PTE 10: The Greatest Handheld Part 1

[Neon Ignition]

Over the years there's been a massive amount of handheld variants with companies keen to throw out regular revisions to boost sales and capture new corners of the market. We've also seen company after company release increasingly powerful formats in an effort to take Nintendo's continued dominance of the area. In addition we've seen the mobiles space gravitate a little closer to the market space also. However, to gamers, in the end it won't be the marketing that cements a handhelds place but the quality of the hardware and games that wins it.

Let's find out what NTSC-UK's peep army thinks was the greatest handheld ever as we begin with Part One

[nakamura]

Tough one although I have not put enough time into the Turbo Grafx.

The Gameboy Colour is my choice. The simple reasons are the sublime Zelda games in DX and Oracle. These are 3 reasons to own the console above anything else and add in games like Super Mario Bros Deluxe, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Street Fighter Alpha and you have a great library for such aging tech.
2 batteries and 20 odd hours was fantastic too, just a shame about not having a backlight.

[sj33]

The lack of current-gen options makes this a tad easier to be - how can you top a handheld that has an emulator for almost all past consoles?

The GameGear it is. The battery life may have been shocking, but for me it represented something of a revolution - the kind of games I regularly played on my Master System were now available for play on a portable device. The Master System still looked quite impressive at the time, especially when compared with the technically-inferior Nes. This is a subjective thing, but I was always more of a fan of the Master System's software line-up compared with the Nes, so seeing this in handheld format was quite special when compared with what Nintendo were doing with the GameBoy and the gulf that existed between the GameBoy and the then-ancient Nes. The GameBoy was obviously leagues ahead in terms of battery life (and more broadly, I would never critisise the GameBoy's software lineup), but it's funny how even back then, Nintendo's policy of pushing underpowered hardware was so clear. It just didn't have the same spark for me as the GameGear did, that impressiveness that came from playing console-quality games on a handheld. The handheld was really special for me.

*As a disclaimer, I recognise that much of this could also be said for the TurboExpress. However, not owning one, and not being hugely familiar with the PC Engine, it would be nonsense for me to vote for it.

[nakamura]

The lack of current-gen options makes this a tad easier to be - how can you top a handheld that has an emulator for almost all past consoles?

While I have thought this myself, should we not judge each machine by its official status as it would be a stupidly unbalanced vote?

but it's funny how even back then, Nintendo's policy of pushing underpowered hardware was so clear.

Funny I also thought about this just the other day. Playing on the GBA, as lovely as it is it felt pretty underpowered for the time with little in the way of 3D. The DS tech wise felt like at least what the GBA should have been.

[Skull Commander]

Turbo Express for me. By far the best games of any of the above poll options, and while I love some Gameboy Games (Tetris, Marioland), the Gameboy is plagued with an awful lot of shovelware.

The Gamegear had decent potential, but there was only a handful of worthy titles, although I do acknowledge the Master System converter opened up a lot more options. Even though, the PC Engine's software library was far superior to the Master System's and the portability of the Hu-Card format wins over the Master System Converter add on and the bulkier games.

[cutmymilk]

Gamegear was amazing and I had one when everyone seemed to have Game Boys... complete with TV Tuner! I only ever played it in my bedroom, plugged in, sat on a chair, neck down giving me severe neck cramps. I never learnt! Made the Game Boy look primitive.

Overall the BEST though... probably GBA. The first version with Mario Kart was incredible at the time, even though it had to be played under the sun. The GBA was a screen revolution, though it looks really dark nowadays. So actual best and something I've never had is probably the GBA 101

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

GBA.

Super Mario Bros 3 & 4, Yoshi's Island, Castlevania's, Metroid Zero & Fusion, Final Fantasy VI, Fire Emblem, Mr Driller Ace... So many more.

[charlesr]

I think GBA will be in Part 2.

[Neon Ignition]

Yup, I think in total there will be three parts covering handhelds up to present day so the GBA variants should be in Part 2.

I've gone for the Game Boy Color myself, it arrived at the crest of the GB's popularity so benefitted a lot from the years of existing back log and after the eons of rumours felt like Nintendo had finally passed a marker by going colour. The hardware itself was a great revision, not too slight but not too chunky. Still looks good to look at.

[Flabio]

Original GB.

Without it, there wouldn't even BE a handheld market of any size.

[sj33]

Funny I also thought about this just the other day. Playing on the GBA, as lovely as it is it felt pretty underpowered for the time with little in the way of 3D. The DS tech wise felt like at least what the GBA should have been.

Hell, the same could be said about the GameBoy Colour. Don't get me wrong, the handheld's software lineup make it a fantastic format, but given when it was released, it was such an incremental upgrade.

[Golgo]

In terms of historical importance, the Game Boy. In terms of software, the GBA. (esp. the Gameboy Micro, which is just so cute and tiny...truly a handheld, fit-in-the-pocket device).

[Guts]

Well, of course the original Gameboy is the most important since it is/was basically a synonym for "handheld gaming", but I'm going to go with Gameboy Color since it's Gameboy, but with like, colours! So yeah, it's better.

Btw. was it spelled "Gameboy Color" or "Gameboy Colour" in the Europe/UK?

[sj33]

^It was spelt 'Color' in Europe, but I'm not going to follow Nintendo's bad example

[Neon Ignition]

I remember every kid at school having the original brick GB when I was at school. Everyone seemed to own Tetris and an awful Bart Simpson game