A handheld system with a big fat screen and unmatched portable horsepower, the PlayStation Portable (PSP) proved to be a popular new entry into the handheld games market in 2005. Ironically, it didn't take much to make a PSP game standout in a crowd; just offer gameplay an iota more inventive than a mere re-hashing of games already available on PS2, if not just re-hash exceptionally well. So falling just to the right of a rather obtuse bell curve, here are the Top 10:

Lumines
From: Ubisoft
For: PSP
Price: $50 CDN or $40 USD
ESRB Rating: Everyone (10+) (Suggestive Themes)

One of the first games to hit the PSP, Lumines remains the best, mainly due to its glaring originality within the PSP games library, but also because of its slant on basic block & line puzzle solving gameplay, dynamically integrating cool club music with whatever's going on in game, plus lush, artsy backdrops that showcase the visual vivaciousness of the PSP without actually getting in the way.

Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee
From: Sony
For: PSP
Price: $45 CDN or $40 USD
ESRB Rating: Everyone (10+) (Comic Mischief, Suggestive Themes)

It can be argued that Tiger Woods golf games are better than Hot Shots golf games in console form, but for your golf on the go, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee tops the leader board. Its caricature graphics, heckler humor and innate irreverence for the sport while maintaining the key aspects of virtual golfing is basically exactly what you want in gaming away from home; a chuckle and a challenge.

SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo
From: Sony
For: PSP
Price: $47 CDN or $40 USD
ESRB Rating: Mature (17+) (Violence)

A brilliant, portable realization of Sony's celebrated squad-based shooter franchise, SOCOM: US Navy Seals Fireteam Bravos is mainly so because it makes the genre actually work in pocket format (in spite of some obvious, dumbed-down controller limitations), which is arguably a first. Plus, it's online enabled, which gives you instant access to fellow warmongers on a PSP as well as on SOCOM 3 for PS2.

FIFA Soccer 06
From: EA Sports
For: PSP
Price: $60 CDN or $50 USD
ESRB Rating: Everyone

Though Madden for PSP missed the mark, EA Sports' FIFA 06 proves that you can do console caliber sports simulations in pocket form. Stripping out several inessentials, they packed in a planet's worth of authentic teams, leagues, rivalries, and arenas. It's the essence of anytime, any place, fanatic flavored gaming with its solo and head-to-head options plus a cool, time-killing, ball juggling mode.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
From: Rockstar
For: PSP
Price: $60 CDN or $50 USD
ESRB Rating: Mature (17+) (Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs)

Putting the best-selling, overly underscored PlayStation franchise onto PSP was really a no-brainer. As it happens, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is actually a really good take on the whole ostentatious, go-anywhere, do anything, scumbucket gameplay the world has come to love or hate without any middle ground.

SSX On Tour
From: EA Sports Big
For: PSP
Price: $60 CDN or $50 USD
ESRB Rating: Everyone (Mild Violence)

The stalwart snowboard (and ski) simulator of extreme hyperbole may be getting stale on the consoles, but it's got new legs on PSP. Boasts several play options, modes and customizables, 4 player multiplayer-playability and trick riding out the yinyang. As always, exceedingly good at pumping gobs of adrenaline into your thumbs.

Need for Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0
From: EA
For: PSP
Price: $60 CDN or $50 USD
ESRB Rating: Everyone (10+) (Mild Violence)

You're not really a PlayStation fan if you don't have at least one racing game, and though the number of them readily available for PSP is flat out embarrassing, EA's Need for Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 is really the only one you need to own. Controls are tight, responsive and comfortable and it looks slicker than all get out. Might have topped the list if it had online multiplayer modes. Alas, nadda.

Kingdom of Paradise
From: Sony
For: PSP
Price: $40 CDN or $40 USD
ESRB Rating: Teen (13+) (Language, Violence)

Again making the list due to frank originality as much as solid gameplay offerings, Kingdom of Paradise is a role-playing martial arts game with enough depth to be played for hours on end, enough in-game collectables to be traded with friends over time, as well as enough totally forgettable storyline to be pick picked up and bash upon in quick fix spurts on the bus.

WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006
From: THQ
For: PSP
Price: $50 CDN or $50 USD
ESRB Rating: Teen (13+) (Blood, Language, Sexual Themes, Simulated Gambling, Violence)

One of the finest spectacle sport simulators out there - in pocket format no less. WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006 also has the distinction of being, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same as its consummate console counterpart, which is both a laudable technical achievement and testament to the lack of gameplay innovation too often associated with PSP.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse
From: Activision
For: PSP
Price: $56 CDN or $50 USD
ESRB Rating: Teen (13+) (Mild Language, Violence)

Again with the glaring sameness of its console brethren, X-Men Legends II is, nevertheless, a faithfully translated portable version of a truly excellent X-Men action/RPG, replete with great graphics, garish costumes and A-type personality clashes across the board. Mix and match teams of heroes and villains and then go bash new, super apocalyptic baddies.

Also See:

Best of 2005 Part 1: Top 10 NintendoDS Games

Best of 2005 Part 2: Top 10 PSP Games

Best of 2005 Part 3: Top 10 Console Games

Best of 2005 Part 4: Top 10 PC Games