Handhelds
This is a page just to show off all the handhelds I own, and my thoughts on them. I suspect this list is gonna grow over the years.
Original hardware
Proprietary handhelds produced by institutions
Game Boy Advance SP
The GBA was the first handheld I ever owned, though this is technically my second one. I started with a red GBA acquired at age 7, which I lost at some point and replaced with this pearl blue one. It works great, though the battery runs out a lot faster than it did in the 2000s. I kinda want to get an original model GBA for ergonomics, and so I can use rechargeable AAAs that most certainly last longer.
I never owned any good GBA games. Every title I owned for the system was licensed shovelware, virtually nothing worth actually playing. I really need to dig deeper into the system's library sometime. I hear Golden Sun is really good.
Favorite GBA games
Nintendo DS Lite
I spent a lot more time on the DS than the GBA. It was backwards compatible, and I had better games for it. But I still had a lot of shovelware. Mine still works, but the top screen has a weird air bubble. No idea what's up with that, but I can play DS games on better hardware now.
Favorite DS games
New Nintendo 3DS XL
I got a 3DS in the last year of its prime—2016—and stopped using it almost immediately after getting my hands on a Switch the following year. By this point though I was a teenager, and had better control and sense for the games I bought for the system. I made those years count.
Despite the short time I had while it was still an active system, I've actually started using it a lot more in modern times. It's really easy to mod, and can run a wide variety of systems on it. Though I mainly use it for DS & 3DS games.
Favorite 3DS games
Playstation Vita
This is the first handheld I ever bought well after its prime. My girlfriend always bugged me about getting one, and it had appeal to me as a portable PS1; alongside PSP & Vita games.
Something that really surprised me about the Vita is the impressive indie game library. Tons of indie games I don't associate with the Vita at all came out for this thing. It's baffling because Sony always marketed the Vita as running then-modern console games like Mortal Kombat 9 or Borderlands 2, only for the games themselves to look & play like ass. But they literally had a portable gaming machine five years before Nintendo made the Switch, and totally could've pushed it as that. But they didn't. But hindsight is 20/20.
Best games on PSVita (and PSP)
Nintendo Switch
This is the first console I ever bought the same year it launched. Though that's on technicality since I got mine in December.
The Switch is a pretty great system! At the time, a portable system that could run 7th generation games without major compromise was a nice novelty. You could re-release virtually anything and it'd be well-received just for being on a portable device. It also makes the perfect party machine, as any TV with a Switch dock could accept any system. The first year I brought my Switch to a convention, I hooked it up to one TV and had at least three different consoles cycled through it. The launch was rough, but the follow-through was well worth it.
Favorite Switch games
Nintendo Switch 2
Yeah, I bought a Switch 2 the same year it launched, and even now I only have two real games for it.
Honestly I view buying modern console hardware as more of an insurance nowadays; where in a decade or two, people will find exploits that are easy for anyone to do themselves, and the entire library becomes easily accessible for piracy or homebrew software. In the Switch 1's case it paid off almost immediately, other times it can be a much longer wait.
Favorite Switch 2 games
Multi-system
These are more open-ended devices that can run multiple kinds of games, either natively or through emulation.
Steam Deck
While the Switch is pretty cool, the Steam Deck grabbed my attention much quicker. I wasn't interested at first, but the thought of a device one generation more powerful than the Switch became a lot more intriguing the more I thought about it. Modern PC games in a handheld device that wasn't a laptop, and could run PS2 & GameCube games? Hell yeah, sign me up!
Sure enough, it does exactly that. I wrote a review about it in 2022.
Anbernic RG-34XXSP
The handheld revolution is here! Or at least it's been here since the early 2020s. Patents on portable hardware shells are starting to wear off, allowing third-party companies to make their own versions with off-the-shelf hardware much more powerful than the era they're mimicking.
Anbernic is one of the leading brands in this regard, and this is the first handheld I decided to give a try. It's mimicking a GBA SP, but it has more buttons, and the hardware is strong enough to run PS1 games.
Anbernic has a ton of these devices; ranging from orignal GBA, Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, PSP, PSP GO, PSVita, even the DS and the Switch.