Rumor has it that, very soon, the digital stores for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vita will be shutting down. There are many great games present on these older consoles, and some will become very difficult to play once the digital storefronts shut down. PSP and PS3 emulation are rapidly advancing, but Vita fans may be left in the dust. The PS Vita has been on life support for a while, but now is the time to make sure any essential digital-only Vita games are bought and securely stored in a game library.
The PlayStation Vita was first released in North America on February 22, 2012. The Vita was intended to combine the experience of a dedicated game platform with the then up-and-coming trend of mobile gaming. However, in the year after the device's successful launch, system and triple-A game sales stalled, threatening to end its life. A concentrated effort to attract Western indie developers, combined with strong support from mid-level Japanese companies, helped keep the Vita alive for a while. This left it as a deeply niche and underrated platform full of indie games, visual novels, and RPGs, but among those are some definite highlights that should not be missed.
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One of the Vita’s main Sony-published titles, Soul Sacrifice Delta is the upgraded re-release of the Vita game Soul Sacrifice. Players take on the role of a person forced to relive epic battles fought by a sorcerer in the past to save their soul from that very sorcerer in the present. This is an action-RPG with a heavy focus on boss fights, drawing comparisons to the Monster Hunter series. Like Monster Hunter, players have a side branch of quests that can be taken alongside other players. Unlike Monster Hunter is the sacrificial mechanic, where players can choose to permanently sacrifice their body parts, items, or even one another to perform devastating attacks.
The game was developed by Marvelous AQL, with assistance from Sony’s Japan Studio. One of its claims to fame was that its core sacrifice element was designed by Keiji Inafune. A year after the original Soul Sacrifice came out in North America, Soul Sacrifice Delta was released digitally, coming with new bosses, new attacks, a new faction, and more. The game is an interesting part of the Vita’s history, and also one of Inafune’s more favorably received post-Capcom efforts.
TxK is an action game developed by Llamasoft and designed by Jeff Minter, of Tempest 2000 and Polybius fame. The game was released on the PlayStation Vita in February of 2014. It was supposed to come to other platforms, but unfortunately the current holders of the Atari name and trademark made legal threats and issued cease and desist orders over the game, blocking release to PC, PlayStation 4, and Android platforms. They eventually reached an agreement and TxK was partially reworked into Tempest 4000, but the original Vita game still stands on its own.
TxK is a tube shooter based on the classic arcade game Tempest. The gameplay expands upon that of the original by including power-ups which grant the player additional abilities, though there is an option to play without them. TxK is famous for its crisp presentation, and addictive twitch-based retro gameplay. Fans of retro '80s games won’t want to miss out on it.
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The history of Vanillaware’s beloved Muramasa is an odd one that spanned several years. Released on the Wii in 2009 under the name Muramasa: The Demon Blade, the game was later published on the Vita in 2013 as Muramasa Rebirth.
Developer statements claimed that this was to take advantage of the Vita’s OLED screen, and its ability to better portray the game’s palette. During the original game’s development, content was cut. Vanillaware decided not to restore this in the re-release, instead designing four new short DLC campaigns under the banner Genroku Legends. These are what gives Muramasa its spot on this digital-exclusive Vita list, as any new artistic endeavor by Vanillaware ought to be treasured.
It helps that the game is fun, too. Players take control of a possessed princess, a cursed ninja, or one of the four DLC protagonists and set out on a journey through a beautifully painted Japan. The action gameplay is slick, and enemies are always fun to fight. Every character, even those from the DLC, can reach multiple endings with radically different results. Vanillaware’s storytelling chops in 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim took gamers by storm, but as any Odin Sphere or Muramasa fan can tell you, it has been juggling multiple protagonists for years.
Speaking of artistic endeavors that ought to be treasured, Vita-exclusive Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines is a feast for the eyes. The game is a turn-based RPG where players take parties of four assigned to various different classes through various labyrinths on a quest to defeat a demon. After dungeons, player characters can marry deities and have children with them, producing new party members for when the current set inevitably passes on due to their curse.
However, it’s not the gameplay that gives this game its fame. One look at an area or the battle screen should tell players all they need to know; Oreshika is beautiful and resembles little else. The closest comparison would be Okami, and that is certainly high praise for any video game. Oreshika's Asian mythology-inspired aesthetic is the primary reason this game should be experienced.
La-Mulana is a Japanese indie classic that was designed to emulate the look and feel of MSX games. Taking the form of a deliberately obtuse and extremely difficult adventure-platformer, La-Mulana has received a number of releases over the years, including a remake, WiiWare and Switch ports, a sequel, and an upgraded digital-only Vita port. Released in 2015, ten years after the original La-Mulana came out, La-Mulana EX (meaning “Extra”) is an upgrade of the original.
Developed by Pygmy Studio, this release added a bestiary alongside some gameplay tweaks. Most notably, some of the signage directing the player early on was improved, and the Hard Mode curse can now be dispelled for those who find it overwhelming. La-Mulana EX is still a port of one of the hardest games around, but its a bit more manageable now. It is unfortunate that this definitive version never left the Vita, but the upgrades are minimal enough that dedicated fans don’t really need them. It’s probably the best version for newcomers, however, so players on the fence about the difficult series may want to look into La-Mulana EX.