New Portable GTA Title?

[Gummy]

Portable/Side GTAs never had the popularity or the longevity that the main titles have, but almost all portable GTAs were well received and loved by those who played it.

 

Ignoring the ports of the first 2 GTA games on the GBC, the first proper portable title we had was GTA Advance. It was almost a port of GTA 3 for Advance and it shows. In many ways it was almost like a bridge between the 2D and the 3D era of GTA. It was a fun little thing, but nothing really special.

 

GTA Liberty City Stories was a very popular hit for the PSP. It was a full, 3D GTA title on the go. It was basically III and VC melded in one game and is portable, and it proved really well and really popular. It became one of the selling points of the PSP (personally the reason I bought it). GTA Vice City Stories would follow about a year later with refined gameplay mechanics, optimization, and was executed much better than LCS. It also proved popular (though not as much)

 

GTA Chinatown Wars was released on the Nintendo DS and became one of the most popular games on the system. It had the aesthetics of the 2D era, gameplay of the 3D era, and the world of the HD era. It was a formula that was risky and new, but was ultimately great in the end. It also took advantage of the touch controls of the DS and the implementation was also well-received by players. CTW would be ported onto PSP with better graphics and added content, with the expense of the touch minigames, and to the mobile phones.

 

Then comes the next generation of portable gaming systems, the Nintendo 3DS and the Playstation Vita. However, Rockstar did not create another portable game for these systems. It's a shame. These systems are basically much improved and perfected versions of their predecessors. Portable GTAs had always been somewhat tie-ins to the game(s) in their era (LCS and VCS to the 3D era games and CTW to IV) and they probably wanted to put out a new game first to create a tie-in. However GTA V was still a few years away and IV was already a few years back. But Rockstar could've stuck to the formula of their previous games or create improved ports of previous games to the handheld systems. A CTW like game with better graphics and more content would've been really great and a 3D era style game or improved port of previous games for the Vita would've been awesome as well. GTA is a very popular video game IP and bringing GTA games to these systems would help the sale of these systems, especially the Vita which didn't sell as well as expected.

 

I think Rockstar is a fool not to continue and create full-fledged portable games. Sure, the mobile market has somewhat overtaken the portable gaming market, proven by it's popularity and the ports of III-LCS to mobile systems, but I think Portable gaming systems still have a major advantage to mobile systems, the controls, graphics, size. (which mobile systems are also catching up to) Portable developers have to find that sweet spot where it could work that the mobile systems can't. Rockstar games could also find or redo a new formula that works with the portable systems like they did with CTW.

 

With the release of the Nintendo Switch, a portable/couch system hybrid. I think Rockstar still has a chance to create something as unique as CTW. I personally would love a CTW styled game set on Vice City or Las Venturas. Maybe make it 3rd person but keep the gameplay and over the top-ness like CTW and the world of the HD era. Rockstar has proven that they have amazing talent in creating portable games (mainly Rockstar Leeds), so why not do it?

 

What do you guys think about a new portable/side GTA games? How do you think R* will do it? Will they ever even do it? With the current structure of Rockstar Games, the possibility of another portable game is slim.

[Hmmm nice bike]

If Rockstar made another portable GTA, I think it'd have to be CTW-style in terms of graphics and gameplay, unless they wanted to start developing HD-era games that look like 3D era games (or if mobile phones one day become so powerful that they can run a game that looks at least as good as GTA IV). Also, how popular are portable gaming systems at the moment? I feel like if they were to do another mobile GTA, we actually woudn't see it on the Playstation Vita and others, simply because it's not as big of a market as people who would play on their mobile phones and it might not sell as much as people purchasing the app from the App Store or Google Play.

 

I agree, though, with the way Rockstar is currently and how they seem primarily focused on GTA Online as far as GTA is concerned, I doubt we'll see another portable GTA for a long time, if ever. And if there is one, then I have no doubt that they'd also find ways to incorporate microtransactions into it.

 

By the way, a "San Andreas Stories" set before SA to tie up the III era would have been nice. Even if they couldn't fit the entire SA map onto the PSP, maybe they could have just confined it to Los Santos and a bit of countryside that surrounds it. GTA Los Santos Stories, set in 1989 or 1990, maybe with Cesar as the protagonist.

[Igor Bogdanoff]

I would love to have another CTWlike GTA on mobiles. One thing i love the most were the minigames, with drug dealing or even the scratchcards . Sadly todays R* (or well the whole gaming industry) would make those minigames just grinding annoyance, which would somehow make you buy something like shark cards.

But only "portable" gta i can see from R* is only GTA V port for Switch

[Hmmm nice bike]

CTW did have some really cool minigames, they could have even made their way into main GTA titles. But you know now Rockstar would NEVER allow a lottery where people could just win free money and weapons. Or they'd keep it and make it to where the most you could ever win was $50 and limit you to one card per 24 hours. A new mobile GTA would undoubtedly incorporate some kind of limit and force you into getting its equivalent of Shark Cards somehow.

[gooeyhole]

Man, imagine how nice looking a top down Vice City would look. You could even use the same engine if that makes sense in this context, imagine doing drug deals on boats in the water or at a dock in a night club, would be really fun. It'd also keep up the tradition of Vice City, having businesses or empires to manage. I don't see a 3D mobile GTA happening again unfortunately.

[happygrowls]

Maybe for the IV anniversary R* will do a Switch port?

[HeavyDuke]

Lets hope R* doesn't ruin their time on that crap EVER again. Make a real GTA or don't.

[Gummy]

By the way, a "San Andreas Stories" set before SA to tie up the III era would have been nice. Even if they couldn't fit the entire SA map onto the PSP, maybe they could have just confined it to Los Santos and a bit of countryside that surrounds it. GTA Los Santos Stories, set in 1989 or 1990, maybe with Cesar as the protagonist.

 

I agree. Los Santos and Red County itself is already bigger than LC I think and I would love more stories to be told from Red County. Focus on the gangbanging and redneck gang stuff and it would be awesome.

[Hmmm nice bike]

Yep, Los Santos and Red County combined would have been bigger than the III-era LC and VC, and just that as its own "island" without the other SA areas would have been a great map for a standalone portable game. They definitely could have had a focus on both city and country gangs, and I can imagine the country gangs would be similar to Marty's gang from VCS. If they really wanted a big focus on Red County, maybe the protagonist could even be from there originally and the game would start off there as opposed to the city (kind of like Trevor's story beginning in Sandy Shores, or how VCS' story begins on the opposite island than the one that the original Vice City began on).

[HOW'S ANNIE?]

Lets hope R* doesn't ruin their time on that crap EVER again. Make a real GTA or don't.

Funny considering Vice City Stories was a better entry in the series than GTA V.

 

But on topic, I'd love to see R* Leeds do another portable GTA title. I honestly think the Empire Building from VCS and the drug dealing from CTW were some of the best features implemented into the franchise (shame North hasn't really taken a look at those games and realised how much potential fun they are). And they seem to design so many new cool, quirky yet fitting vehicles like the LCS Manana or the Polaris V8.

Edited January 2, 2018 by Budweiser Addict

[Jack Lupino]

Are portable consoles that popular anymore? PSP and PS Vita are dead.

It would be best if Rockstar tried to capture mobile gaming market by releasing gta like open world game for Android like Gangster Vegas.

And I mean new gta game not lazy sh*t like porting old games on 10th anniversary.

[jaljax]

As other's have mentioned i really don't think we'll get anything other than something similar to CTW with a top down perspective

[jaqub]

Its already 10 years since IV was released. Could it be that IV can be ported for smartphones?

[Hmmm nice bike]

Its already 10 years since IV was released. Could it be that IV can be ported for smartphones?

Can modern smartphones handle IV? The III-era games had the benefit of worse graphics and physics compared to IV, which has to take up a lot more memory and processing power. So unless the game looks significantly worse than it did 10 years ago, then it probably won't go on smartphones.

[GrudgefromSanAndreas]

I wonder why R* didnt make a portable version of GTA2 and i believe they didn't make a mobile version cause cars and peds would be too small on a smartphone screen. But it'd have been awesome if GTA2 had a Nintendo DS or PSP port

[Charlottes]

It'd be pretty tight to see a main GTA game on the switch since that's the only modern console i'd consider buying

[Jack Lupino]

 

Its already 10 years since IV was released. Could it be that IV can be ported for smartphones?

Can modern smartphones handle IV? The III-era games had the benefit of worse graphics and physics compared to IV, which has to take up a lot more memory and processing power. So unless the game looks significantly worse than it did 10 years ago, then it probably won't go on smartphones.

Not to mention the amount of buttons on screen will make playing the game impossible.

GTA SA had so many freaking buttons.

And I can only imagine driving vehicles with touchscreen controls will be a nightmare!

[Leqz]

Are portable consoles that popular anymore? PSP and PS Vita are dead.

It would be best if Rockstar tried to capture mobile gaming market by releasing gta like open world game for Android like Gangster Vegas.

And I mean new gta game not lazy sh*t like porting old games on 10th anniversary.

Are you sure about that

 

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-switch-is-now-the-uss-all-time-fastest-se/1100-6455890/