The best handheld of all time?

Best handheld ever?

  • Total voters
    359
Listed the Nomad but not the TurboExpress? Sad! Never had one but c'mon a HuCard vs a Sega Genesis cart. On the go? It's gotta be Turbo.

Anyway, NDS Lite clearly the GOAT. I should bust out Brain Age and see if it remembers me or if there is anything left of my brain.
dr-kawashima-brain-age.gif


My first handheld was Atari Lynx. No GameBoy for me... I mean c'mon black and white, what is this 1950? Lynx was really cool hardware and the Mode-7-ish sprite scaling made for some cool games. Sadly not enough support and not enough sales. But it was a good system. It wasn't a piece of shit like Atari Jaguar, for those who didn't get a chance to experience Lynx in its day.
 
Pasta la Vista said:
Seems like the absolute worst way to play those type of games. I need more than 15-30 min to make any meaningful progress.
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Not worse than 10~30fps sub HD shit shows on the PS360.

Jinzo Prime said:
Gaming handhelds are about more than just power. Portabillity, weight, battery life, special features, and ease of use are more important to me in a handheld.
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They are more about games and PC handhelds have almost them all.
 
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It's between the DS and PSP for me. The DS has so much content that will forever live in my memory, but the PSP was way ahead of its time, and still feels great to hold and play on in 2025.
 
DS, and specifically the Lite in terms of design (even if the DSi is better overall. If the DSi was designed like the Lite, it'd be perfect).

It was a perfect product for its time in terms of tech and design, and it offered so much innovation. I've been playing it these last few days and it's really good, even the screen size feels perfectly adequate. It was extremely pocketable and it didn't need an added screen protection. Battery life wasn't amazing, but still better than any competitor.

I never understood the hoopla about the GBA. So many NES and SNES ports, no new Mario, not enough buttons, no sleep function, and they never nailed a definitive design despite giving it three revisions.
 
I haven't owned many handhelds. My first was the GameBoy Color, which was okay but didn't wow me in any way even back then.

My next handheld was the PS Vita and I really loved that little thing even if it was a finger-print magnet (I ended up using mine wearing gloves!!!). Sadly, Sony ballsed that one up and the handheld died a quiet premature death due to lack of first-party support. It was superb while it lasted though (much like Dreamcast was - not a handheld, I know!).

I currently own a Switch OLED, Switch 2 and a Steam Deck OLED. Switch 2 is for docked play though, something the new hybrid console is now decent at (unlike the original Switch where I was compelled to get the OLED model just because the games looked so bad on my 4K OLED TV). I haven't used by Switch 2 as a handheld since the initial setup last week; it has been permanently docked since.

Steam Deck is very nice to have as well due to having a very large library (1,800+) of PC games, many of which run great due to their age.

All-time favourite handheld though would have to be PS Vita for me.
 
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From a game point of view: 3DS (I mean, you had the DS and 3DS library at your disposal. That's insane)
From a hardware point of view: Vita (It just felt fucking nice to hold in your hands and play with it) That's what she said
 
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[x] Vita

It was the first time the mobile experience was close enough to the big console brothers to not feel like utterly gimped versions.
 
Before the switch I would of said the PSP. Hardware wise the vita was an evolution on psp and better in everyway (adding twin sticks, touch screens back touch for buttons), but one it didn't have a library or support.
Switch is an evolution on Vita and wii-u tablet. Its why they did a switch 2. Its why Steam deck is a thing.

It made console gaming on the go possible. So much so that nintendo was able to combine their handheld line and console line in one. Which quadroupled the game output. No other company has pushed out so many 1st party games as nintendo did this gen. Not to mention the insane 3rd party and Jrpg support that no console has had since the ps1/ps2.

Now if only I could play my old ps1, psp and ps2 library, plus the genesis, snes, and tg16 games i love on the switch it would be amazing. I guess getting an old switch and hacking it, but that means risking loosing my digital content.. Wonder how easy it is to hack , psp was simple.
 
rm082e said:
Remember the PSP Go?
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Yeah, i had one and sold it then got another psp a 3000 (to complement my overplayed white psp 2000 with vader stamp).

Looking back I wish I didn't sell it. At the time, I didn't like that I couldn't play so many of my physical games and that the screen was much smaller.
That was before I knew hacking was easy. I could of loaded all those carts on that thing and kept it in a small pocket. Damn.
 
Original Gameboy for me. It just lasted so long and sort of evolved for a very long time. Gameboy color etc.
I just had such an incredible run with it - my first gaming anything. From Tetris to Pokemon Red on the color. Loved it. I still have my original grey brick.

Besides that, i really loved the Vita.
 
Strictly from a sales point of view the Gameboy has to be the greatest of all, it's dominance was unmatched, despite it being underpowered compared to the competition, and yet the likes of Atari, Sega, Neo Geo could not even come close to matching the sales figures it's dominance was such that it took an absolute age for Nintendo to bring out a colour version of the system, when the technology to do that was more than ready years before..
 
man this is a tough one.

  • steam deck brought huge PC game libraries to portable for the masses, also really put linux gaming into overdrive
  • DS is the best selling portable of all time, and has hw BC for GBA, which has some all-time greats
  • PSP made portables cool
  • Switch is just a monster
probably have to go with the Deck. it's just too huge in terms of impact, has a bigger library than basically anything else on the planet, and kickstarted an entire new market segment of PC handhelds
 
For me, it's the NDS.

It actually fits in your pocket, can play GBA games, has a fun gimmick that made for some very original games and best of all, has a gigantic catalog of games full of gems.
 
Steam deck nothing comes close, plays endless library's through emulation, practically 95% of the PC library with that. Supports keyboard mouse on top of it. It's basically not even a question.
 
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Was very close for me, between PSP and PS Vita, but voted Vita. Loved the screen, the games, the remote play options on ps3 and ps4, the feel of it including the touch inputs on the back etc

Of course, it have some down sides - Was a wee bit small for my hands, but not much. The custom made memory cards being a giant rip off and not usable on other devices. Sony just giving up on the system very quickly.
 
I'm voting for Nintendo DS even though I jumped in late and played all DS games on a 3DS.

Mostly because of the Castlevania games. And Pokémon.
 
For a standalone device, I would say the PSP. It had an amazing library and it was a ton of fun.

However, I voted for the Steam Deck. It can play Switch games better than games running on an actual Switch, and it can play so many different emulators. On top of that, it has virtually the entirety of the PC library at its fingertips (even if you have to do some finagling with some games due to Linux), it kickstarted other PC handhelds such as the ASUS ROG Ally (which I also love, and requires less finagling to get games working), and it released at different price points that people could buy into, and the price points it had were reasonable considering this was a first-of-its-kind device.

Also, I am one of those guys that doesn't like putting the Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 into the handheld category. To use their full power requires you to play them docked (e.g. not in handheld mode). The Steam Deck, on the other hand, can be docked, but it provides no extra boost by docking it. If you can't support the full power of the device in handheld, then you half-assed handheld mode.
 
Ozzie666 said:
Anyone voting Steam deck or Switch should just walk out of the thread. Not true handhelds, one is a portable PC, one is a bit closer. But the software is not uniquely made for a handheld experience even on Switch.

The last true hand helds were the 3DS and Vita. Get this portable PC and consoles out of here.
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O Ozzie666 in real life

Willy Wonka Oompa Loompa GIF
 
Hmmm for me
GBA, DS, PSP were the elite ones

But goat will likely end up being switch for its versatility and having so many damn games
 
Original gameboy or gameboy advance sp, when i still loved portables.

Never felt the same about psp and vita.

P.s. lmao how the fuck is psp winning? :lollipop_grinning_sweat:
 
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PSP easily the best

So many gems, PS1 games, could emulate GBC/GBA (and some snes). And not to mention the perfect form factor. Great ergonomics and the size was just right.

lol at Steam Deck. That thing has the size of a 5 year old child.
 
GymWolf said:
P.s. lmao how the fuck is psp winning?
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When people use "SonyGAF" they are not far from the truth. 🤷‍♂️

Hugare said:
PSP easily the best

So many gems, PS1 games, could emulate GBC/GBA (and some snes). And not to mention the perfect form factor. Great ergonomics and the size was just right.

lol at Steam Deck. That thing has the size of a 5 year old child.
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And can run all PSP, GBC/GBA and SNES games. 🤷‍♂️
 
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Easily the psp with the DS/3DS coming in second and GBA/SP in third. Steam Deck way too big, Switch too big and the games aren't really portable style games.
 
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