In my recent article comparing the AYANEO Pocket Air Mini and the Mangmi Air X, I was surprised at how well the Air X kept up with the Pocket Air Mini, given that the Helio G90T looked a lot better than the Snapdragon 662 on paper. In spending some time with these two devices, I found that PlayStation Portable games look absolutely stunning on the Air X. So, I wanted to take the opportunity to use the Mangmi Air X to showcase some of my favorite PSP games.

Def Jam: Fight for NY – The Takeover

The third game in the Def Jam series, but a prequel to the excellent Def Jam: Fight for NY, Def Jam: Fight for NY – The Takeover is a Fighting game where you take your player-created character on a journey to build their reputation and take control of the five boroughs of New York City through a series of underground street fights. Characters feel different in their playstyles, with each utilizing different fighting styles like wrestling, kick boxing, street fighting, or a mix of several.

Def Jam: Fight for NY – The Takeover

I have a soft spot for Def Jam, which I mentioned in my NFL Street Reborn article, and one of these days I’ll get around to writing an article on this game series. Until then, I will recommend The Takeover as one of the best fighting games on the PSP. Like the other games in the Def Jam series, The Takeover has an engaging storyline, something not often found in a fighting game.

It’s a hip-hop brawler, featuring many artists and rappers as themselves or fictionalized versions of themselves, and pairs this with a killer soundtrack (which has made it difficult to get any remakes or additional games in the series). The Takeover introduces some new mechanics, like dirty fighting moves, pre-fight interactions, and ground-based mounts/submissions. It’s fun, unapologetic, and a great game!

Hammerin’ Hero

Hammerin’ Hero is an Action-Platformer and the eighth game in the Hammerin’ Harry series. You play as Gen, a carpenter who uses his giant mallet to fight against the villainous Kuromoku construction company, which is trying to evict Gen’s small-town neighbors for redevelopment. Gen’s would-be girlfriend, Kanna, provides bento boxes in between levels, which, when eaten in-level, can have stat-boosting effects or change Gen’s class. To that point, each class comes with its own look and special attacks, and some levels even have class-specific requests. It also has voice acting, both in English and Japanese!

Hammerin’ Hero

You traverse a series of areas, whacking both enemies and emotions (yes, there’s a mechanic where you can whack emotions off of an NPC or enemy, and transfer them to other enemies or other NPCs) with your mallet, frying pan, or baseball bat. The game also has a fun art style; Gen, enemies, and interactable NPCs are polygonal sprites with dark outlines, while the background is a colorful mix of 2D and 3D characters and environments.

It gives the game a fair bit of depth, even if you’re mostly just moving from left to right. While the levels are short, as is the game overall, the difficulty can be quite tough, so it won’t be a quick march through each scene. It’s weird, it’s quirky, and it’s a lot of fun!

Jeanne d’Arc

Jeanne d’Arc is a Strategy RPG that offers a fantasy twist to the historical story of Joan of Arc, combining elements like demons and magical armlets with Joan’s journey to lead France against English forces. Players will fight on a grid-based battlefield with an isometric view, using their party of characters, armlets, and skills to engage and defeat enemies. Much like Rogue Galaxy (also by developer Level 5), it has a hauntingly beautiful title song.

Jeanne d’Arc

I finally got a chance to play this game with a tactics group in the Retro Handhelds Discord, and I really enjoyed my time playing this game. The magical armlet system is fun and engaging, as having your characters transform into armor-clad super versions of themselves is very entertaining. Jeanne d’Arc doesn’t do anything revolutionary in the SRPG space, what with positional-based attack patterns, counterattacks, equipped weapons, skills, etc.

However, minor tweaks here and there help give the game its own flavor and flair, especially in the skill stones and the fusion system that involves feeding these stones to a frog (yes, a frog). There’s also a recent, enhanced version available on the PSN for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5!

Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

Surprise! This one is actually a two-fer, as the Persona 2 duology is two separate games that share a connecting story. Persona 2 is a JRPG series about a group of high schoolers and young adults in Sumaru City, Japan, who discover that rumors they spread can become reality, forcing them to explore themes of guilt, memory, and prejudice as they summon manifestations of themselves called Personas to fight demons and a masked villain known simply as the Joker.

Players will explore dungeons and environments in a third-person dungeon crawler style, while utilizing demons in the form of cards to engage, talk, coerce, and battle other demons. Players will also utilize the rumor system to alter behavior and events within the story.

I’ve been slowly making my way through the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series over the past couple of years, and these two games have easily been my favorite in the series so far. Persona 2 (and the previous Persona) are unique in that, while they were the first two games in the Persona series, they are also the last games to not feature the school calendar and social system that the Persona games have come to be known for over the years.

This allows more room to focus on the overarching story between these two games, which I find to be one of the best in the SMT and Persona universe. The story is continuous, so ensure you play Innocent Sin before Eternal Punishment.

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together

A remake of the SNES game by the same name, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is a Tactical RPG that follows the story of Denam Powell, a rebel of the Walister resistance operating in the kingdom of Valeria following Dynast-King Dorgalua’s death. Players will fight on a grid-based battlefield with an isometric view, with a deep and branching narrative and a complex set of classes, skills, and weapon systems.

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together

The excellent Tactics Ogre Reborn is arguably the best version of this game, but I’m here specifically to talk about the One Vision hack for LUCT, which I would argue is the best way to play this game. One of my favorite ways I’ve seen this mod described is that, while Reborn is the director’s focused vision of the game, One Vision is the players’ collective vision delivered over the course of many years.

One Vision introduces changes and reworks to weapons, items, and skills, new character classes, more balanced classes and skills, and changes to gameplay that remove or reduce “cheese” strategies and increase the overall challenge of the game. You can start with Reborn, then fall in love with One Vision.

Mangmi Air X [Direct]

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