It brought the power of PlayStation to the palm of your hand, fought bravely against Nintendo DS dominance and played host to pint-sized adventures for some of gaming's greatest heroes. Ladies and gentlemen: the PSP.
Sony recently drove another nail into the handheld system's already well-sealed coffin when it shuttered the North American PSP store after more than a decade of business. As the Vita's older brother gradually fades into memory, here are the games that made the system a portable prodigy.
10. INFECTED
It was the end of the world as we knew it, but we felt fine while painting the streets of New York City red with the blood of slain zombies in Infected.
An over-the-shoulder shooter with fun co-op modes and a dark sense of humour, Infected cast players as a rookie police officer whose blood holds the key to finding a cure for a virus that turned most of NYC into bloodthirsty zombies, not that visitors to the city noticed any difference.
9. PURSUIT FORCE
You know those sequences in generic action movies where the protagonist leaps between vehicles to do battle with various enemies on top of them during a high-speed car chase? Well, somebody made an entire game of them, and it was as fun as it sounds.
That game was Pursuit Force, a PSP thrill ride that seamlessly combined driving and combat in one fast-paced mission after another. Polished, accessible, and it handled like a dream.
8. EVERYBODY'S GOLF
It's the sport you know and love, and Sony got it down to a tee when they released the ultra-accessible and fiendishly addictive Everybody's Golf for PSP.
This golf sim played to the handheld console's strengths, scoring a hole in one on the course called 'plug-and-play value' and racking up an eagle in the charm stakes with those enormous-headed, anime-inspired sprites.
7. PATAPON 3
Lemmings met Donkey Konga in Pyramid's rhythm-based puzzler Patapon 3, the third instalment in a series that was content to dance to its own tune.
Players guided a tribe of warriors by bashing out notes on a virtual drum, a novel idea that soared to a creative high in this threequel. Polished visuals, improved controls, and an all-new multiplayer mode made this the Keith Moon of drumming games.
6. GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY STORIES
This handheld prequel to PlayStation 2 smash Grand Theft Auto: Vice City did what the Rockstar series does best - allow players to live out their wildest criminal fantasies without being handed several life sentences.
Vice City Stories pulled off the task of scaling down the GTA formula for more humble hardware in style, pushing the PSP to its graphical limits and building on the framework laid down by fellow criminal masterminds Liberty City Stories and San Andreas.
5. LITTLEBIGPLANET
Rather than stuff the platforming-build-em-up delights of LittleBigPlanet into a takeaway box, SCE Cambridge Studio and Media Molecule sent Sackboy on an original PSP adventure that somehow managed to retain every inch of its console predecessor's DIY magic.
Whether frolicking through the game's 23 unique levels or building your own to share with the community, LittleBigPlanet for PSP was proof that some of the greatest PlayStation experiences could be reimagined on the handheld's pint-sized screen.
4. PERSONA 3 PORTABLE
Role-playing games were always one of the PSP's specialities, and you only need to look at how well PS2 hit Persona 3 translated to the system to see that in practice.
Although Persona 3 Portable was essentially a console port, very little was lost in transit. In fact, the game actually gained a number of features during its journey to PSP, including new story elements and the option to play as a female protagonist. It put one of the best RPGs of the noughties in your back pocket. What more could you ask of a conversion?
3. LUMINES
Every good handheld system needs an insanely addictive puzzler to revolutionise the player's toilet time. The original Game Boy had Tetris, and the PSP had Lumines.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi's psychedelic block-rocking classic was a game of great beauty, using light and sound with creative flair. Although Lumines was a PSP launch title, it remained a fan-favourite for the duration of its lifecycle.
2. GOD OF WAR: GHOST OF SPARTA
Cramming the acclaimed God of War formula into a pocketable package was a Herculean task for Ready at Dawn and Sony's Santa Monica studio, but Zeus's lightning struck the PSP twice in the shape of Chains of Olympus and its superior follow-up Ghost of Sparta.
Ghost of Sparta made few compromises to the series' blood-stained blueprint and stands up as one of Kratos's greatest adventures - this Greek gore-fest remains an essential part of the God of War canon.
1. METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER
Snake blew our minds all over again when he crept onto PSP in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, a portable instalment in Hideo Kojima's award-winning stealth series that captured the blockbuster feel of its console comrades.
Peace Walker had it all - satisfying stealth elements, an in-depth squad management system, addictive multiplayer modes, and a bonkers storyline. It was every inch a Metal Gear Solid game and one of the best reasons to choose a PSP over a DS back in 2010.
