The PS Vita lives on in 2022

Welcome to another year of Vita gaming. I guess Sony's handheld is officially retro as we hit 2022. 

There are no new official games coming, consoles are increasingly hard to find - and getting more expensive, along with fewer spare parts and price increases for remaining physical games. 

All of which puts us firmly in gaming's has-been category, even though the Vita remains a perfectly capable machine and a great PS4 remote play machine (and would do fine for PS5 if Sony would let it). 

The fact that it is still going almost half-a-decade after Sony gave up developing for it (with hardware production discontinued in 2019) shows the power within the Vita, and the energy of the community and developers that love it. 

On the plus side, the likes of Purified (above), the possibility of Super Korotama from Catness Games among others, and a steady stream of ports keep things ticking over on VitaIsland. And the massive archive across PSOne, PSP and Vita, plus remote play and a growing number of emulators and hacks make it increasingly tempting for collectors. 

So, the Vita continues to roll and this blog will highlight all the fun and games to come. Personally, looks like my PSP finally kicked the dust but my launch Vita runs fine for Steins Gate, Persona 4 Golden, Danganronpa and other playthroughs. 

And I love having 10 years of games to play through, all just a quick download away, or tucked away on a memory card where half the fun is finding out how far I'd got and what other games were on there. 

Even so, we all move on, and I've found my little slice of retro-heaven Evercade and the gorgeous world of Assassin's Creed Valhalla on PS5 (A Christmas present and the first AC title I've played since Liberation on the Vita) take up more of my reduced gaming time. And then there's Remote Play for the Vita on PS4, or via cludgy smartphone accessories for PS5. 

But I'm always checking in on the community and seeing who's playing what - so welcome to #VitaIsland in 2022 for the ongoing voyages of the world's greatest handheld. I'll follow the publishers and developers that supported the Vita, and the key or news games as they spread to other platforms.