The PSP didn’t have much going for it for a while. Quality software took a long time to show up.

But hey, every single handheld that has stood their ground or simply tried to— every one – that has fought Nintendo, the king of handheld gaming, has died. Despite all of the PSP’s early frustrations, the dang thing did survived.

Now that the PlayStation Vita is out it seems certain the PlayStation Portable can lay to rest. It put up a good fight, a much longer than one than any of its predecessors, and by the end it amassed a decent game library. Here are some of the games that i enjoyed in the time that I played my PSP.

#1 Dissidia: Final Fantasy

Not quite a fighting game, not quite an RPG, Dissidia plays something like a mash up of something in between, in a very much playable-portable form. There are Smash Ball-like EX Cores you need to get to execute special attacks, and there are Brave Points you have to bash out of your opponent in a tug-of-war-like fashion before you can deal real Hit Point damage. Knowing when to dodge and dash helps, too, so timing and skill is important. Whenever you are playing with a friend, that's when the true fun starts, shouting.. screaming just to attack my friend is absolute hillarious.

#2 Persona 3 Portable

Another port for the PSP. Sure, the PSP has a lot of them. That’s kind of what it was known for for a while. This one, however, is pretty damn great. Atlus managed to shrink a huge famous PS2 RPG down into bite-sized format and add a fair amount to it —

new characters, scenarios and battle mechanics. The biggest change: In the original, you could only control one party member, the protagonist. In Portable, everyone’s under control, so Mitsuru never has to cast Marin Karin ever again. But damn. This game. The style, the music, the story, everything. It’s all so damn well done. When this music started playing? I felt complete..like I knew that this game and I were meant to be friends forever. This was my first complete experience with Persona 3 and I loved every moment. It’s the definitive way to play a 100+ hour RPG — on the go. A game that simply needs to be played.

#3 Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is the culmination of everything the series has done so far — camouflage, amassing an arsenal, first-person and over-the-shoulder aiming, bizarre historical fiction — and it refines them into something great. Behind the reigning champ Metal Gear Solid 3, Peace Walker is probably the best games in the series. It’s definitely series creator Hideo Kojima’s most focused work since Snake Eater. The story is no longer out of control. Heck, it steps aside completely most of the time to give the game all the room it needs to spread its feet. As Snake, or any of the schmoes he hilariously parachutes back to Mother Base, you can do everything you can in previous games, except faster and better.

#4 Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

There can be only one game on this list better than Peace Walker, and that’s the one that directly inspired its multiplayer and portable aspects to begin with. There’s a reason Monster Hunter kept the PSP alive in Japan. It’s life or death. It’s you or the roving beasts you have to kill or capture to carve new weapons and armor out of their hides. It’s a risk-reward at its best. The war between us humans (or friends ) agaisnt foes such as dragons and spiders. Would you run away at the enormous dragon or giant enemy crab until it croaks, or risk your life and lose the mission, your money zenny and your time to trap and tranquilize it and gain more spoils? It’s old-school sensibility — memorizing enemy patterns, timing attacks carefully — married to new-school technology that allows you to play with up to three other hunters. It’s social. It’s Shadow of the Colossus without the climbing or the angst. Downtime comes in the way of preparation: buy items and weapon-making materials at the village shop, farm crops, eat meals that temporarily enhance stats.