One of the PSP’s greatest strengths was its role in extending the universes of popular PlayStation games. Rather than simply rehash existing titles, Sony’s portable console allowed developers to create original stories within familiar franchises. These unique PSP games offered fans a deeper understanding of characters, lore, and timelines, effectively making the handheld essential for those who wanted the full experience.

Perhaps the most well-known example of this is Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. As a prequel to one of the most revered RPGs of all time, it delivered a moving narrative that added emotional weight to the esse4d original story. Its real-time combat system brought something fresh to the franchise and made the game stand on its own, rather than living in the shadow of its predecessor. It’s widely considered one of the best games in the PSP’s entire library.

The PSP also gave players Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, a game that explored the origin stories of key characters. It offered not only deeper lore but also introduced new gameplay systems that would influence later console entries. Far from being a side story, it became a foundational part of the Kingdom Hearts narrative arc.

These PlayStation games helped legitimize the PSP as more than just a secondary platform. They gave fans reasons to care, reasons to explore, and reasons to return. The fact that these games are still praised years later proves that their value went far beyond the screen they were played on.