Super Stardust Portable

Super Stardust HD, the top-selling, award-winning PSN hit, makes the cosmic leap from PS3 to PSP! Rife with epic sights and sounds, Super Stardust Portable thrusts you into hyperspace with special “PSP-only” content and features, like “Impact” mode! Six planets are under attack by huge asteroid fields and diabolical enemies! And if that wasn’t enough, your original Stardust arch-nemesis, the evil mutant penguin Professor Schaumund, awaits you at game’s end with revenge on his mind!"

A portable version of the PS3 game based on the Amiga game of the same name! Whilst mostly the same as the PS3 release there are differences due to the much more limited hardware it is running on. The levels play quite differently with the intention of being slightly easier but the controls make for a much more difficult game. Due to have only one analogue stick used for movement, the face buttons are used to aim in eight directions. This makes for very sore thumbs especially on the PSP1000 with the odd square button.

The game is a twin stick shooter which has you shooting asteroids and aliens across five levels per system each ending with a boss fight. It has multiple gameplay modes with a couple more available in the dlc not added here. Each offers slightly different gameplay for scoring which adds a little longevity to the game but doesnt really add anything to the overall experience so it no biggy that it's not here. These modes were added to the PS3 game as part of the solo upgrade and impact addon packs. Impact Mode requires the use of boosts and bombs to achieve high scores through multiplier chaining. Planet mode lets you tackle and set a score for each system individually once unlocked. These are unlocked as you complete them in arcade mode which is a run through of all five systems.

The longplay is split into two videos. The first is a Casual difficulty playthrough of arcade mode which ends with a high score screen. I follow up with a play in impact mode. A second video will show playing through Normal mode which loops onto Hard mode upon completion and again in Elite mode. When starting the next loop you get to keep your main multiplier but your weapons are reduced back to zero. There are more difficulty loops to play but it is adding nothing to the video which is too long already. It's all about building a high score and flexing on the online leader boards. I end the longplay at the end of Elite mode but the extra loops are Hardcore, Suicide, Beyond Suicidal, Suicidal Overdrive, Officially impossible.

There are a few different mechanics for scoring and whilst I know them, I am mostly interested in staying alive than maximising scores. Levels can be done quick or farmed for more score but there is also a bonus based on bonus time remaining for the stage so some strategy can be useful here. I just want to get through the levels quick. The level ends when destroying the nuke that will eventually drop which is taken from endless mode in the ps3 game. Destroying the green asteroids reveals bonus points and weapons upgrades to collect and doing so with the boost raises the bonus multiplier. There is also the main multiplier for staying alive up to a maximum of ten and resets to zero if you die. You get three different weapons ideally suited to a rock type for quick destruction but you can use any. Each weapon can be upgraded by collecting the powerups dropped by green rocks. Getting to the next level allows you to destroy a bomb transport and collect the bombs to be used in a moment of panic when there is too much stuff around you.

Overall it's a good game for the portable platform but not quite as good as the original PS3 game which has more varied levels , more aliens and actual twin stick controls making it easier to play but with more difficult levels. The PSP game also has smaller levels which wrap around and don't have the same scope as the PS3 game with large planets which you orbit around. The Music on PSP is exceptional with an Orchestral rendition of the original music although the PS3 game was updates with the new music and you can still opt to play the original retro versions. It' kind of easy to feel short changed though with the extra game modes being made into purchasable dlc. Interestingly the game has been re-released on PS4/5 complete with trophy support as well as save and rewind features to help you get them.

Part 1
00:00:00 Demo
00:02:35 Arcade Casual - Lave
00:07:40 Arcade Casual - Coventina
00:16:05 Arcade Casual - Nemain
00:22:13 Arcade Casual - Teranis
00:29:40 Arcade Casual - Segomo
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00:37:36 Impact Mode
00:45:06 Credits

Part 2
00:00:00 Arcade Normal - Lave
00:07:47 Arcade Normal - Coventina
00:15:55 Arcade Normal - Nemain
00:22:34 Arcade Normal - Teranis
00:30:42 Arcade Normal - Segomo
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00:39:39 Arcade Hard - Lave
00:47:50 Arcade Hard - Coventina
00:56:06 Arcade Hard - Nemain
01:03:44 Arcade Hard - Teranis
01:12:40 Arcade Hard - Segomo
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01:21:35 Arcade Elite - Lave
01:28:51 Arcade Elite - Coventina
01:37:23 Arcade Elite - Nemain
01:43:50 Arcade Elite - Teranis
00:52:45 Arcade Elite - Segomo
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02:01:30 Arcade Hardcore - Lave