Over the years, we’ve sure got a lot of great Vita games. But there are a lot of haters out there who just don’t realize how much gold is stacked up in this powerhouse’s library. Well get ready to see how wrong you are — and grab a tissue box while you’re at it — because these are six super-sad Vita games that made me cry real tears.
I have three Vitas and I used to sit them down and let them hang out with each other, until they got a little bit snippy and started excluding me from the group. That was enough of that.
But for real, did you ever drop your handheld and cry? I did in the above examples (well, the ones that are actual games), to varying degrees ranging from “just a little misty” to face-mashing streams of tears.
Off the top of my head, the endings of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and later Final Fantasy Type-0 got me good on PSP.
I teared up when I played a certain part of Chrono Trigger, since I never made it far on the SNES was only getting to the big story stuff on my PSP.
A current Japanese replay of Final Fantasy VII saw me getting just a little misty during the Gold Saucer date night. It’s just too cute. What I wonder is this: did I mist up because it’s nostalgic and I’ve seen that moment like five or six times, or were my heartstrings tugged anew? Probably a mixture.
Either way, we come again to that not being necessarily a Vita game, and I get all mad about the way this system was (mis)handled. Thanks for sticking with me through the joke. Shit, when I thought this piece up, it was gonna be just the gallery and then leave it at that. I didn’t mean to end up getting all sincere afterward. I’ll knock that off!
Sad Vita Games
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6 - Child of Light
An outstanding soundtrack, beautiful storytelling, and characters you can't help but love made it real hard to not tear up at the end of Child of Light!
(Also available on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, PC, Wii-U) -
5 - Final Fantasy X
That ending, man. I won't spoil anything just in case you haven't played this gem, but I love when games have the guts to go for an ending that isn't 100% what everyone's expecting. Final Fantasy X does that so well. I guess this isn't a Vita game necessarily, since it came out on PS2 and then was re-released on Vita, PS3, PC, and PS4; but my most recent play was on the Vita, so it makes the list.
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4 - Borderlands 2 (Tiny Tina's DLC)
Not so much Borderlands 2 itself, but Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep DLC. It fantastically blends Borderlands 2 gameplay with Dungeons & Dragons-style settings and side stories, for one thing, but also tells the bigger tale of a young girl trying to cope with the death of a friend. I actually played this on the PS3 because the DLC and region system on the Vita fucked me over, but still.
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3 - Deemo
Deemo never left without saying goodbye... unlike some people!
(Also available on iOS and Android)
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2 - Port Station
If you've never played Port Station, you need to grab a Vita and get ready to go to school! In this Vita-exclusive spiritual successor to the PSP original, you visit port after port after port, each one exciting and yet not moving the protagonist toward the ultimate goal of escaping ports and the stigma they attach to you. Even when things are demonstrably untrue about your station and its ports, escaping the consequences of mass market perception proves tricky and gut-wrenching.
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1 - Loneliness
Loneliness is a game I often played with my Vita, and a real tear jerker at that! If there's ever been a game that defines a system, many would probably say this tale of neglect is it for Vita.
