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[64bitmodels]

2 screens or 1 screen, backlight or no backlight, old fashioned or new gen? Which family of Nintendo handhelds do you like more, Gameboy or Dual Screen?

For me.... it's a no brainer, DS had backwards compat with gameboy and a lot of the DS games are great to me. Rhythm Heaven, Warioware D.I.Y, The World Ends with You, Mario Kart DS, Ocarina of Time 3d, Star Fox 3d... not to mention the dual screen mechanic was one of the few gimmicks nintendo had that meaningfully added to the gaming experience. Flipnote was just.... a thing of beauty. (it's still alive today with Sudomemo!)
most of the returning GB franchises would hit their stride on the DS. Best pokemon games were on DS, best handheld Mario Kart was on DS, best WarioWare games were on DS/3DS, best advance wars, Fire emblem, etc. Not to mention the DS had the best port of Chrono Trigger.

what's your take though??

 

[EverydayBeast]

3ds almost looks like console games

 

[Punished Miku]

GBA is great. GB sucks. = 1 great, 1 suck.
DS is okay. 3DS is great. = 1 great, 1 okay.

The winner is clear.

 

[AV]

Bit unfair if you're gonna include BC isn't it? Obviously the DS that plays all the old carts wins

 

[64bitmodels]

Bit unfair if you're gonna include BC isn't it? Obviously the DS that plays all the old carts wins

not all DS models had BC, DSi and later dumped it

 

[Diseased Yak]

I've owned and played the hell out of all of those, but I'd have to go with the 3DS and ultimately make that a 2DS. The 3D gimmick never impressed me much, but the system's library of games is amazing.

That's to take nothing away from the awesome games on DS and GBA, it's just for me the 2DS hits all the marks.

 

[01011001]

this isn't an easy choice for me.

I loved the GB and GBC, but I can't stand the GBA...
I loved the DS, but I am pretty meh about the 3DS...

 

[Robb]

Pretty easy for me, DS/3DS for sure.

 

[Little Mac]

If you aren’t voting for GBA you’re dead to me.

https://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/gba/filtered

 

[64bitmodels]

I loved the GB and GBC, but I can't stand the GBA...

you have 5 seconds to explain your hatred for the GBA before i rally every person on the board with good taste to hack you into mincemeat

 

[Banjo64]

Game boy family had the better games. Pokemon gens 1-3 end the argument before it even begins for me.

I loved my DS and N3DS though.

 

[nial]

Game Boy, like miles above of the DS.
Both are still MUCH better than the Switch Lite, though.

 

[01011001]

you have 5 seconds to explain your hatred for the GBA before i rally every person on the board with good taste to hack you into mincemeat

it was a system that wanted to be a SNES but couldn't be one for 2 reasons.
the resolution disparity and the mindboggling omission of the X and Y buttons.

it always felt like developers either tried to make it a smal SNES and couldn't, or they ported consoles games over with often ugly as fuck graphics, heavily leaning on prerendered 3D sprites...

I just didn't like the way games often looked on it and I didn't like the limited control layout for a system that clearly wanted to be a small SNES


the GB and GBC were pocket NES systems, and the games looked like that and had the buttons for that as well. so it never gave me this feeling of being a lesser version of another system

 

[diffusionx]

Game Boy was amazing, but I think you had to be there to some extent because it was limited in a lot of ways. I actually didn't have a DS when it was new, I had a PSP which I was (and am) very happy with, yet I got the DS later and it's a really awesome system with a huge variety of incredible games. I still play mine today and I keep finding games that surprise me, like Hotel Dusk recently.

So I dunno which to vote for.

 

[64bitmodels]

the resolution disparity and the mindboggling omission of the X and Y buttons.

the X and Y thing i can't explain (or understand) but i doubt they could get a large enough screen onto the GBA without it slurping battery. the lack of backlight for all GB games always sounded like a nightmare to me though and yeah color palletes on GBA weren't as rich as on SNES likely due to the lack of backlight making games super bright.
that being said the exclusive games on GBA like Wario Land 4, Sonic Advance and Fire Emblem more than made up for those disparities and a lot of them i consider superior to a lot of games on the SNES

 

[mrmustard]

Easily Game Boy, because in 1989 even home consoles had shitty graphics. But in 2004 we already had Far Cry or Half Life 2 and the DS was eye cancer in comparison.

 

[AV]

not all DS models had BC, DSi and later dumped it

Whatever model does then. That wins.

Much like the fat OG George Forman Grill PS3 that played PS1 and PS2 discs natively. Best thing Sony's ever made at a ludicrous price point.

 

[01011001]

the X and Y thing i can't explain (or understand) but i doubt they could get a large enough screen onto the GBA without it slurping battery. the lack of backlight for all GB games always sounded like a nightmare to me though and yeah color palletes on GBA weren't as rich as on SNES likely due to the lack of backlight making games super bright.

the GBA also had this super short lifespan, it never could develop a real personality for me.

it just felt to me like the system where cashgrab console game conversions come out.

there are a bunch of GBA games I love tho... it's just the system itself was just weird to me.

 

[64bitmodels]

Easily Game Boy, because in 1989 even home consoles had shitty graphics.

The Sega Genesis and Turbografx were out in 1989 and were leagues ahead of both NES and GB. Also the Super Nintendo would come out in 1991 and smashed even those in graphical fidelity....

GB was monochrome, had 0 backlight and had terrible motion clarity with all the blur. now THAT was eye cancer

 

[cireza]

All pretty good systems honestly. There is a real charm to old handhelds like GBC/GG/NGP with their 160x144 resolution. GBA was a beast (shit sound though). And I love my 3DS.

Only one that still has a decent screen is the 3DS though, so maybe the default choice lol. Also 3DS is the last time we had a proper dedicated handheld. The way to present handheld games properly has pretty much died with this console.

 

[nikos]

GB - The OG, was really cool at the time.
Pocket/Color/Micro - Don't believe I had those.
GBA - Don't remember it appealing to me at the time.
GBA SP - Still have one. It's especially nice with an IPS display.

DS - Don't think I had the original. PSP came soon after and was mind blowing.
DS Lite - Still remember lining up outside of Nintendo NYC all day for it.
DSi - Decent improvement over the DS Lite. Matte finish looked/felt nice.
3DS - Sort of exciting but also underwhelming when it launched. Could have done without 3D altogether.
3DS XL - Bought and returned a few times. Felt bad in hand and pixel density was even worse than the 3DS, which was already really bad.
New 3DS - Finally, a decent iteration of the 3DS. Still have two of them. One feels like it was built better than the other, which is interesting.

DS family has some great games, and the social/street pass stuff was a ton of fun, but I think I'm going with the OG. There was something about each iteration of the DS that felt underwhelming or outdated, even at launch.

 

[graywolf323]

I can’t see the stereoscopic 3D the 3DS uses so I never really loved the system in part due to that and didn’t really enjoy it until the new 2DS XL released, also I never really loved the whole two screen thing they started with the DS for that matter

the GBA however is one of my all-time favorite consoles especially the GBA SP so I’ll easily vote for that

 

[TintoConCasera]

Man, I loved my NDS Lite back in the day. Jump Ultimate Stars, Osu, Hotel Dusk, Phoenix Wright, Henry Hatsworth, Ninja Gaiden, the Dragon Quest remakes... it was a good time, felt like every week we got at least 1 decent game to play.

 

[64bitmodels]

there are a bunch of GBA games I love tho... it's just the system itself was just weird to me.

yea lol that explains my bias towards the DS, 3ds in particular (also nostalgia as i used to own a 2ds and had quite a lot of memories messing around with the games, system software, miiverse, etc)
the GBA is just a system i could never see myself using in the modern day, too many limitations, lack of backlight, AA batteries, etc. the library is phenomenal but the system itself leaves a bit to be desired

the 3ds thanks to being much more recent, hackable, and powerful means that you can pick one up on ebay or amazon for like 150 dollars and have access to a great library of nintendo games. It's a far more usable device these days & its own library isn't any slouch either. I spent 200 on one JUST to play Rhythm Heaven Megamix & OOT 3d. I'd do it again in a heartbeat

 

[TintoConCasera]

Vanilla GBA was kinda meh, but the SP and specially the Micro are very cool systems to play on.

 

[64bitmodels]

Vanilla GBA was kinda meh, but the SP and specially the Micro are very cool systems to play on.

the SP is a candidate for sexiest nintendo system ever made. They did not have to go as hard on that system as they did. flip case, backlight, lithium battery, BEAUTIFUL finish. If there's any GB i can recommend it's that one. It's the penultimate Game Boy.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Well, the ds can play gba games so by definition it is superior

 

[64bitmodels]

BTW, did the Gameboy have a sick as hell SNES theme? i bet you not

god this is a candidate for best special edition of any nintendo console

 

[Graciaus]

The DS and 3DS catalog of JRPGs is better. Easy win.

 

[GymWolf]

Clearly the gameboys.

Warioland: super mario land 3 is enough to beat everything on the others.

 

[64bitmodels]

Warioland: super mario land 3 is enough to beat everything on the others.

why not WL4?

 

[Kenpachii]

DS lite was the best handheld, full bc with old games, and new games.

 

[GymWolf]

why not WL4?

Because 3 is the perfect game.

Just to be clear, this one

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

Nintendo handhelds have always sucked as hardware, they're redeemed by their game libraries. The best handheld of all time in terms of hardware is the Vita, no question.

 

[Drell]

Well this poll only has two choices but I'd like to elaborate on some specific cases.

The 3DS blew my mind back then because games looked like 128 bits consoles. I, of course, have fond memories of Gameboy and GBA but having this graphic quality on the go was something for me. Of course the PSP already somewhat achieved this quality back then but I only owned one later for emulation purpose so my vision was biased.

Then there's the DS. As a big Nintendo fanboy back then, I had high hope for this console. And while it has good games, I always thought the hardware inside this machine was a joke. Unfiltered 3D with worse than SNES (in some aspects) sound quality in 2004 made me dodge this console.

 

[Azelover]

Hard choice.

I'll go with DS because I played it a lot more.

 

[MadchesterManc]

Even though I had a GB, GBC and a GBA SP, yet skipped the DS before getting a 3DS - voted DS. The new 3Ds fixed issues I had with the original 3DS, to be honest its almost the perfect handheld, and its library makes it worth carrying still today. I did eventually get a DS lite a few years back which turned out to be a really good way to play my long lost Pokemon Green, old save even worked. Someday I hope to find my Pokemon Blue cart, haven't seen it since like 99

 

[64bitmodels]

The best handheld of all time in terms of hardware is the Vita, no question.

 

[lachesis]

Tough choice... but I will have to go with DS.
Because DS can play both GBA and DS games. I especially loved the DS Lite - it was my all-time favorite portable.

 

[Trunx81]

No brainer. Without Game Boy no DS.

Do you ask if your gramps was superior to you, Op?

And the right answer is obviously Switch and the upcoming SwitchToo

 

[GymWolf]

No brainer. Without Game Boy no DS.

Do you ask if your gramps was superior to you, Op?

And the right answer is obviously Switch and the upcoming SwitchToo

Switch is too big to be in the same category as gameboy and ds.

 

[El Muerto]

DS/3ds. All dem RPGs. Project X Zone was my jam.

 

[BlackTron]

GBA SP was really good. Final perfect version of the Game Boy before they moved on to DS. The first version of GBA felt better in the hand, but the screen was bad. It just kinda came off as a crappy cheap POS especially with the colors they launched in. White, purple and that cloudy clear light purple...who thought of all that...

It's hard to deny the DS/3DS's library, but I just like GB better. I prefer simpler GB style games in a portable device and actually consider the two face buttons a strength. DS had a lot of games I played through one time and that's it. GB series is full of effective 2-button platformer classsics like Mario Land 2 and Castlevania AoS/CotM that I'll just never fully shelve for good.

 

[Codes 208]

DS > GB/GBA > 3DS

The ds just had an amazing library, like ps2 quality and quantity. The gameboy line is also incredibly nostalgic for me, the gba itself is my second favorite handheld just behind the ds lite.

3ds did take awhile for it to git gud, but it does have a lot of amazing games too, its currently the best handheld to own for nintendo fans since it can play gb/gbc games via the eshop and ds games via BC. But in terms of which one’s the best for its time, definitely the classic ds line

 

[dorkimoe]

Original gameboy with tetris is the greatest handheld of our life. This was pre internet for long road trips. Batteries lasted forever

 

[AJUMP23]

I like the DS Family of systems more.

 

[mako]

I like the iQue family most

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Dual Screen. It’s not a contest. The GBA was a shit system that just enjoyed a complete absence of serious competition. Terrible hardware on all fronts, WiiU was comparatively much better for its time on both the hardware and software front. The GBA had three models and not one of those managed to be the definitive one with all the features. Giving it only two front buttons was downright idiotic, and the sound out of that thing was atrocious. Even the best games were gimped because of the horrible hardware. The only reasons it was popular were lack of competition and the Pokémon craze being at an all-time high.
GB and GBC were cool and gave us some fantastic games, but the combined library of the DS family is simply unbeatable. And the DS line actually kept improving on the hardware side all the time instead of taking away features with every new model. OG DS was a Frankenstein monster of a handheld, DS Lite was the sleekest thing Nintendo ever released. PG 3DS had shit 3D, the ”new” models made it actually super stable and very effective.

GBA was a mistake. Your nostalgia won’t change it.

 

[64bitmodels]

Dual Screen. It’s not a contest. The GBA was a shit system that just enjoyed a complete absence of serious competition. Terrible hardware on all fronts, WiiU was comparatively much better for its time on both the hardware and software front. The GBA had three models and not one of those managed to be the definitive one with all the features. Giving it only two front buttons was downright idiotic, and the sound out of that thing was atrocious. Even the best games were gimped because of the horrible hardware. The only reasons it was popular were lack of competition and the Pokémon craze being at an all-time high.
GB and GBC were cool and gave us some fantastic games, but the combined library of the DS family is simply unbeatable. And the DS line actually kept improving on the hardware side all the time instead of taking away features with every new model. OG DS was a Frankenstein monster of a handheld, DS Lite was the sleekest thing Nintendo ever released. PG 3DS had shit 3D, the ”new” models made it actually super stable and very effective.

GBA was a mistake. Your nostalgia won’t change it.

ok show us on the doll where the SP touched you

 

[existensmaximum]

For me Gameboy, and it's like.. Not even on the same planet.