Choosing between PSVITA/PSP and N3DS

[ImhotepTheSecond]

I've saved up enough to get either one, but choosing which is tough and wanted to hear you guys' opinion. I'm going to mod/hack either one for maximum utility. What's making it harder is a lot of my favourite series are split between the two. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is only on PSP, but Dream Drop Distance is only on 3DS. Persona 3/4 on PSP/vita, but mainline SMT are on DS/3ds. I did think of getting one of those retro handhelds and will consider them, but having the real console gives me a chance to pick them apart and understand their hardware better and all that nerd stuff. So, what do you think? Besides my choice consider this a general discussion for comparing the two. I find both consoles very interesting in their own ways

 

[garbodorman]

try emulate them on your phone first. buy the one that doesn't run very well on your phone.

 

[Bakuma1997]

Man, what a dick move to have exclusive games splits in different consoles

I will say 3DS if you really want to pick only one tho, Yeah PSP Vita has better system operatives and both Vita and OG has better ports than some 3DS/DS ports, but i personally prefer 3DS's touch better and the analog feels like the OG PSP's... assuming you find one that isn't battered

Cons would be the main gimmick is just a visual effect that may hurt your eyes, huge size may make it harder to fit in your pockets rendering the portable part harder and while it had winners it had more limited software compared to the PSP Vita

 

[ImhotepTheSecond]

try emulate them on your phone first. buy the one that doesn't run very well on your phone.

Both psp and 3ds can emulate perfectly on my phone. Vita emulation is weak in general but most vita games have official pc ports

 

[LunarJemz]

I've saved up enough to get either one, but choosing which is tough and wanted to hear you guys' opinion. I'm going to mod/hack either one for maximum utility. What's making it harder is a lot of my favourite series are split between the two. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is only on PSP, but Dream Drop Distance is only on 3DS. Persona 3/4 on PSP/vita, but mainline SMT are on DS/3ds. I did think of getting one of those retro handhelds and will consider them, but having the real console gives me a chance to pick them apart and understand their hardware better and all that nerd stuff. So, what do you think? Besides my choice consider this a general discussion for comparing the two. I find both consoles very interesting in their own ways

Hii ! As someone who currently has both, I'd say get the 3ds first because it has a bigger game Library (i think?) than the psvita, Though to be honest id say that It depends on what games you like more, I personally got the 3ds first because it had a lot more games that I liked as opposed to the psp/psvita. Now that I have my PS Vita, I'd still say that if I had to choose 1, I'd prefer the 3DS because it has my favorite games (plus u can play DS games on it) But ! I still love my psvita and I'm glad that I bought it hehe, so maybe u can do the same as me and maybe just buy the psp/psvita later after you get ur 3ds !

 

[skramz]

psp. mmmm

 

[Aziamuth]

I was never a fan of the PSP library. Except for Monster Hunter, I always thought it was subpar.

 

[Blamhammer]

3DS. The backlog of DS games makes it a system that will get years of use.
You could still get your PSP fix with a emulator on your phone.

There's also the price, I don't think they are getting any cheaper now. PsVita seems to be holding at a stable price, so you could pick one up in the future for the same as what it is now.

 

[Lod 10]

OuThe 3DS/DS is worth it because it has many exclusive games, lots of things you can play, many games you can discover, you can play practically all RPGs, it has many.

 

[thanatos]

I'd say both DS and 3DS have better native games overall than both PSP and Vita, but that's somewhat subjective. A hacked 3DS can do native GBA, DS and 3DS. It can also emulate anything else up to SNES well. Not sure about PS1. Also not sure about ScummVM

I bought a Vita thinking it would have better emulation support than the PSP, but Retroarch has worked rather poorly for me. The PSP can do anything up to PS1, with great emulators and native PS1, but no Saturn or barely any N64 games. The Vita can do basically that and quite a few ported Android versions of really cool games. It has native PS1 and PSP, but with a smudgy resolution. The touchscreen gives you a cool device to play ScummVM games. But other than that, it's mostly cool for native Vita games. And it can't do DS.

 

[AceWhatever]

I lean towards the 3DS. While Vita emulation is still in its early stages, the fact that reached a point where entire games can be played is a good sign.

3DS/DS emulation, while to my understanding is at a point where most of the library is playable, still involves some sacrifices on a game-by-game basis. Most of it revolves around having to put up with two screens at a lower resolution or having only one screen displayed at a time and the latter's feasibility varies by game. There's also stylus-heavy games to consider.

Vita hacking to my knowledge still hasn't been finalized/perfected as it requires you to be on specific firmware for one thing. A quick check reveals that they seem to no longer require having Sony's proprietary Vita memory card if you don't have access to one, but you're still probably need a SD2Vita adapter.

3DS hacking is more or less done. There's a method for practically every firmware version and you don't need additional hardware (most of the time) to do it.

The two things a hacked Vita has over the 3DS is the ease of running its predecessor's games and (arguably) storage options. For Vita it's a simple matter of installing the homebrew that mimics the PSP's XMB and that's it. The 3DS equivalent anecdotally doesn't have full compatibility with the DS library (AFAIK. I personally wasn't able to get it to work at all) and some found it easier to just buy a compatible DS flashcart. SD2Vita works with card sizes over 100GB easily, while 3DS might run into problems when you go over 64GB (I have my games spread over 2 3DS's each with a 32GB card).

 

[Soupmancer]

The Vita has an incredible oled display if you get the right model and i think the ps store for the vita is still running, but the 3ds and ds just have such an amazing library. A lot of psp and vita games got releases on other platforms meanwhile heavy hitters like SMT 4, Persona Q, the Soul Hackers remake, Monster Hunter, Yokai watch, and any first party games are locked to the 3ds... and that's just the 3ds. The ds is still the only way to play kingdom hearts 358/2 days, golden sun dark dawn, dragon quest 9, and a handful of really really weird final fantasy spin offs (this baby has two ivalice games).

In my experience, 3ds games just feel better on original hardware. But PPSSPP works fine for PSP purposes.

 

[Blamhammer]

There is a secret, tougher, third option - you buy the Ps Vita...and a cheap faulty 3DS.
This is dependent on your repair abilities though, since threading the ribbon cables through the 3DS hinge can be a bit of a nightmare.

BUT you'll have the chance to clean out the system of all dirt build up and have a nice looking system in the end.

 

[MemeAlert]

I've saved up enough to get either one, but choosing which is tough and wanted to hear you guys' opinion. I'm going to mod/hack either one for maximum utility. What's making it harder is a lot of my favourite series are split between the two. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is only on PSP, but Dream Drop Distance is only on 3DS. Persona 3/4 on PSP/vita, but mainline SMT are on DS/3ds. I did think of getting one of those retro handhelds and will consider them, but having the real console gives me a chance to pick them apart and understand their hardware better and all that nerd stuff. So, what do you think? Besides my choice consider this a general discussion for comparing the two. I find both consoles very interesting in their own ways

Why can't you make your own decision?