The PS Vita Was Ahead of Its Time
It never truly got off the ground, and it was arguably too Japanese for the West. So why does the PS Vita feel so good to play in 2026?
The Last PlayStation I Never Owned
Until now, the PS Vita was the only PlayStation console I’d never owned, and I can’t believe it took me this long, because I absolutely love this thing. I was able to get my hands on one thanks to the video’s sponsor, JP Fans, who I’ll come to in a bit. This is the PS Vita Slim in a lime green colourway that was only ever released in Japan. They call it lime green, but to my eyes it looks very yellow. A whole console in that colour could be too much, but with the white front panel and just a pop of colour around the edges, it comes across as a fun, vibrant device you want to spend time with.
Long before it became a cult classic among retro hardware fans, the PS Vita never truly got off the ground. That probably has a lot to do with it never getting a full slate of games to convince enough people to buy one. There’s also something incredibly Japan-coded about it, and I wonder whether that stopped it breaking through properly in the West. The quirky sound effects and animations in the interface, the experimental hardware features and control options crammed into the console, and the prevalence of JRPGs in its library all point that way. It’s refreshing to pick up a Sony console that doesn’t take itself as seriously as the PlayStation 5s of this world.
Tiny, Comfortable and Better Than You’d Expect
The PS Vita Slim arrived in 2014 with some important differences from the original model. It’s a little slimmer and 20% lighter, and next to modern handhelds like the Retroid Pocket 6 or the AYN Odin X it’s absolutely tiny, completely dwarfed by something like a Legion Go S. Despite the size, it’s really comfortable, because the pebble shape contours into your palms. That matters because you can get between four and five hours of battery life out of it, another upgrade on the original. The Slim managed that at a smaller size by switching from an OLED display to an LCD. You get a five-inch IPS touchscreen, and I do wish it could get a little brighter, but for the games you want to play it’s absolutely fine. I’ve been surprised by how good the graphics look on something from 2014 that fits in the palm of my hand.
The Slim also ditched the proprietary charging port for micro USB. You still need a charging brick, and with a Japanese model like mine you may need an adapter, though the Sony camera I film on happens to use a compatible power brick. Avoiding a proprietary charger is a real plus today, especially for travel. Another quality-of-life improvement is 1GB of built-in storage, which is enough for a couple of indie games, but you’ll still need a memory card, and those can get expensive.
Shopping Japan With JP Fans
As mentioned, I got this PS Vita through the video’s sponsor, JP Fans, a shopping platform that lets you order from Japanese stores like Mercari and J-Direct Items, where retro gaming gems like mine turn up. Both Sony and Nintendo have historically released some brilliant Japan-exclusive versions of their handhelds, such as the Persona 4 PS Vita special edition, which would be far more expensive or rare in the West. Alongside the Vita, I picked up my own little piece of gaming history in a copy of Pokémon Green that came with the original manual. JP Fans ships far more than games hardware, too, including fashion, anime memorabilia and K-pop merch.
It’s much easier than navigating Japanese stores yourself. You search for products and add them to your cart, then pay JP Fans, who buy the items on your behalf. They’re shipped to a warehouse, where they’re stored for up to 60 days, and released once you pay the final shipping fee. Delivery to your door typically takes around two weeks. I was impressed by how clearly each step was communicated and how well everything was packaged when it arrived. There’s a link in the video description that gets you a discount on your first purchase.
Games That Feel Like the Real Thing
Another reason people may have held back on the Vita is that many PSP games felt like semi-skimmed versions of the real thing. If you ever tried to play Assassin’s Creed on the PSP, you’ll know what I mean. On the Vita, a game like Uncharted plays like a full game that belongs in the series. It’s the only Uncharted I’d never played, and I feel lucky to be playing it now.
It also shows why some people may have been put off. The Vita throws a huge number of controls and gestures at you, and it really wants you to rotate the console, swipe the touchscreen and use the rear touchpad to shake the dirt off archaeological finds. You can ignore most of it and use the standard controls, and I’m usually pretty miserable about this sort of thing. Something about the Vita makes me accept it, though, and I’ve been enjoying myself. Using the gyro to hone in your aim in Uncharted feels really cool. I’ve also picked up Gravity Rush and Persona 4 Golden, which I’ve barely scratched the surface of, but I can see why there are Persona 4 special edition consoles, because it feels tailor-made for the Vita.
Digital Games and the Memory Card Problem
I’ll mostly be playing cartridges, but you can still buy and download from the PlayStation Vita store. PlayStation used to sell some crossover titles in a device-agnostic way, so if you own digital copies of games like Flower or Flow on the PS3, you can download them to your Vita. Plenty of titles have been stripped from the store, but there’s still a host of PSP, PlayStation and Vita games available.
Buying them is a little tricky. The Vita won’t take your card details any more, so you have to buy a PlayStation Network gift certificate, add it to your wallet, and then spend those funds through the store app. If you want an expansive digital library, an 8GB memory card won’t cut it, and you’ll want something closer to 32GB. Building a Vita library from scratch can get pricey, but so far the games seem worth it.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been playing the Vita for a couple of weeks now, and I know there’s much more I want to get out of it over the coming months and years. I can finally see why people love it, and it isn’t just because you can homebrew it and slap your ROMs on. The Vita was an incredible device in its own right, slightly ahead of its time in many ways and probably a little too geared towards the Japanese market. Coming to it as a retro gamer now, it hits a sweet spot of fun, portability and some really decent hidden gems. As we look ahead to PlayStation potentially releasing a PS6 handheld, it’s got a lot to live up to.
My recommendation: If you enjoy retro handhelds and don’t mind budgeting for a memory card, the PS Vita is well worth picking up. Just expect to spend extra on storage if you want a big digital library.