GTA on PSP: Liberty City Stories, Vice City or Chinatown?
The three GTA games to compare on PSP are Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories and Chinatown Wars. Choose Liberty City Stories for Toni Cipriani's return to a troubled Liberty City, Vice City Stories for its 1984 setting, or Chinatown Wars for Huang Lee's story and its different overhead presentation.
There is no single best choice for every player. The important differences are the city you want to spend time in, the way you see the action and whether you want a familiar or less conventional handheld GTA experience. For other genres, our PSP games guide gives you a broader starting point.
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The three PSP releases at a glance
Liberty City Stories
Choose it for: A third-person Liberty City adventure.
Keep in mind: A separate story from GTA III, despite the familiar city.
Vice City Stories
Choose it for: The atmosphere of Vice City in 1984.
Keep in mind: A different game from the original GTA: Vice City.
Chinatown Wars
Choose it for: Huang Lee and an overhead view of Liberty City.
Keep in mind: A different presentation from the two Stories games.
Start with the viewpoint before debating which story you prefer. The two Stories entries are the closer match if you want the familiar behind-the-character style of a 3D GTA. Chinatown Wars is the deliberate alternative when you want to experience the series from a different angle.
Liberty City Stories: choose Toni’s return
Liberty City Stories follows Toni Cipriani as he returns to the city and becomes involved in the Leone family's struggle for control. The familiar place supports a separate story; this is not simply GTA III copied to the PSP.
Choose it if Liberty City's urban atmosphere is the main attraction. Give yourself time to understand nearby streets before rushing from one objective to another. Knowing how an area connects can make a mission feel more manageable even before you improve at its action.
A useful first-session goal is to become comfortable with travelling and reading the current objective. If you finish a session mid-story, note what you intended to do next. Returning to an open city is easier when you remember why you were going somewhere, not merely where your character is standing.
Vice City Stories: a distinct visit to the 1980s
Vice City Stories takes place in Vice City in 1984. Its setting is a strong reason to choose it if that city and period are more appealing than another visit to Liberty City. The word Stories matters: it identifies a separate release from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Choose by the world you want to inhabit rather than assuming the newest-looking cover is the right version. A guide to the original Vice City may describe different missions and progression. Check the full game title before following a walkthrough.
For a first playthrough, let the opening teach you the game's immediate tasks before trying to plan the whole campaign. Exploration is part of the appeal, but mixing a new mission, unfamiliar controls and an unknown route can make it harder to identify why an attempt failed.
Chinatown Wars: the clearest change of perspective
Chinatown Wars follows Huang Lee after his father's murder and his arrival in Liberty City with a family sword. Its overhead presentation makes it the most visibly different choice in this trio. It offers a new way to read streets and encounters rather than reproducing the view of the Stories entries.
Pick it when you want a GTA game that asks you to adjust your perspective. Spend the opening learning how much of an area you can read at once and how the camera affects movement. Treat that adjustment as part of choosing a different design, not as evidence that the game should behave like Liberty City Stories.
Chinatown Wars was released on several platforms, including Nintendo DS, PSP and mobile. This article concerns the PSP version. Instructions that depend on another platform's interface or touchscreen features need to be checked before you try to apply them.
How to choose without starting all three
Use two questions. First, do you want a third-person adventure or the overhead approach? That separates Chinatown Wars from the Stories pair. Second, do you want Liberty City or the 1984 Vice City setting? That is a practical way to choose between the remaining two.
If what you really enjoy is driving rather than the wider criminal story, our PSP racing comparison may be a better next read. If observation and a planned approach are your priorities, compare the PSP stealth games. Those are different experiences from exploring a GTA city.
Do not turn your first session into an attempt to complete every optional activity. Learn how a typical mission feels, then decide whether that loop is what you want to spend more time with. A famous setting alone cannot decide that for you.
Playing your PSP edition with EMUspace
Feature availability: external gamepads, Save / Load State and optional Autosave on Exit require EMUspace Pro. Enable Autosave on Exit if you want to use it, and exit the game normally; do not rely on a crash or forced app closure to save progress.
Follow the PSP setup guide for iPhone, then use the import guide for your own compatible files. EMUspace does not include GTA games. A native mobile purchase and a PSP game file are different things; choose instructions for the edition you actually have.
Before starting a mission, check movement, camera and action controls. A compatible Bluetooth controller is an option. EMUspace provides save/load in the game card and pause menu plus Autosave on Exit; the saving guide explains the workflow. Keep normal in-game saves too. This comparison does not promise measured performance or multiplayer support.
Optional PSP cheat codes for the Stories games
These are in-game button sequences for the PSP editions of Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. They are not codes for GTA III, the original Vice City, Chinatown Wars or the native iPhone releases. Enter the buttons in order during normal gameplay, without opening the pause menu. L and R mean the PSP shoulder buttons; X means the cross button.
Protect your progress first: keep a clean in-game save before experimenting, and do not overwrite it after using cheats. Rockstar warns that cheats can cause scripting problems and corrupt saved games. If you use EMUspace Pro, turn off Autosave on Exit for the experiment so that an automatic state does not replace the clean point you intended to keep. Restart the game and load your clean in-game save when returning to normal play.
Liberty City Stories — PSP
- Health: L → R → X → L → R → Square → L → R
- Armour: L → R → Circle → L → R → X → L → R
- Add $250,000: L → R → Triangle → L → R → Circle → L → R
Vice City Stories — PSP
- Health: Up → Down → Left → Right → Circle → Circle → L → R
- Armour: Up → Down → Left → Right → Square → Square → L → R
- Add $250,000: Up → Down → Left → Right → X → X → L → R
The sequences are documented in the GamesRadar+ PSP cheat references for Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. They have not been independently tested in EMUspace for this article. For the publisher's caution, see Rockstar's notes on problems after using cheats.
EMUspace also supports cheats, but the sequences in this section are entered as ordinary game controls. They are separate from any code-import or cheat-menu workflow in the emulator. If a sequence fails, recheck the full game title, PSP edition and button mapping instead of substituting codes from a different release.
Common GTA-on-PSP questions
Are Vice City and Vice City Stories the same game?
No. Vice City Stories is the PSP title discussed here. The similar name and setting do not make walkthroughs or game files interchangeable.
Is Chinatown Wars only a Nintendo DS game?
No. Rockstar lists PSP among its platforms. Platform-specific controls and features still matter, so use information for the PSP edition.
Which should I play first?
Our default is Liberty City Stories for someone asking for the familiar 3D GTA style. Choose Vice City Stories if its setting appeals more, or Chinatown Wars if the different viewpoint is the main reason you are interested.
Sources and edition notes
Publisher sources support the game and edition details below. Our selection advice is editorial; it is not a measured performance comparison.