Thanks!

You will need to buy a memory card. Mine's 8GB and space is at a premium with that.

Worth noting that the Vita doesn't have every PS1 and PSP title available for play on it, just most of them, and of course it's all digital download stuff.

I just finished Persona 4 on the Vita this week. It will make your Vita purchase worth it with this title alone.

As much as people like to criticize the Vita. . . i will say that it was one of my best video game purchases I made in recent years (I bought it 1 month after it launched).

@believer258 said:

Yea I am guessing they probably have the more well known titles like the Final Fantasy games and a title that I would love to try again, Spyro the Dragon. Thank you for all the info, it really helps me out a lot!

@skadave: I really love the feel of the Vita, it looks like a great console. There is just a lack of games apparently that could make this system so so much better :(

If you look at the Playstation Store there are tons of games put out on the Vita each week. Many of them are crap, but there's certainly enough to keep you busy. Also, PS+ is a good thing to have for the free games . . . there have been long stretches of time where the free games are the only ones I am playing.

I bought a Vita just before the shift from OLED to LCD and I really like it as is, so I can recommend that.

Call of Duty: Declassified and Borderlands 2 VITA are both terrible, Declassified got destroyed critically and Borderlands 2 VITA is butt ugly, the framerate is awful and it doesn't have all the DLC for whatever reason. I can't imagine the Telltale games runs even close to decent on the Vita either though I haven't played any of them on that particular system.

You need Persona 4: Golden. You NEED Metal Gear HD Collection. It doesn't have Peace Walker on there, but you can buy that and MGS1 on PSN Store for pretty cheap. Otherwise there's quite a lot of solid indie ports. Hotline Miami, Luftrausers, Spelunky, Rogue Legacy, Velocity 2X, OlliOlli and The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth should be a solid start. I would recommend a 16GB memory card although it depends on whether you download retail games or not.

As for JRPG's: I've heard solid things about Gravity Rush and for my own money Oreshika 2: Bloodties and Soul Sacrifice: Delta are both great, great games. If you like visual novels there's a couple of good ones too such as VLR, Danganronpa 1 & 2 and Hatoful Boyfriend.

Also...

Pst, down here...

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 1 & 2 is on the Vita... Also Criminal Girls.... I'll show myself out.

I have no idea of the state of PSN in Canada. Apparently the selection of PS1 and PSP games for Vita in the US and Japan is alright, but it's a joke in the EU. Most PS1 and PSP games on PSN in EU are not available for Vita, even though the same titles on US and Japanese PSN are. Not a single EA game is Vita compatible in EU, and even some Sony first party games like Warhawk aren't Vita compatible.

Definitely get a bigger memory card if you can swing it. I've got a 4GB and it's impossible for me to have any kind of library that isn't just a handful of smaller indie titles and maybe one retail sized game. I've got so many digital games that I wish I could play more often but have had to delete to make room. Even if you planned on buying mostly physical, there are sometimes some pretty hefty patches that will eat into your memory card space. I keep meaning to buy a bigger one but the prices are still just too ridiculous for me.

Disgaea's great on the Vita, and there's also a pretty good first-person dungeon crawler called Demon Gaze that you may be into. The combat is similar to Etrian Odyssey, but maybe a bit more forgiving.

Having owned a Vita for a while the reason I love it is to play older games. PS1 or some games packs like Jak or Rachet and Clank. Plus I think PS Now is available one it as well which I haven't tested but that could be pretty cool for some games. I haven't heard great things about Borderlands 2 on Vita when it first came out. I would do a little research to see if that's changed with patches because I would take that over any other option since it's a lot of game. Otherwise I'd go with the Walking Dead bundle but really that's just preference.

@believer258 said:

The Vita's real strength lies with PS1 and PSP backwards compatibility and cross-platform indie games. If you want to play Spelunky or Rogue Legacy or Guacamelee on something portable, the Vita is for you. If you really like JRPG's, there are plenty of PS1 JRPG's to choose from ...

This ^ kinda says it all for me.

Memory I would recommend 16Gb. I have a 8Gb, which is fine, but if you want more than two larger games, and maybe a couple of small indies games, installed at one time then go bigger. I think 16 is a decent middle ground considering the price is already inflated.

Of those bundles, I'd probably go for the Borderlands 2 package. Borderlands 2 on Vita has some framerate issues, but otherwise it's pretty easily the best and most robust game you'll get from any of those pack-ins. If you play with the Vita's wifi off, the framerate becomes a bit better. I still play Borderlands 2 on Vita from time to time and really enjoy it.

Also I heard some talk about OLED screens being better then LCD but I am not sure if that's true or false, I am still pretty confused on that.

The OLED screens look nicer, for sure, but it's the sort of thing that you wouldn't notice unless you did a direct comparison side by side, or had previously owned an original OLED model. The LCD models have additional perks, like slightly improved battery life, better start/select button placement, and a Micro USB charge port (as opposed to the original's proprietary plug).

Secondly, do I need to buy a memory card right away for the vita or should I wait? I know these come with a 4gb but do you guys recommend that I get a bigger stick? A 32gb goes for like 60$ or something insane like that so I sort of need to know

Yes, you're going to want a new memory card immediately. A 32gb card will last for a long time if you don't download Vita titles from the PSN Store. Or even if you only download a couple. Plus, that will afford you the necessary space to store both Vita titles and legacy (PS2/PS1) games.

Thirdly, I am a big fan of RPG/JRPG so if I could get some game names that would be fantastic. I heard that the Vita had some good ones like Persona 4 Golden and Disgaea. I am also into puzzle type games and platformers :D

I'm not the largest JRPG fan in the world, but I can tell you that the Vita is a haven for JRPGs. Beyond the two you've named, there are dozens of classics in the PS1 store library, including numerous Final Fantasy titles. The Vita enjoyed the remaster of Final Fantasy X last year as well, which included X-2. A worthwhile purchase, even for someone like me, who has only a cursory interest in JRPG experiences.

@icendice: Oh! I forgot! There are Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank collections on the Vita. The Jak and Daxter one is supposedly chock full of framerate problems but the Ratchet and Clank one ironed most of them out, from my understanding.

I also heard the God of War collection was kinda bad, anyone who can confirm/deny that?

On Amazon you can buy a separate Vita for 170 and a 16 GB memory card for 30, which is the same price as the Borderlands Bundle, which only comes with an 8 GB card.

They are all $5 games

Walking Dead is the best experience of that group.

Black ops game is the only one that you can't get elsewhere, if you like shooter campaigns that may be the way to go.

Assassin's Creed was made to be played on the Vita so I'd pick that, depending on how much you like AC because it's more of that.

Borderlands 2 is the longest game of the bunch, I didn't like it and I think it would be a miserable slog on the Vita; I think this is the only bundle that comes with the new model vita though.

@fisk0 said:

That is super shitty, it sounds like EU gets the raw end of the deal. I think Canada is linked with US as North America so I think I might be able to get a couple of the good games.

@believer258: Ratchet and Clank is totally my jam, so is Jak and Daxter but if there are frame rate issues then that sort of takes away from the experience :(

Get a Vita, download Vagrant Story from the PS1 classics section, work towards getting the Grand Master Breaker rank, die in your bed as an old man after a fulfilling life.

@spoonman671: Sounds like one hell of a fucking game haha, definitely will be playing this one. Heard great things about it!

Thank you all for the helpful tips and game recommendations!! I picked up the white Assassins Creed PS Vita and also purchased Persona Golden and Final Fantasy X / X-2.

You guys are so wonderful and helpful and I love you <3

@icendice: here is a good list of PS one games that will work with your vita. I personally recommend a 32GB memory card, which i have, but i also regret not just paying a little extra for the 64GB for twice the space since they cost so much already. But the 32GB has more then enough space to hold a number of games for on the go, and i haven't really had to worry about managing space on there to much. I also got a nice heavy duty case for it, a little to big for most pockets if you plan to carry it around that way, but perfect for tossing in a bag.

games i would recommend that i have played:

Spelunky

Rayman origins

FEZ

Wipeout 2048

Metrico

Hotline Miami

Olli Olli

Lumines

Gravity Rush

Most of these i got free with PS+

@icendice:

I'm way late to the party here, but you made great decisions all around. I got the Assassin's Creed version the day it came out, and I think the white Vita is gorgeous, so even though I didn't care for AC that much, I'd do it again just for the white version of the Vita.

Persona 4 Golden is incredible. If you've never played a Persona game before (like I hadn't before this one) make sure you get over the hump of the first couple/few hours. Once it gets your hooks in you, it's amazing, and you won't want to leave that world and its awesome characters.

As for the memory card, I'd recommend a 32GB card. If you've got PS Plus, you'll be swimming in games in no time, and the large card will serve you well. You don't need it right away, though, with Persona and FF X on your hands, so if the price scares you away for a while, you're still in great shape.

I have used my Vita exclusively for Playstation 2 JRPGs and I've been pretty happy. P4G and Final Fantasy X are solid games you should probably play if you haven't.

In response to the OP's questions:

OLED is not better than LCD, but the OLED Vita is better than the LCD Vita because the LCD Vita has a terrible screen. The Vita you held that belonged to your friend, was it a slim or an OLED? The slim looks and feels better, until you use it for a while then you may start to notice something is off with the screen.

You should buy a memory stick right away.

Gravity Rush is the Vita game you must play if you get a Vita. (There may be other must play hard, but this is the only one I played)

I agree about the 3DS being uncomfortable. The only 3DS model i'm considering getting is the 2DS.

The vita really shines with it's indie and ps1/psp catalogs. My favorite memories with the handheld have been with persona 4, guacamelee, spelunky and Gravity Rush. For as much trouble as the vita gets, I really love it. It's a great little system as long as you are ok not having the hottest new shit.

But you are on track with Persona 4, it should keep you busy for a while. Persona 4 is life.

I will definitely try out all the games that you guys have listed in this thread at some point. Persona 4 is getting pretty addicting lol

You should import puyo puyo tetris, and if you like space shooters, TxK and Geometry Wars 3 are good

Tearaway is a very good, if not short game. I would recommend it.