On the go

[Juno]

Handhelds have come a long way since the Game Boy - while Nintendo has dominated the market for a long time, Sony's PSPs have managed to stand out in recent years and have proven to be a worthy rival to their successful consoles. Which handheld systems are your favorite, and why? How many of the older devices do you have, and do you still play on them?

I've only included the most popular/successful handhelds in the poll, but just for fun, here is a full list of all handheld gaming consoles ever, from the very first Microvision to open source hardware consoles only found in Asia. Aside from your regular Nintendo and Sony handhelds, how many of these have you heard of/owned?

 

[Raine]

To be honest, I have never been that interested in handhelds, not entirely sure why. Probably because I rarely leave the house and when I'm there, I'd rather be playing consoles than handhelds. That doesn't mean I've never owned any though. I currently have the Nintendo 3DS, which was left abandoned for a year until recently, and I used to own the Gameboy Advance SP.

I'm looking into getting the 3DS games that I originally intended to buy sometime down the road, but for now, I'm more on the console side probably since I enjoy the feeling of having a solid controller.

 

[pkmin3033]

I've always been more of a handheld gamer than a console gamer. When I was younger it was a matter of convenience - consoles were substantially more expensive, and I couldn't afford them. My first gaming machine was an original Gameboy, and for years I made do with that (it took me about a year to save up for a Megadrive!) and its upgrades...and really, that was all I needed, because handhelds were the thing when I was growing up, thanks to Pokemon.

As I've gotten older I've had the money to buy consoles, but I still prefer handhelds - they're just more convenient. I have a TV in my room, but I can sit anywhere I want and play a handheld. I can put it in my pocket and take it with me; I can't do that with consoles.

I currently own 2 Gameboy Advance, 1 Gameboy Advance SP, 1 Gameboy Micro, 2 DS Lite (although my grandmother has one), a 3DS, 3DS XL and New 3DS XL, PSP Slim and PS Vita. I typically upgrade my handhelds immediately when the newest model comes out. Favourite...it'd be a tie between the Vita and the DS Lite; the Vita has provided me with more hours of entertainment than I would have first thought and has far more promise for its future than the 3DS in terms of games (maybe not in terms of quality, but definitely in terms of quantity) and I can still remember how happy I was to get a DS Lite after having to wait for ages because I couldn't afford a brick model.

I still play my Gameboy Micro; it's in my coat pocket. Great for travelling about. xD

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

Vita-chan master race.
I prefer handhelds to consoles actually... especially due to portability.
I can play Neps my JRPGs on the go and when I'm not home.
Without PSP, I wouldn't even start gaming.

 

[Sylphiel]

I love handheld systems - ever since I was able to fight over whose turn it was to actually play the game boy on long car rides. :'D

I've gone through several types of Nintendo handhelds over the years - game boy, game boy color, game boy advance SP, DS, 3DS. I find myself preferring handhelds over consoles, mostly because of the sheer flexibility of handhelds. I can sit wherever I want when I play them, I can play them anytime I want (and not have to fight anybody for a tv to use). Plus, at least with the DS, there were actually games out for that that interested me....I couldn't necessarily say the same for any consoles at the time.

Of the ones I listed above, I only still have the GBASP, the DS, and the 3DS. I'm not about to get rid of any of them, not even the SP - I still have even regular GB games in my collection here, and I need something to play them if I so desire. ;D Although that's about its only use by now, nostalgia tripping, otherwise the main one for me at the moment is the 3DS.

Oh man, looking at that list of handhelds, that reminds me how I wanted a Game Gear at one point. Mostly because it was like "I could play games that are in color, and not just monochrome?? :O" But it never happened, I never could convince my parents to spend the money on one. So I just pined over all the games I couldn't play whenever I saw GG games shown in magazines, lol.

 

[Bay]

I prefer handhelds as I can play them anywhere. Sometimes I might want to play in the living room instead of my bedroom. Also I've played my handheld while in buses and waiting in hospital.

I've tried the original gameboy and gameboy color when borrowing them from family members, but the first own I really owned was the DS Lite so that I can play Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. The DS Lite started to not work very well so I then got myself the 3DS and glad I did as the very few games I played in it I love. There are some console games I'm interested in but lately I want to try the handheld ones more.

 

[Dustmop]

I've only included the most popular/successful handhelds in the poll

Are you trying to tell me that the Gameboy Color wasn't successful? :P

I only picked the ones that I have.. or at least as close to them as I could get. I have 3 original Gameboys, a Gameboy Color, the original DS, and now my 3DS XL.
That should make it pretty clear that handhelds were never really my thing in the past. Hell, all that I had for my Gameboy Color were Pokemon B/Y and G/S/C, just those 5 games, lol.

I love my 3DS now, though. And not because it's convenient to go out, or because it's convenient to go anywhere in the house with it. Those factors don't really affect me. I don't really go anywhere - though when I do leave I always take it with me, but I rarely find the time to actually play it. It just gets stuffed in my purse for streetpass purposes. And I can play any of my console games, my PC games, or my handhelds from anywhere in my room - bed, couch, armchair, desk, etc. And because of the massive difference in the resolutions of these options, I usually just went with console or PC, unless I'm in the mood for one of my 3DS games.

However, my 3DS is super convenient for those nights that I just can't sleep. I can take it over to my couch and get all comfy and play something super cute and simple - Animal Crossing, Story of Seasons, Pokemon, etc. - without disturbing Boyfriend. And being a handheld, the games are basically designed for "pick up and play for 20 minutes" so I don't feel like I'm obligated to invest too much time into it. Once I'm feeling better and ready to try sleeps again, I can put it right back down.
So now I'm finding a lot more use for my 3DS now, lol, and I've actually been building up its library.. A little bit, anyway. c:

Previous handhelds were only ever acquired to play Pokemon games, so it's really only my 3DS that I have any experience with outside of that. It's kind of stuck as my "favorite" lol.

 

[Juno]

Are you trying to tell me that the Gameboy Color wasn't successful? :P

I LEFT OUT GAME BOY COLOR WHAT D:

I think I own every Nintendo handheld to date, minus some of the 'alternate look' ones, like the Micro, 3DS XL and 2DS. My top 3 are GBA (SP), DS Lite and 3DS. The SP was incredibly portable and literally my favorite thing as a kid on long car rides, boring family dinners, etc.

I really liked the look of the DS Lite, but also the fact that you can play GBA games on it - I really miss the backwards compatibility.

And 3DS is my current handheld that I play almost daily. I don't play games when I'm out anymore, but I still appreciate the portability, and that I can play in bed, at my desk or in the living room, etc.

Still debating on whether I should get a Vita or not - I got my PSP as a gift and I do like it a lot, I just don't have as many games for it. There's quite a few Vita games I'm interested in though.

 

[mew_nani]

I like the Gameboy. I also like all of its successors. I remember a GBA SP being my first handheld console, and I loved that thing to death. We had a GBA without a backlight too, and even though we lost it I still have fond memories of that thing. I remember we were playing Donkey Kong Country 3 and we were trying to get through Pacifica and the GBA SP ran out of charge and me and my brother just switched to the GBA, with him playing and me nearby holding up a flashlight so he could see. XD

I like the PSP too though. Mine was a gift from my brother who hadn't played it in years. I only have 4 games for it, but since two of those games are Crisis Core and Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero?, I'm perfectly content with it.

 

[Loriania]

At the moment, I only own handheld system. I have a 3DS, DS Lite, PSP, and GBA. Then I play the DS and 3DS the most.

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

Still debating on whether I should get a Vita or not - I got my PSP as a gift and I do like it a lot, I just don't have as many games for it. There's quite a few Vita games I'm interested in though.

If (you.like(JP games) || you.like(indies))
{
buy = true;
}

else
{
buy = false;
}

 

[Juno]

If (you.like(JP games) || you.like(indies))
{
buy = true;
}

else
{
buy = false;
}

Fair enough. :P My biggest problem is mainly the $$$$$

 

[Circuit]

It's always the dosh that's the problem at the end of the day :P

I only ever owned Nintendo consoles because their games simply aren't available anywhere else. With the likes of Sony however, I can play the games I'm interested in on my PC which will run them 10000000000000000000000000000000000x better than the consoles actually ever could mwahaha glorious PC Master race for president

So I don't think I'll ever own a handheld outside of Nintendo, simply because I don't the see the point in paying for a downgrade :P

 

[Skip Class]

I started with a Game Boy Advance back when I was 6 and then moved on to a DSLite when I was 12 and then 2DS at 18 (so somehow just happen to get a new one every 6 years apparently). I also bought a PSP last year since they go for around $80-ish (or less) now and so that was more that I could play ROMs and stuff on the go.

I only really play my 2DS and PSP atm, but that's only when new games come out really. DSLite and my PSP are probably my overall favourites so far.

 

[Sydian]

I love handhelds and they're definitely more of my go to way to play than consoles. I voted for the 3DS since I absolutely love the library of games the thing has. My favorites are probably...Bravely Default, Pokemon ORAS, and Tomodachi Life. But I love everything I have in my collection and it's still growing. :) I also voted for the Game Boy Advance SP since I still play mine quite a bit and I think there are a ton of great GBA games, Pokemon Emerald and Mother 3 being some of my favorites among the bunch. I do try to collect Nintendo handhelds, I should mention. I like to have at least one of everything. I'm missing a Game Boy Micro, DSi, and New 3DS.

I don't own a PSP atm, but I do enjoy it as well! I have two games for it...I have Daxter and Birth By Sleep. Daxter was a gift because...I'm obsessed with that series, haha. I bought BBS myself because I love that game and wanted to get the PSP version. It was cheap so I didn't mind despite not having the system. :P I did borrow one to play Daxter with for a while last summer though and it was...not a good game to get acquainted with the system, but oh well. I'll just borrow another and play BBS and then I'll be alright. :) I haven't tried the Vita myself, but I know there's a bad port of the Jak HD collection on it. lol

 

[Cherrim]

If you've got multiple versions of the PSP on there, there was also the PSP 3000, I believe. It wasn't much of an upgrade, though... just like imo there wasn't much of an upgrade between the original PSP and the PSP 2000. Just ergonomics as far as I could ever tell.

Anyway! My votes for favourite go to DS Lite, DSi, 3DS, PSP-2000, and the Vita, but I've owned most of the things on the list. Those are just the things I've played a LOT so it's hard to actually pick a clear favourite amongst them. (With the exception of the Vita, maybe, it's such a beautiful piece of hardware that I love to bits but it just so severely lacks games that aren't remakes or short indie titles... ;_;)

I really love handheld consoles for how portable they are. I get bored pretty easy these days if I'm stuck in front of a TV for hours. It's nice to be able to take consoles anywhere and not have to worry. And I adore recent consoles for being able to sleep and wake whenever you need them to. No more searching desperately for a save point before you have to put it away in a rush... just close it or hit the power button and you can go right back to what you were doing whenever you want. Isn't it only recently that TV consoles have started being able to do this? Being able to play so fluidly is seriously my favourite thing about handheld games.

I also do a lot of gaming on my mobile phone. I love mobile games and often end up playing them more these days whether I'm home or on the go than any standalone handheld console. :x

 

[blue]

The only handheld console I use on the go is the 3DS, it's just so efficient.

 

[Dter ic]

My first handheld was the original DS. Back in 2005 it was the coolest thing in my school and I would play it almost every day after school hehe. I've seen owned most of the iterations of the DS including the DS lite, DSI and 3DS. Never owned the XL versions as I find them too large for portabilities sake.

 

[Gardevoir the Dragon Slayer]

I ticked all the Game Boy advances, DS's and 3DS's because I love them all xD

 

[Yukari]

3DS is winning by a lot. Not like I'm surprised though. It's a great console.

So... I Picked the Gameboy Advance, DS Lite and 3DS. DS lite because it's the only version I've ever owned.