PSP games from PlayStation Studios weirdly lack trophies on PS Plus

PS Plus Premium features a total of two PlayStation Portable games in its catalogue: Super Stardust Portable and Echochrome. Yet, despite both being first-party releases, neither game supports trophies.

We found out ahead of the initial PS Plus rollout that PS1 and PSP trophies were optional, and indeed several PS1 games including Syphon Filter and Ape Escape launched with (not especially hard) trophies included. Not all PS1 games launched with PS Plus trophy support, but the majority of first-party Sony-published games sported trophies.

It seems not all PlayStation Studio releases are getting dedicated trophy support on PS Plus

We're so close to the once impossible dream — PSP games with trophies

Unfortunately, this trend did not carry over to the PSP titles, despite Super Stardust Portable developer Housemarque and Echochrome developer SIE Japan Studio (now Team Asobi) both being part of Sony’s PlayStation Studios roster. It’s a strange precedent to set for what is a genuinely exciting feature for PlayStation fans looking for a reason to revisit older titles.

However, with a little deductive reasoning, there is some connection between the two PSP titles that allows us to speculate as to why no trophy support was made available. Both Echochrome and Super Stardust Portable are listed as having joined PS Plus alongside their upscaled PS3 versions, Echochrome (known as Echochrome Prelude in some regions) and Super Stardust HD, both of which feature trophy support.

With a version of each available on the service already supporting trophies, it seems reasonable to expect the studios to skip adding PSP-specific trophies. While this means fans are going to have to play the streaming versions if they want to add the trophies to their collection, at least there’s also an option to download the games for those who don’t mind.

Granted, in my own experience of PS Plus Premium so far, I haven’t been able to find the PS3 versions of both games — they’re on the PS Plus games for EU list, but mysteriously not available. Perhaps they’ll surface a few days after launch; in the meantime, what do you think about the lack of trophy support for PSP games so far? Any PSP game you desperately want to join the service? Let us know in the comments below.

PlayStation Plus

Written by Lee Brady

Staff Writer Lee keeps one eye on the future (Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth), one eye on the past (PS Plus Premium, recent Sony news), and his secret third eye on the junk he really likes (Sonic Superstars, Final Fantasy 16). Then he uses his big mouth to blurt out long-winded opinions about video games.