Release Date: 05/06/2014

MSRP: $199.99

Colors: Black, White

It’s sad to say that the Vita was a mostly commercial flop as Sony got scared with the first sign of trouble. The Vita still continues to release JRPGs and visual novels today, but first and third-party support has been long gone. The Slim Vita was released right at the beginning of all this, but there’s still a huge library to play on anyone who hasn’t picked up a Vita yet. While the launch system was a fantastic piece of hardware, the slim version is as well.

While I won’t get into technical details about the hardware, the Slim Vita is virtually the same system just slimmer, more ergonomic, lighter, and has much better buttons and placement. The awkward oval start, select, and home buttons are gone with new circle buttons that are firm and less mushy. Everything just has a more satisfying click and less of a mush feeling to it which is nice. The downside to lighter and slimmer is cheaper feeling, but it still feels good in the hands.

The home button no longer lights up so those LEDs were moved to the top next to the power button as small bars which look sleek and minimal. The Vita also uses a standard micro-USB cable which is nice and ditches the proprietary charger, it’s just too bad they didn’t do that with storage. 1GB of internal memory is included for tiny games and saves, but you can’t use it concurrently with the outrageously expensive memory card.

The biggest change of all is the LCD screen which is no longer OLED. The Vita was touted as having a fantastic-looking screen, and while the LCD is nothing to scoff at, it doesn’t pop like the OLED did, but you wouldn’t notice unless they were side by side. This change always has more battery life as well. Also noted is the exclusion of 3G models as AT&T killed the Vita plans less than a year after launch.

Overall, the Slim Vita is the best version to get just due to all the improvements. Griping about the OLED screen isn’t enough to justify not wanting this version. We won’t get another iteration so this is the best you can find.