The Playstation Vita got a bad rap when it was originally released in 2012. It had many of the features we see on the Nintendo Switch now, such as dual analog sticks, an OLED touchscreen, and the ability to play home console-quality games on the go.
Following the success of the PSP, the Vita was focused on the (then) emerging trend of mobile games, combined with the Playstation’s strong library of titles, such as not mapped and Little big planet take the lead. So what happened?
One of the biggest drawbacks was the prohibitively expensive proprietary memory cards, and the on-off third-party support meant the handheld already had a bumpy start before it was quietly discontinued in 2019. Lifetime sales are estimated to be somewhere around 16. million, a stark contrast to the PSP which sold about 80 million units.
The Vita was arguably ahead of its time compared to the Switch’s success. During its lifetime, it amassed a number of special titles for the platform, with a burgeoning library of JRPGs such as Persona 4 Golden, visual novels like danganronpa, as well as a handful of indie titles. Many have since been ported to modern consoles, the Switch being one of them.
But even when the Vita saw a sharp decline in software support in the last years of its life, it was still marketed as an accessory to the much more successful PS4. With built-in remote play, the Vita was a great way to take those same PS4 games with you and play them over an internet connection. While it may not have been a system vendor on its own, it gave the handheld a secondary market.
It seems that Playstation’s handheld ambitions have since calmed down. Even if the company wanted to re-enter the space, it would be hard to compete with Nintendo’s dedicated offerings, but the PS’s remote play functionality struck a chord.
It’s now possible to play PS4 and PS5 games on iOS and Android devices, and you can even connect a dualsense controller to your phone if you want to avoid touch controls. Now there are plenty of peripherals that can turn phones into makeshift controllers, with varying degrees of support and functionality. So what could be better than one officially licensed by Playstation?
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Enter the Backbone One, a mobile holder for the iPhone that can turn your handset into a gamepad, similar to the Nintendo Switch lite. The newly announced Playstation Edition even has special translucent face buttons and a matching colorway for the PS5.
While essentially a reskin of Backbone’s original product, the tactile buttons not only feel like a decent mobile gaming controller in their own right, but also feel like a suitable stand-in for a dedicated Playstation handheld that will most likely never see the light of day. .
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The Backbone One fits most iPhone models with a Lightning port as the cradle slides out over the handset and secures at either end. Since the device connects directly to the phone, it does not require a power supply or Bluetooth.
After setting up a quick profile and going through a tutorial, the Backbone One is good to use and can be used in conjunction with streaming services such as the PS Remote Play app, Google Stadia or even Xbox cloud gaming and iOS games . Each half of the controller houses a headphone jack (remember those?) and a lightning port that supports charging throughput for extended gaming sessions.
To put it to the test, I first tried playing games that were already installed directly on my iPhone 12, including Diablo Immortal and Subset Games is excellent in the breach. While both of these were optimized for a touchscreen experience, placing the phone in the cradle meant switching the interface to a controller-friendly version of each game, immediately freeing up screen real estate from the touchscreen button interfaces. .
The controls were responsive and the tactile, clickable buttons would have made both games much more intuitive. It would be hard to ever play those titles on my phone again using just touch controls.
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Now to the advertised functionality and why Playstation agreed to flip the “PS” logo on the back of the holder, remote play.
After setting up my Playstation 5 to enable phone connectivity and downloading the required app, my home console could be accessed remotely over the internet, meaning I could play it from just about anywhere with a decent internet connection. As long as the console was in rest mode, it could be turned on remotely via the app, played back and unplugged in the same way, putting the console back into its peaceful sleep.
I could use the Backbone One as a backup controller on my TV with little to no discernible input lag to play Playstation games like Gran Turismo 7 and Horizon Forbidden West, before taking the experience comfortably from anywhere in my home. Even fighting games like Guilty Gear: Pursuitwhere input timings can win or lose a game held up pretty well – although fans of hardcore fighting games might take offense that I’d even suggest it’s playable this way and terms like “rollback netcode” start yelling at me.
The only loss of functionality was the lack of support for dualsense-specific features, such as gesture control, meaning certain parts of Astro’s playroom couldn’t complete when I had to tilt the controller to continue or blow into a mic that wasn’t there.
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It’s also worth noting that remote play will chew through data at a significant speed if Wi-Fi isn’t available, as game streaming is much more intensive than video platforms like Netflix or Apple TV+. Streaming on the highest settings uses about 6GB of data for an hour of playtime, so it’s really only recommended if you’re on the most powerful data plans, and maybe not even then.
While this would tie most people to their nearest router, there are some obvious scenarios where this would still come in handy, such as visiting relatives or simply playing games while the TV is being used by someone else.
The verdict?
The Backbone One is, in the most literal sense, a game changer that makes mobile gaming appealing to dedicated gamers who want nothing to do with touch controls. The added benefit of PS Remote Play integration without limiting its functionality with other gaming platforms also means it can be used further outside the Playstation ecosystem.
It would be easy to mistake the crib as a new dedicated Playstation handheld from afar and while gamers will quietly mourn the loss of the PS Vita, it could be best for a dedicated PS Vita 2.
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Looking for games to play on the Backbone One? Read our list of our favorite PS5 games to play in 2022
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