Happy Birthday, Little Guy!

The Playstation Vita has turned three years old. I celebrated by finally picking up both Danganronpa games and Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles on sale.

Two quirky Japanese games and an old-school platformer that first appeared on Sony’s last handheld.

In a way, this perfectly captures the story of the Vita at this point.  It is a phenomenal piece of hardware – that part seems almost beyond dispute – and its library of games is equally fantastic…depending on what you’re looking for.  The Vita is a treasure-trove of outstanding PC ports, indie gems, Japanese imports and prettier versions of old, familiar experiences.  But looking for a hyperactive shooter or a fully loaded sports game?  You probably should look elsewhere.  And that’s fine.  It’s just not what many gamers hoped for.  Or what they were promised initially.

Only in the best of revisionist histories is this not the case.  The Vita was absolutely initially advertised as console quality gaming on the go, a sort of “PS4 in your pocket”.  To many, it’s fallen far short of this goal but I’d argue that that conclusion is a bit oversimplified.

For one, the Vita absolutely has the potential to deliver AAA console quality games.  Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Killzone Mercenary are both excellent games that prove the point.  But it also has some famous misses like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Resistance: Burning Skies and the Borderlands 2 port, and the future landscape for games of this type is pretty barren.  That’s not the Vita’s fault exactly but it has definitely left some feeling misled.

Secondly, to this charge that the Vita does not deliver enough “console quality” games, I’d ask “Which console?”.  If we took the Vita’s exact library over to the 3DS, would anyone utter a peep about the games? Would these games feel out of place on a WiiU or a PS3 for that matter?  Again, this comes down to a very narrow definition of “console quality” as big glossy AAA titles, completely ignoring the fact that a)  even the current gen consoles have numerous games that don’t fit this description including many of the same games (Rayman, Minecraft, Spelunky…need I go on?) and b) many of these “smaller” games are far BETTER quality than their bigger brothers.  To each their own, of course, but I’ll take a game like Guacamelee! or Sound Shapes over plenty of the prettier, more expensive options, thank you very much.

And this is where the Vita shines to me.  It may not be the system many people wanted, but it sure has turned into the system I needed.  I would never trade rolling around in Sound Shapes, music pumping through headphones.  Or feeling like a genius when I solved the puzzles of Virtue’s Last Reward.  Or the visceral beatdown of Muramasa Rebirth, the rampaging madness of Hotline Miami, the adorable smile-fest of Tearaway.  The list goes on and on.  And, like many other gamers, don’t even get me started on the brilliance of Persona 4: Golden.

I love my Vita.  At times over the past few years, it’s been my favorite console.  And yet, when asked “Should I get a Vita?”, where I would like to say “OH DEAR GOD, YES!!!” I instead need to honestly reply “Depends”.  That’s a shame and yet I wouldn’t change much about the device or its catalogue.  But, going forward, there are a few things I’d like to see:

1)  An occasional AAA title from Sony’s own properties.  Infamous, Uncharted, God of War.  Doesn’t have to be more than one or two a year but just enough to provide a needed boost for the system.

2)  Better customization with remote play. With the right game, remote play is one of Vita’s secret weapons.  I probably played a third of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag this way and I spent plenty of solo hours grinding in Destiny on my Vita.  Both experiences were awesome.  Other games?  Pretty far from awesome.  Using back-touch is especially clunky at times. Ideally, I’d love to see some foresight on the part of developers to include Vita specific controls for remote play.  Bungie did it with Destiny and it worked great.

3)  Continue pushing cross-buy on all downloadable titles.  There’s nothing better than realizing I’m getting a brand new game on BOTH my PS4 and Vita.  But…

4)  Don’t rely solely on cross-buy to pump up the Vita’s library.  I love having PS4 games on my Vita.  Know what I’d love even more?  Having Vita games on my Vita.  It’s a great device.  Make some actual games for it.

The future is clouded for Vita overall.  That’s not likely to change.  But for Vita owners who understand and embrace what the device does well, it remains mostly promising.  In just the next few months, we’re getting Axiom Verge, Shovel Knight, Hotline Miami 2, Helldivers and more.  But, then again, the PS4 gets them as well.  Will the Vita ever stand out on its own the way the 3DS has done?  Probably not.  But, for me, it’s still one of my favorite gaming experiences and the device I most want at my side every time I’m away from home.

So happy birthday, Vita!  Thanks for the memories.  Here’s hoping we still have time to make some more.