5 best budget PSP games

If you’ve got around $20 burning in your pocket to spend before heading into a video game retailer, and you happen to own a PSP, then you are in luck. There are phenomenal phenomenal games at reasonable prices available. In fact, the majority of PSP games available are priced at $19.99 or less. Today we’ll look at five of the best cheap games you can pick up at your local GameStop.

• Death Jr. 2: The Root of Evil: This game is a steal at $12.99 used. Plus, you can mock any friends who end up paying full price for the Wii version when it comes out. Its a classic platformer with plenty of dark humor and cool characters. Personally I like playing as Pandora, but Death Jr. is quite charming as well.
• Guilty Gear Judgement: When you get Guilty Gear: Judgement, which was recently on sale for $9.99 at Circuit City, you are getting two different kinds of games for the price of one. Guilty Gear Judgement is a side scrolling fighter along the lines of the classic Streets of Rage games, while Guilty Gear X2 The Midnight Carnival #Reload is a standard Guilty Gear fighter with an absurdly long name. If it isn’t on sale, it can be found for between $12.99 and $19.99.
• Dragoneer’s Aria: It recently had a major price drop, going from $39.99 to $19.99. This title is definitely on to pick up online, as GameStop has an offer where you can get the game and a Juno’s Dragon Works artbook. A lot of reviewers didn’t like it, I did. It is a well executed, classic RPG with great graphics and some nice innovations, despite the standard storyline. The item/weapon/armor/accessory creation recipes, field skills and ability to determine foes’ strength before entering battles are nice touches.
• Patapon: Patapon is likely to become the Katamari Damacy of the PSP, even though it already received Me and My Katamari. It is a fun, stylish and entertaining music game which was just released at the budget price of $19.99. You basically keep time with drums to make your army of Patapon warriors advance and defeat opponents.
• Gurumin: You may not find this title new, as it is really old. However used or new, Gurumin is very cheap and the absolute best budget PSP game available. I got my used copy at GameStop for $12.99 back in November, 2007. Don’t let its childlike appearance fool you, it is a Zelda-esque RPG for the PSP from Mastiff which features lots of options and challenges, plus some pretty cute characters. Don’t play it too close to bedtime – I did and I had a nightmare about the French-looking monster.