PlayStation Vita



"Never stop playing."

The Vita is a handheld game console and the successor to the PSP. It was produced by Sony from 2011 to 2019. It was a very powerful system at the time, and quite successful in Japan. However, it was a commercial disappointment in the West, struggling to compete with the Nintendo 3DS and mobile gaming.

Three models were produced:
 * PCH-1000, the original, with an OLED screen and optional (but abandoned) 3G.
 * PCH-2000, released in October 2013 (in February 2014 worldwide), with an IPS screen instead, better battery life, 1GB of internal memory storage (disabled once a memory card is inserted), and is thinner and lighter overall.
 * PlayStation TV, released in November 2013 (in October 2014 worldwide), to play Vita games on a television, up to 1080i resolution, also featuring an Ethernet/HDMI port and support for DualShock 3 & 4 controllers. However, earlier Vita games (especially the ones that require touch input, such as Gravity Rush) may not be compatible with this system.

One major issue, and perhaps a crucial factor in its commercial failure, was its use of proprietary (and very expensive) memory cards instead of the widely accepted SD cards. There is a microSD adapter called SD2Vita, but custom firmware is required.

Retail titles are region-free, but digital content/DLCs are region-locked through a PSN account. Note that only one account can be used per memory card. Most PSP games that were given a digital release are available to play on the Vita, but some may require a PC or PS3 to download. Knowing Japanese is more than recommended too if you want to enjoy the system's library, as so much of it was never released in the West (or was poorly localized, or censored - looking at you, NISA and Idea Factory).

At this point, modding your Vita is highly recommended, as it has received a large number of homebrew ports, and works great as a retro emulation machine. Refer to this guide for all your hacking needs, and this for emulators.