The Sony PlayStation Portable, commonly known as PSP, was a nifty little handheld console you could take virtually anywhere with you. Back when I was growing up, I owned the PSP 2000 before it died and refused to turn back on, and then my parents gifted me a PSP Go — and I never went anywhere without it.
I recently visited my family home in India and you know what I found in a box my dad had carefully stashed away? My old PSP Go. Naturally, I had to bring it back with me to the U.K. where I live now. The PSP Go came out in 2009. It is now almost 2026, and I've spent the last month or so gaming on my 16-year-old handheld console. Yes, on a 480p screen with terrible battery life, and you know what? I kinda dig it.
The PSP Go, by no means, is a perfect console, and when I started playing on it again after maybe seven years of not touching it, I wasn't expecting it to run like a modern handheld such as the Nintendo Switch 2. And therein lies its charm — it has captivated me with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia, and a surprisingly solid gaming library. The PSP Go makes a compelling case for Sony to announce the long-rumored PS6, too, and I can't wait for it to come out.
A nostalgic gaming catalog
When I dug my PSP Go out of storage, it was out of battery, unsurprisingly. So the first thing I did was find the charger and plug it in, and when it turned on, I went through the games I had installed that had been lying dormant all this time. It evoked a sense of nostalgia in me, similar to how I felt going through all the artists and songs on my old iPod Touch.
Games like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, Sonic Rivals 2, Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dragon Ball Z Shin Budokai, and Need For Speed Carbon brought back a flood of memories. I used to play under the covers after telling my parents I was going to sleep, and play on road trips too. Back then, the PSP Go felt like a feat of engineering — "How could they pack so much into such a tiny device?" I remember thinking to myself.
Of course, the PSP Go's specs haven't stood the test of time, and it feels like a very outdated console now. The 480p resolution is okay and the 16GB internal memory is limiting unless you get a proprietary M2 memory card. It's all digital, so there's no UMD drive if you're a fan of physical games, and the battery life is far from ideal.
But I knew what I was signing up for when I started using the PSP Go again a month ago, and honestly, I wouldn't change a thing. Sure, it would be great to have a better screen, longer battery life, and a higher refresh rate, but for a 16-year-old console, my PSP Go is holding up well. I love the clickity-clackity sounds of the D-pad and face buttons, and the sounds the console makes when I scroll through the different menus.
Playing fighting games like Dragon Ball Z has been extremely fun too. I'm not even a fan of fighting games and yet, I remember I must have sunk hundreds of hours into DBZ on my PSP Go. The PSP Go is perfect for lengthy RPGs too, like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, which was the first game that actually got me into RPGs (and it's now my favorite genre).
The buttons still respond well with next-to-none input lag, and I don't mind the 480p screen. The graphics look decent and the LCD screen is still quite bright, enough for me to be able to see Vegeta knock out Goku. If I wanted a near-perfect console, I'd have stuck with the Nintendo Switch 2!
More portable than my smartphone
One of the biggest advantages of using my PSP Go is that I can slip it into my pocket. Any pocket. The front pocket of my skinny jeans. The big one of my winter coat. It slips in so easily! It measures just 5.03 x 2.71 x 0.64 inches, so it's extremely portable (the clue is in the name, after all). It weighs 5.6oz so it's extremely lightweight, and I often forget it's even in my pocket.
The PSP Go is more portable than most modern smartphones. For instance, my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL measures 6.41 x 3.02 x 0.33 inches and weighs 8.18oz. Carrying the PSP Go alongside my phone, then, is very convenient and a no-brainer — especially for gaming, as I don't like playing on a smartphone.
I love the PSP Go's design too. The sliding screen mechanism is a winner in my books as the 3.8-inch LCD screen slides upwards to reveal the D-pad and face buttons. Even after all these years, it slides effortless with no unnecessary friction or resistance. It also makes me feel very cool, like 2000s movie protagonist answering her flip phone.
So, about that PS6 handheld...
Rumors about Sony's next-gen console, successor to the PS5, have been circulating online for a while now, and in May, rumor had it that Sony had started working on a portable version which could potentially launch alongside the PS6. A couple of weeks ago, tech and gaming YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead noted that Sony was pushing Low Power and Power Save modes for the current-gen PS5 to see if PS5 gaming could work seamlessly on the potentially less powerful PS6 handheld.
Rumors point towards Sony having made internal changes to PS5 Software Development Kits (SDKs) to ensure Power Save modes are in the works for PlayStation games, so that they can run on devices "with different available CPU configurations." This all makes sense because handheld devices are heavily judged for their battery lives.
Take the Nintendo Switch 2, for example. A great console with a measly 6-hour battery life. Sony would want to do everything it can to ensure its handheld is up to the challenge. If we are to go by the aforementioned speculation, it only adds fuel to the fire that the PS6 handheld could be coming in late 2027 or early 2028, so perhaps we'll get official confirmation towards the end of next year.
And you know what? The PS6 handheld can't come soon enough — I know I'll be placing a pre-order as soon as possible. Playing my PSP Go for the past month has reminded me just how much I love Sony's now-dead handheld consoles.
Looking ahead...
Right now, it's hard to imagine what the next-gen PS6 handheld will look like. Perhaps it will borrow styling cues from the original PSP. Maybe it will feature haptic feedback and adaptive triggers like the PlayStation Portal does. Will it come with built-in storage, like the PSP Go?
Who knows how much power the PS6 handheld will pack, but the only thing I know for sure is that I will be there when it launches, and I will buy it. Playing the PSP Go has not only reminded me of my childhood and my early gaming-related memories, but it has confirmed, for me, that I need a Sony handheld in my life — and no, not one like the Portal. An actual, proper handheld that makes the Switch 2 look like child's play.
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