I Will Finally Buy A PSV But I NEED YOUR HELP! (UPDATE 09/14/2002)

[veinte-justo]

Hello guys, new user here.
After so many years the time has come to finally give this system a chance, the only problem is that I have very little knowledge about it and I feel super lost. I have A LOT of questions but lets start from the beginning.
Naturally my first thought was the YouTube search and a couple of good videos appeared including this one.
 

 

 

Please feel free to share your ideas or other vids because from what I understood the PSV 2000 is just a better deal.

Here are some of my questions:

1. Just to make sure I have the right idea, some offers online have descriptions like; "model Pch-1010 or Pch-2011". this basically means if its OLED or not, right?
2. Where did you guys buy your PSVs? I'm looking on Amazon but all of them seem to be refurbished, are those even good? there are of course other offers in my local area that claim to be "Sony Original" or "Japan Imported" and I don't know if that's a big difference?

3. I'll be honest I mainly want to play the first party tittles along with some PS1 classics but it seems that the property memory card is what killed the system. I've found an offer that includes a 4GB memory card. is that enough for Vita games? the MC are kinda expensive after some research.
Also, some of the offers say that the include a 128GB memory card... theres no way that's true unless its hacked or something right?

4. Whats a good deal for this system guys? Ive seen offers from 100 to 300 US dollars. most of them second hand.
How did you guys get yours?

5. Are the any sites where we could check prices?
I recently found this one https://psdeals.net/us-store/discounts?sort=price-desc&platforms=psvita

But I dont think its been updated in a long time. according to this site the MGS collection is still available. I guess it doesnt even matter, when was the last time PSV games had special offers or discounts?

I still have lots of questions but these are the main ones. If you guys could answer them and share your experience with some advises for someone new it would be very appreciated. ?

 

EDIT

--------------------------------------

 

Alright guys here is my edit Sep 14th 2022.
I'm almost done buying a new Vita, wow, what an adventure!
However I would like to ask you guys, who had played with these devices unlike me who had only seen them on youtube. I would like to hear your opinion between 2 options.

option A.

https://ibb.co/rFZc6Qs
https://ibb.co/0X1YHHy
https://ibb.co/gM3kFhS

 

Option B

https://ibb.co/9wrDzhD
https://ibb.co/19v6FmV

 

Which one would you choose?

Im asking this because the difference between A and B is 30 US dollars. B is the cheaper one.

Option A looks great but on the third pic. Im not sure if the joysticks are 100% similar to the previous pictures. The touchpad seems to be perfectly though. (the screen protector or whatever its called can be changed right?)
Option B looks excellent!!! except for the touch-pad... Is it me or does it have scratches all over it? is there a way to change it or is that the protector?

 

My apologies if Im going as far as to ask which deal is better but I never in my life thought about getting one of these and who better to ask than people who are passionate and now exactly to suggest.

 

any help would be immensely appreciated ?

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by veinte-justo
Add info

[SnowxSakura]

3 minutes ago, veinte-justo said:

Hello guys, new user here.
After so many years the time has come to finally give this system a chance, the only problem is that I have very little knowledge about it and I feel super lost. I have A LOT of questions but lets start from the beginning.
Naturally my first thought was the YouTube search and a couple of good videos appeared including this one.
 

 

 

Please feel free to share your ideas or other vids because from what I understood the PSV 2000 is just a better deal.

Here are some of my questions:

1. Just to make sure I have the right idea, some offers online have descriptions like; "model Pch-1010 or Pch-2011". this basically means if its OLED or not, right?
2. Where did you guys buy your PSVs? I'm looking on Amazon but all of them seem to be refurbished, are those even good? there are of course other offers in my local area that claim to be "Sony Original" or "Japan Imported" and I don't know if that's a big difference?

3. I'll be honest I mainly want to play the first party tittles along with some PS1 classics but it seems that the property memory card is what killed the system. I've found an offer that includes a 4GB memory card. is that enough for Vita games? the MC are kinda expensive after some research.
Also, some of the offers say that the include a 128GB memory card... theres no way that's true unless its hacked or something right?

4. Whats a good deal for this system guys? Ive seen offers from 100 to 300 US dollars. most of them second hand.
How did you guys get yours?

5. Are the any sites where we could check prices?
I recently found this one https://psdeals.net/us-store/discounts?sort=price-desc&platforms=psvita

But I dont think its been updated in a long time. according to this site the MGS collection is still available. I guess it doesnt even matter, when was the last time PSV games had special offers or discounts?

I still have lots of questions but these are the main ones. If you guys could answer them and share your experience with some advises for someone new it would be very appreciated.

1. 100x series is for the OLED models, 200x series is for the slims

 

2. I preordered mine back at gamestop when the psv was first announced. If you want to find a good japanese version, I'd recommend ebay, as there are jp sellers.

 

3. If you're only playing cartridge releases, 4 GB would be enough, however if you're getting into digital titles, you would need a larger card. Those 128gb cards are on hacked systems. The largest official PSV memory card is 64gb

 

4. You can use pricecharting.com to gauge the selling prices of the system to get a good idea of what to pay. Some people have luck getting good deals from local marketplaces like offerup/facebook/etc

 

5. psprices.com is one you can check, just set it to psvita, then the region of your account

[Empovyle]

16 minutes ago, veinte-justo said:

3. I'll be honest I mainly want to play the first party tittles along with some PS1 classics but it seems that the property memory card is what killed the system. I've found an offer that includes a 4GB memory card. is that enough for Vita games? the MC are kinda expensive after some research.

4. Whats a good deal for this system guys? Ive seen offers from 100 to 300 US dollars. most of them second hand.
How did you guys get yours?

5. Are the any sites where we could check prices?

Hi there, welcome to the forums!

 

3: I had the 4GB memory card only for MANY years and it was unbearable for storage of downloaded titles. At best you could only have 1 big game downloaded and maybe 1-3 smaller indie games at a time, at worst you couldn't even fit that big game on the card with the patches/DLC installed. In addition when you want to delete a game to regain storage space you have to upload your save file to the cloud (PlayStation Plus required) or else it will get deleted when you uninstall the game. So it's a big hassle just to play the games you want when you have that small of a card. I bought an 8GB memory card a few years ago and it's been plenty for me, just enough room that you don't have to uninstall all the time and cheap enough that it won't break your wallet.

 

4/5: I browse eBay a lot and they typically go between $140-$180 USD for the preowned console only, can't speak for your region but I second what @SnowxSakura said, PriceCharting is a great source for game and hardware prices. It even lets you browse between cartridge only prices or box included prices. Most physical Vita games are pretty expensive nowadays so doing some searching for a good deal might take a long time. For digital games I don't think they go on sale anymore, Sony recently discontinued using credit cards on the PSN Store so you can only use prepaid PSN cards to pay for games now. There's probably a workaround for this but I haven't tried yet.

 

Hope this helps.

[Super-Fly Spider-Guy]

Either is fine, I mean, I've had 8 or so have touch screen issues and die on me, but clearly I enjoy the system enough and or are a glutton for punishment, because I kept coming back. But that happened on several slim and OGs. 

 

In any case, I'm only here to say mod it to take MicroSD. The memory card situation for Vita is fucked, but paying 5 bucks to get an adapter, to then pay 10 bucks and shove a 128gb card in it, better than any other option by leaps and bounds.

 

And that's to say nothing of the piracy options out there. Which uhh, when I finally did it a few months ago, holy shit, it's the easiest of anything I've ever done, even easier than traditional ROM piracy where you Google the game and download it and shove it in the folder yourself, jPKG or whatever it's called is an app that comes with the mod and it's essentially a big fat list of every PS Vita, PSP, PS1, etc. digital game available, across all regions, and you just hit the X button on what you want. You can even play digital PSP games that never made the jump to Vita like Zuma, Rock Band, Peggle, etc. The Vita is weeeeeeeell and truly dead and buried, unlock it's full potential.

 

PS the new login system fucking sucks and is a major annoyance, 2FA helps with the consistency of getting logged in successfully, but it's still a nightmare, and then you need to go get your phone for the code on top of it.

[MonaSaxPayne]

I imported a brand new slim model from Japan in June. Paid $250 for it off eBay 

 

also bought a brand new 64gb memory card  off Amazon for $300 

 

I wanted the large memory card cuz I buy all my games digital.. and I wanted space for when the vita store will inevitably close, and I’ll need to splurge and buy all the games I’m interested in all at once 

 

took me a long time to get a vita, but other than the slower speed (I find it faster than the PS3 but slower than the PS4) I have no complaints. Wish I’d bought one sooner 

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

49 minutes ago, veinte-justo said:

Here are some of my questions:

1. Just to make sure I have the right idea, some offers online have descriptions like; "model Pch-1010 or Pch-2011". this basically means if its OLED or not, right?
2. Where did you guys buy your PSVs? I'm looking on Amazon but all of them seem to be refurbished, are those even good? there are of course other offers in my local area that claim to be "Sony Original" or "Japan Imported" and I don't know if that's a big difference?

3. I'll be honest I mainly want to play the first party tittles along with some PS1 classics but it seems that the property memory card is what killed the system. I've found an offer that includes a 4GB memory card. is that enough for Vita games? the MC are kinda expensive after some research.
Also, some of the offers say that the include a 128GB memory card... theres no way that's true unless its hacked or something right?

4. Whats a good deal for this system guys? Ive seen offers from 100 to 300 US dollars. most of them second hand.
How did you guys get yours?

5. Are the any sites where we could check prices?
I recently found this one https://psdeals.net/us-store/discounts?sort=price-desc&platforms=psvita

But I dont think its been updated in a long time. according to this site the MGS collection is still available. I guess it doesnt even matter, when was the last time PSV games had special offers or discounts?

I still have lots of questions but these are the main ones. If you guys could answer them and share your experience with some advises for someone new it would be very appreciated.

 

1. 1000 models are the OLED, 2000 are slim models.

 

2. I bought my Vita brand new in 2012 or 2013 (I know I definitely didn't get it at launch, but I got it sometime within the 1st year of its release). I got another Vita (slim model) back around 2018 or so, also brand new, imported from Japan. So unfortunately I can't personally attest to the quality of any refurbished models.

 

The main difference with Japanese imported Vitas is that the general "select" button is O instead of X, at least while on the dashboard. I don't believe there is any way to change this. NTSC or PAL Vitas use the X button for "select" instead of O.

 

3. 4GB is not much, you'll probably be able to fit roughly 3-5 PS1 games on that depending on their size. The higher capacity ones do tend to be kind of outrageously expensive nowadays though unfortunately. You may be able to find some 16GB ones for reasonable prices, I managed to find one (still sealed) a couple of years ago for around £20 or so.

There is indeed no official 128GB memory card, the largest capacity is 64GB, so those listings you're seeing are almost definitely hacked systems that are likely using an SD card adaptor.

 

4. Not too sure how much Vitas would generally go for nowadays tbh, so it may be best to shop around and/or use price comparison websites to see what they're currently selling for, and make a judgement on what you consider to be a good deal based on that. Brand new Vitas are probably very expensive nowadays, they were starting to get rare and expensive back in 2018 when I bought my 2nd one, which is one of the reasons that prompted me to buy one in that year after debating for a while if I really needed another Vita (I didn't really, just wanted a backup).

 

5. I unfortunately don't know any good ones. There's Pricespy and Pricerunner here in the UK, but they're absolutely useless for comparing anything other than brand new items unfortunately.

[ExHaseo]

2. Most people here likely bought theirs new. That's how I got mine. When buying a used system, it's best to go to a local game shop so you can check the condition. They're usually more expensive, but you know exactly what you're getting. If you can't do that, you'll just have to try your luck on any of the numerous resell sites.

 

3. 4GB is basically nothing, especially if you're going to be getting digital titles. Which honestly, is the best way to go. Most physical Vita games are going to be considerably more than the digital version. For example, Persona 4 Golden is $20 digital, and last time I checked the physical was going for around $50-$60. There are games that are more than 4GB by themselves, so a 4GB isn't going to be enough. I have a 32GB card, and have to constantly delete and redownload stuff whenever I use my Vita. You're better off investing in a large card, or multiple cards even.

 

4. Since you can't look at the condition buying online, it's going to be really difficult to judge what a good deal is for a handheld system. You could find one for $100 that's in terrible condition, or one for $300 that's in terrible condition. Or they could be in great condition. You wont really know until it arrives and you're able to take a look at it. That's just a risk you're going to have to take.

 

5. psprices is probably the most solid.

[melodicmizery]

i didnt watch the video but i got mine used at a gaming store. i checked the analog stick to make sure they were ok. i paid around $100 right when the pandemic hit before lockdown.

my friend before he passed away use to buy and sell alot of things. he would get vitas for $40 off fb marketplace from locals whose kids never really used them and grew up and forgot about them. 

i dont use it alot. the trick to make you switch screen names to stack trophies is a bit irritating to do. the download list is a mess instead of listing the vita games youve owned from ps plus over the years it shows thousands of games you own which take forever to scroll through. its really only good when you buy a game and get the vita version for free. for me anyways, others might enjoy it for other reasons. i try to save my vita games for when i have a power outage or no internet at night from a storm or something like that.

my battery seems to last a long time. ive heard a few complain it has a short life but i dont find this to be true

[MrHealthy]

When you do get your Vita install QCMA on a PC. Gives you true offline backups for your games and saves and has a handy backup manager.

 

https://codestation.github.io/qcma/

 

Also worth mentioning that you can not pay with a credit or debit card directly anymore. Make sure you top up your wallet on PC/PS4/PS5 in order to purchase stuff.

[KondeBra]

I would like to add that there is differences between models that makes a huge difference. The first model have a pretty good OLED screen, while the slim model is considerable lighter, which makes a huge difference in long hours gameplay.

 

Also, I have an 8gb memory card and, for me, is good enough, with 4~6 games installed.

[Lordguwa]

i'm not too knowledgeable about vita but have experience with memory card size. 8GB isn't enough you want 16GB or higher.

couldn't store more than 1-2 games with an 8.

[Aknosom]

I have a couple of Vitas (yes, I love the system that much). The first one I preordered before it launched, but I have a few secondhand models for limited editions. If you don't mind using a middleman (Buyee comes to mind), I recommend looking on Y!Japan Auctions and Mercari Japan. They seem to take much greater care of their systems overseas (and a lot will even come boxed). Vitas also tend to cost less there than on eBay, even with extra fees and shipping (for instance, I've ended up paying $150CAD, shipping included, for one). Likewise, I was able to score two 32GB memory card for $20CAD each (just gotta keep looking). I do recommend the OLED model (1000) over the slim (2000) because that screen IS gorgeous. 32GB is good enough for me, though I prefer to play physical games (and if it's digital-only, looking at you Atelier Ayesha Plus, I usually delete it after obtaining the platinum).

 

The Vita is a wonderful handheld. If you do get one, I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do!

 

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Cogitom

[coldish-pride5]

I got one on Amazon recently, it’s in great condition 150 it cost, some games in my library entitled me to download the vita version for free, in hindsight I should have spent the money on games for the ps5 console, not because it was bad in anyway but just wasn’t worth 150 I feel, more like 60ish.

[WarJarl]

Heck ya! Always nice to see people jumping on the Vita! I bought my first one when the Borderlands 2 with 8gb Slim model released for $199 Canadian in like 2015 or so? And I have been in love. I picked up a used 1xxx model (OLED) in 2018/19 for $50 with a game and a 4gb card.

 

I have bigger hands so the 1xxx is more comfortable and the screen has much better colors, the propitiatory charger is dumb as well and it has no on system memory where as the 2xxx model has 1GB so you can at least save games if you have physical games. If you want a more comfortable system to hold with a brighter screen and better colors the 1xxx is the one to get, if you want better battery life, a micro usb charger the 2xx model is the one to get. 

 

There's a facebook page "PSVita Gamers Unite!" that is a good source to get Vita's and games for good prices and a big community that loves to help. 

[MonaSaxPayne]

OP have a look at this vid as well...

 

 

[LuckySlime]

try to get one with a good battery as well might be hard to tell online unless u ask the seller but when i bought mine it had a almost dead battery from 100%-0% took like 10 minutes so i had to replace the battery

[Silver-I-Chariot]

16 hours ago, veinte-justo said:

share your experience with some advises for someone new it would be very appreciated.

 

Jailbreak your vita. Gives you lots of control and possibilities and you won't get banned no matter what you do even if you play online, Sony doesn't care. 

[visighost]

Re: jailbreaking: just be warned that it’s much more complicated than it sounds. Also, according to a reddit AMA by a former Sony staffer, they definitely know which systems are hacked. They’re not doing anything about it, but it doesn’t mean they never will. 
 

Re: larger memory cards, they tend to corrupt more easily. I have a 32Gb one and I find that if I don’t touch a game for a few months, it becomes corrupted and I need to download it again.

Also be warned that deleting a game from your system also deletes its save. PS+ for cloud-saving is pretty much a must. You’ll notice the PS+ symbol on the launch screen of games: clicking it brings you to a screen where you can download or upload your saves. If you’re a “power user”, the good news is that the 1000-save limit stacks for each system (PS4, 5, vita…)

 

There are no more vita-specific sales (and they didn’t even bother with a fire sale), but you’ll find cross-buy titles on sale fairly frequently. For physical versions, I find most are really pricey (in North America anyhow), but if you know some Japanese, you can get them for super cheap second-hand through Amazon Jp or BookOff.

[Silver-I-Chariot]

8 minutes ago, visighost said:

Re: jailbreaking: just be warned that it’s much more complicated than it sounds. Also, according to a reddit AMA by a former Sony staffer, they definitely know which systems are hacked. They’re not doing anything about it, but it doesn’t mean they never will. 

 

It's far from complicated though and you don't need to be tech savvy, all you need to do is copy some files and hold down a button or so. As for getting banned - if they didn't do anything about it for like the last 10 years, they won't start doing it now. They never cared about vita and now it's dead and out of production so what are the odds of that happening? PS3/PS4 are a completely different matter but Vita has always been safe. I'm not advocating for piracy or anything illegal but OP asked for tips and experiences and if he wants to know more about vita, CFW is something he might find worth looking into if that's his cup of tea.

[DaivRules]

If the OP wants to explore the world of CFW on Vita, they’re free to find it elsewhere on the internet, we aren’t going to host instructions or more discussion of it here. 
 

[Silver-I-Chariot]

16 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

If the OP wants to explore the world of CFW on Vita, they’re free to find it elsewhere on the internet, we aren’t going to host instructions or more discussion of it here. 
 

 

As far as I'm aware no site rules were broken, no links were posted, no instructions given. What's the problem, officer?

[DaivRules]

Just now, Silver-I-Chariot said:

 

As far as I'm aware no site rules were broken, no links were posted, no instructions given. What's the problem, officer?

I made it as clear as it needs to be. 
 

[Silver-I-Chariot]

Just now, DaivRules said:

I made it as clear as it needs to be. 

 

Mind making clear what rules were broken? 

[MonaSaxPayne]

1 hour ago, visighost said:

Re: jailbreaking: just be warned that it’s much more complicated than it sounds. 

 

definitely

 

 

[Viper]

Bought a used 1000 model a few months ago for about $145. It works great, but the seller didn't even give me a charger, so I had to buy one of those, got a 32GB Memory card for $25 (it came with a 4GB but I already knew that wasn't going to get me anywhere), then once I got the charger I realized the battery in it was old and discharged very quickly, so I bought a new battery for it for like $6. 

 

I told myself it was going to pay for itself since I added every single Vita game we ever got on PS+ to my library, so I would never actually have to buy games for it. Turns out I bought one...Resistance: Burning Skies.

 

But even then, I haven't played it much. I played My Name is Mayo and Resistance, and I haven't even barely looked at it since. It's a cool little system, but I honestly think I could have saved my money. I definitely plan on playing it again of course...but I bought a Nintendo Switch around the same time, and that's just gotten far more use. I'm just not a handheld guy....I'd rather play games on my TV with a controller. 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Viper