PlayStation’s presence at this year’s E3 was considerable. Naturally, most of Sony's energy was expended on showcasing its brand-new hardware – the PlayStation 4 – but PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita were shown-off, too.

1,001 Spikes

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Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate

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Destiny of Spirits

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Dragon Fantasy: Book II

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Dragon’s Crown

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Fieldrunners 2

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Hotline Miami

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Vita had a surprisingly large footprint at Sony’s booth, with well over 30 games being represented from first-party studios, third-party publishers and indie developers alike. I played 20 of them, each for only a couple of minutes, to give you a little insight as to what’s coming to PlayStation Vita later in 2013 and beyond (!).So let’s get into it.Out of the 30+ Vita games playable at E3, 1,001 Spikes is one of the ones that stood out the most to me. I absolutely love the concept behind it: you’re given 1,001 lives to get through the game, an adventure that’s old-school in concept and design, and brutally difficult to boot. It’s an ode to the generation of games that inspired it. It even has a Castlevania-like progression map in it, showing you how far along you’ve made it while tantalizing you with yet-unseen areas that lie ahead.The gameplay is simple to describe. Your character is given a few moves, such as a couple of different types of jumps, to get through environments rife with hazards. Once you find the key on each stage, a door opens up allowing you to the next. But you have to be careful; those 1,001 lives are clearly designed to whittle down quickly the deeper you get into the game. And you may lose a few lives simply by being distracted by 1,001 Spikes’ totally rad, ‘80s-derived soundtrack.I have to admit, it’s pretty damn cool that a bona fide Arkham-style game is coming to the PlayStation Vita. It’s not like Arkham Asylum or Arkham City in that it’s an open-world(-ish) 3D action-adventure game, but it does have many of the presentational qualities of the two Arkham titles. It’s a pretty game, it has voice acting, and its combat in particular is very reminiscent of either Arkham adventure, with button-mashy yet strangely tactical attack patterns to master.What’s cooler is that Blackgate is a Metroid-vania style game, one that relies on finding items, weapons and gear hidden in the environment so that you can both continue on with your quest and backtrack to previous areas that you couldn’t previously rich. I’m not super crazy about the constant depth and perspective changes – I wish it was a little more straight-forward in this respect – but this is a game I’m definitely looking forward to playing this fall.This newly announced PS Vita-exclusive from Sony-owned Studio Japan is, frankly, a bit questionable. It’s a free-to-play, online-required RPG, and in its current form, it shows promise, but it’s also extremely vapid and confusing. In short, players capture Spirits (think Pokemon, but not nearly as cool) that are found in real-life locations using the PlayStation Network. Once captured, Spirits can be pitted against other Spirits in active turn-based battles that don’t require too much thought.There are three types of currency in the game – this will clearly be the game’s hook to get you to spend real money – but Sony isn’t ready to talk about any of that yet. In the meantime, keep this one on the periphery of your radar, but keep your expectations low. It feels much more like a game that plays itself than a game you play, and I’m not sure an online-only game is what Vita needs, considering most people don’t have active 3G Vitas, which would force you to play at home and kind of defeat the purpose of having a Vita all at the same time.If you’re an old-school RPG fan – especially one that hails from the SNES glory days of the genre – you’re going to want to keep a close eye on Dragon Fantasy: Book II. While the recently released Book I gave players a bite-sized RPG heavily modeled after the four NES Dragon Warrior (Quest) games, Book II jumps ahead a generation, representing itself in all its 16-bit glory. And from the look of it, it does so wonderfully.The result is a game that’s heavily influenced by Chrono Trigger in particular. Gone are random battles; instead, Dragon Fantasy: Book II relies upon Chrono Trigger-like fights, with special skills reminiscent of Square’s classic RPG. And the game’s intro is one major ode to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. There’s honestly not much to dislike... at least if the beginning of the adventure is any indication. Oh, and unlike Book I, Book II will have a Platinum Trophy.Boy-oh-boy. Dragon’s Crown really is shaping up to be everything PS3 and Vita owners are hoping it will be. Vanillaware is well-known for the beautiful graphics it manages to produce – think Odin Sphere and (the-soon-to-be-on-Vita) Muramasa – but Dragon’s Crown has the gameplay to back up its slick, gorgeous aesthetics. This side-scrolling action-RPG gives plenty of nods to games that came before it, but it does its own thing, too. And chances are it will be especially at home on Vita.With six character classes, non-linear stages begging to be explored, side quests to accompany your main adventure, and an extremely deep loot system, Dragon’s Crown is one of those games that’s bound to keep you busy for a very long time. And while you’re going to have to purchase the PS3 and Vita iterations separately, and while you can only play online with people playing the same version you are, the fact that you can transfer your save between the two systems is huge.It seems that tower defense never gets old – at least not on touch-heavy devices -- and while Plants vs. Zombies is the undisputed king of the genre, there are other fun entries that have found success on mobile. Fieldrunners is one such game, and its sequel – Fieldrunners 2 – is coming to PS Vita. Vita’s touch-enabled OLED is perfect for a game like this, and its pretty graphics and vivid color palette are pleasing and pull you into the experience. This is another game I’m really looking forward to playing. It seems deep, complicated, and – like any great tower defense game – appears to have enough options to keep you coming back for more.There’s not much to be said about Hotline Miami that hasn’t already been spoken here on IGN or elsewhere. It’s a really fun, witty game that totes brutal, unforgiving difficulty and a graphical flair that’s both decidedly old-school and expertly executed. I played it back at GDC on Vita, and my thoughts on it then are exactly the same as they are now: I can’t wait to play this on Vita. In fact, the game seems tailor-made for dual analog sticks. Vita might be the best place to play Hotline Miami when all is said and done, though we’ll have to wait and see. Rumor is it’s coming to Vita very soon!