20 Best Video Game Handhelds Of All Time

The origins of handheld gaming goes back quite a bit further than the Nintendo Game Boy and Atari Lynx in 1988. After Mattel found incredible success with a series of single-game electronic handheld toys like Football in 1977, companies like Coleco, Bandai, Parker Bros, and Milton Bradley all released similar products. However, it was Milton Bradley who eventually developed and distributed the Microvision in 1979 and spawned the first true handheld game console, as it was the first to offer interchangeable cartridges.

Other than the Epoch Game Pocket Computer in 1984, handheld gaming as we know it today didn’t truly take off until 1988. What’s amazing is just how many different handhelds were released after Nintendo proved the market for such systems and games was viable. As we start ranking these handheld systems, you’ll find that companies like Sega, SNK, Bandai, and Nokia are among the many who tried to create another juggernaut handheld video game console and more often than not came up short.

It’s an incredible history. We’ve gone from the very simplistic, even crude Microvision, to a combination of a portable and home console hybrid like the Nintendo Switch, or the extremely impressive Steam Deck. The technology behind handheld gaming has come so staggeringly far between 1979 and the present day, and it’s only going to keep barreling forward. You’ll see just how far this technology has come as we rank the best handheld consoles of all time

 

20. Nokia N-Gage

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
N-Gage	Nokia	October 7, 2003	3 million

No, we didn’t get #1 and #20 mixed up.

On paper, the Nokia N-Gage really wasn’t the worst idea for a variety of reasons. In 2003, mobile gaming was just beginning to develop into something more elaborate than Snake.

However, when it came to the execution of this device, everything that could have gone wrong absolutely did. Nokia wanted to take on the Game Boy Advance, and even promoted themselves in gaming spaces, but shot themselves in the foot almost immediately by charging a full $100 more than the GBA. It was an aggressively average phone with a clunky design, mushy, cellphone-like buttons, and some of the worst games ever made, including ports from big franchises like Tomb Raider, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.

Despite promoting the hell out of their little device, the Nokia N-Gage never went anywhere. It sold poorly, never even got close to the Game Boy Advance, and was put out of its misery in 2006 after a lifespan of just three miserable years. The Nokia N-Gage is a memorable example of a good idea with dismal execution.

 

19. Tapwave Zodiac

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Tapwave Zodiac	Tapwave	November 1, 2003	Undisclosed

Released on November 1st, 2003, the Tapwave Zodiac was another device looking to take advantage of the rising interest in mobile gaming. The handheld console promised to be more than just a phone and promoted itself to teens and young adults as a hub for all your gaming, photos, videos, and music, and all that other rad stuff that the youth like. Two models were made, the Zodiac 1 with 32MB of space for US$299, and the Zodiac 2 with 128MB of space for $399. Despite the hefty price tag, Tapwave Zodiac promised a robust library of games, including Doom II, Duke Nukem Mobile, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4.

The problem was that the promise of more games never really came. Tapwave’s Zodiac was another device where the phone part was acceptable, with the console itself earning raves and even some industry awards, but the crucial gaming side of things was downright anemic when it came to new titles. As it soon became apparent, the Zodiac just didn’t have the financial resources or name value to compete with Nintendo’s DS or the PlayStation Portable. By the summer of 2005, it was gone.

 

18. MB Microvision

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
MB Microvision	Milton Bradley	November 1979	Undisclosed

Debuting in 1979, a full decade ahead of the Game Boy, what really doomed the MB Microvision was being too ahead of the curve for its own good. Despite selling reasonably well in the beginning, the Microvision suffered from a number of headaches. The screen was painfully small, and very, very few games were made before it was discontinued in 1981. It’s believed that only 12 were ever released, including Bowling, Connect Four, and Pinball. The games were extremely simple, as you might have guessed, so there wasn’t a whole lot of replay value either.

The MB Microvision also suffered from a deterioration issue known as “screen rot,”, and isn’t that just an incredibly charming name? That basically means liquid crystal spontaneously leaking and permanently darkening the screen itself, resulting in a Microvision that still plays technically, but you can’t really see anything. Neat.

Finally, no one really wanted to make games for it. The major companies of the time more or less ignored the MB Microvision until its death in 1981, and that would be it for handheld gaming for the most part until the end of the decade.

 

17. Watara Supervision

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Supervision	Watara	1992	Undisclosed

Marketing itself as a cheaper alternative to the Game Boy, the Watara Supervision debuted in 1992 at a price tag of US$49.95. That was approximately 40 bucks less than the cost of a Game Boy at that same time. The games were also cheaper, and unfortunately, were almost universally uninteresting to the vast majority of the Supervision’s target market.

Yet the Supervision was a pretty interesting system. Despite receiving very little third-party developer support, which gave the Supervision very little to pit against Nintendo’s massive catalog of homegrown heroes like Mario and Link and third-party superstars such as Castlevania or Mega Man, the system itself could do neat things like hook itself up to your television.

The games for the Supervision in particular were numerous, with some 65 titles like Pacboy & Mouse and Super Block being made available over the span of a single year, but they also weren’t very interesting. Critics at the time just couldn’t see the value of saving money on a handheld if the games were going to be mediocre at best. Several third-party titles were in the pipeline for 1993, but nothing materialized, and the Supervision was all but forgotten by the middle of the decade.

 

16. Atari Lynx

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Atari Lynx	Atari	September 1, 1989	2 million

The Atari Lynx was originally developed by Epyx, but financial difficulties forced the company to seek out a partner. Atari agreed to handle production and marketing, and when Epyx declared bankruptcy by the end of 1989, Atari effectively owned the entire project.

They would release 73 games for the system, which promised to be a 16-bit wonder of sharp graphics, beautiful sound, and some of the most impressive games available at the time. To be sure, it was more powerful than Nintendo’s Game Boy, but the Game Boy embraced simplicity and benefited from doing so. Particularly from the fact that it only took four AA batteries to run the little guy for up to 10+ hours.

The Atari Lynx by comparison took more batteries and lasted for a lot less time. The game library had some good titles, including Ninja Gaiden, Chip’s Challenge, and KLAX, but also some serious stinkers like Batman Returns and Pit-Fighter. The Lynx just didn’t have Nintendo’s momentum or a little game called Tetris, but it did manage to hang on all the way to 1995, selling just two million units.

 

15. Playdate

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Playdate	Panic	April 18, 2022	Undisclosed

Honestly, there was a temptation to rank the Playdate just a little bit higher for sheer ingenuity, but ultimately, we’re starting to get into handheld consoles that are pretty important for the industry as a whole.

The Playdate is a modern handheld console that features a unique crank design with a one-bit display and no backlight. It’s as simple as simple gets, and currently retails for a surprisingly high $199. This is a fairly simple handheld, and this is reflected in the types of games it can play.

So, why does the Playdate perform so well on our handheld console ranking? Because its design choices are honestly quite clever, particularly the crank in its function as an analog controller, and there are quite a few extremely creative games to play on this open-source console that anyone can make games for. Playdate has its own little indie ecosystem that’s been keeping fans engaged with truly singular titles that can’t be experienced anywhere else, including EYELAND, The Botanist, Gun Trails, and many more.

It’s received good reviews, too, and that’s certainly nice to see in an age of bloated AAA budgets. It might not be for everyone, but those looking for a handheld experience unlike any other may want to give this a look.

 

14. TurboExpress

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
TurboExpress	NEC	December 1, 1990	1.5 million

Released in Japan and North America in late 1990 as a handheld console that could play TurboGrafx-16 games on the go, the TurboExpress is one of the most technically impressive handhelds on this list. The TurboGrafx-16 was home to tons of great games that didn’t get their due because of the relative obscurity of the console, such as the Bonk series, Splatterhouse, several games in the Ys series, and a whole lot more. It was an impressive system that just couldn’t compete with Nintendo or Sega, and it’s unfortunate that the TurboExpress didn’t move the needle for NEC.

With a backlit display that could display 64 sprites and 481 colors at once, the TurboExpress was an astonishing effort to tackle the Game Boy when a prototype known as Game Tank was first shown off in 1990. The system was released in 1991, at a point where the TurboGrafx-16 had a solid library behind it. Unfortunately, this was still a console that was by and large ignored by most people. It also didn’t help that the TurboExpress, as you might have guessed, was an even more ravenous battery hog than the Genesis Nomad.

It was also ridiculously expensive, retailing for US$299. That’s a full $200 bucks more than a Game Boy would have cost you, and only a little less than what you can get an LCD Steam Deck for now. Despite poor sales, the system managed to hang on until 1994 and has become a cult favorite.

 

13. Genesis Nomad

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Genesis Nomad	SEGA	October 1995	1 million (estimate)

Most of us recall that Sega had a handheld console in the form of the Game Gear, but did you know there was a successor? And that it could play actual Genesis cartridges? Given this is still the mid-90s we’re talking about, this is going to be either an amazing, way-ahead-of-its-time concept that Sega undernourished, or a spectacular, rapid failure that Sega sunk a ridiculous amount of resources into.

It’s more of the former in this case, with the Genesis Nomad offering a better experience than you might think, but it also suffered some clear issues, coupled with a lack of forward-thinking support that sometimes befell Sega’s console projects. Released in North America in 1995, the Genesis Nomad was something of an ancestor to the Switch, given that the Nomad was built for on-the-go play, but could also be docked and played on your television, as well. And guess what? It did both of those things pretty well. Not great, because it ate through 6 AA batteries in alarmingly rapid fashion, like some sort of radioactive kaiju, and it wasn’t really portable because Genesis cartridges are kind of big, but it was nevertheless a commendable release late in the Genesis lifespan.

And that was the problem. The Genesis was all but an afterthought by 1995, and even with a massive built-in library of Genesis games, the bulkiness of the Nomad combined with Sega’s relative indifference left the handheld with little room to truly take off.

 

12. WonderSwan

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
WonderSwan	Bandai	March 4, 1999	3.5 million

The WonderSwan was truly something special. For a time, it seemed like it could at least exist as a viable alternative to Nintendo, but it just wasn’t meant to be. The system was developed by Bandai and led by the legendary Gunpei Yokoi, the designer behind the Game & Watch series and co-creator of the Game Boy. Yokoi would die tragically in a car accident in 1997, two years before the release of the WonderSwan in Japan in 1999. Bandai would pay tribute to Yokoi by naming the excellent game Gunpey after him.

The WonderSwan did okay on the sales front, amassing 3.5 million sales over a lifetime that expanded to the WonderSwan Color in 2000, and then the SwanCrystal in 2002. The system particularly came into its own with the addition of color, featuring fantastic games like Front Mission and Judgement Silversword. With a price tag of just ¥4,800 for the original system (¥6,800 for the color version), the WonderSwan was very competitively priced.

Unfortunately, the WonderSwan never left Japan. Worse yet, even with good games and a dedicated fanbase, it wasn’t enough to get ahead of the Game Boy Advance.

 

11. Sega Game Gear

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Game Gear	Sega	October 6, 1990	10.62 million

By the time the Sega Game Gear was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in the U.S. and Europe, and in Australia in 1992, Sega’s rivalry with Nintendo was in full swing. There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that the 8-bit color Game Gear was designed to be superior to the Game Boy at every turn. Even the commercials reflected just how much fun it would theoretically be to play your favorite Sega games on a portable console in living color.

And that was sort of the problem with the Game Gear, beyond the thing eating batteries like they were going out of style. While the system would see some good games, most of its releases were average-at-best ports of preexisting Sega games. Even if the Game Gear did admirably with over 10 million in sales, that’s a very, very long way from the Game Boy with 118 million.

Excellent games like Road Rash, Vampire: Master of Darkness, Ristar, and Sonic the Hedgehog just weren’t enough to save the Game Gear from being discontinued in 1997.

 

10. Neo Geo Pocket Color

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Neo Geo Pocket Color	SNK	June 13, 2000	Undisclosed

Despite its failure to capitalize on such unique features as replacing the D-pad with a joystick, which was unheard of in those days, the Neo Geo Pocket Color from SNK was a decidedly fun effort. Released in 1999 as a successor to the Neo Geo Pocket, this wondrous little marvel saw several good games for a system that looked and played exceptionally well. Metal Slug: 2nd Mission, SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium, and Puyo Pop are among the reasons why the NGPC is one of the most underrated handhelds of all time.

Unfortunately, the Neo Geo Pocket Color just couldn’t dent the market dominance Nintendo still had by the end of the 90s. Pokémon was a big part of that, but the Game Boy Color was going strong with plenty of releases, and the Game Boy Advance was right around the corner.

Still, let’s take stock of a system that had a 40-hour battery lifespan, could sync up with your Dreamcast, was pretty affordable at $69.95, and was even region-free. SNK’s woes in the wake of the system’s release didn’t help the Pocket Color either, and the company’s new owners Aruze didn’t really care about supporting the handheld. A shame.

 

9. Steam Deck

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Steam Deck	Valve	February 25th, 2022	TBC

Released in 2022, the Steam Deck is easily the youngest system on our ranking. Clearly, it’s accomplished a lot over just the past couple of years, leaping ahead of everything we’ve covered so far. While the true legacy of the Steam Deck and the improved recent OLED model release remains to be seen, Valve has already proven themselves with a viable alternative to the Nintendo Switch. Featuring trackpads, an excellent touchscreen, and even the presence of back buttons, we’re basically talking about a portable mini PC.

The only thing that’s really keeping the Steam Deck from true greatness is its battery life, but this of course depends on which games you’re playing. With a few settings tweaks, you can easily extend your Steam Deck’s battery for hours on a number of indie games. It’s the big, beautiful AAA epics that are a little harder to manage for extended on-the-go play. The OLED version features a stronger battery and better power efficiency, but this is still a less-than-stellar area the Steam Deck will need to continue to address as time goes on.

The price tag is also a bit steep at $549 or higher for the OLED edition, but if you’re the kind of gamer who spends all their time and money on Steam to begin with, the value of having that seemingly bottomless well of games to play while on the go is arguably greater. It’s also become a mascot of sorts for the emulation community, as it’s incredibly easy to turn the Steam Deck into a handheld PS2.

 

8. Game Boy

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Game Boy	Nintendo	April 21, 1989 (JP)	118.69 million (inc GBC)

What can you say about the Game Boy that hasn’t been said? Released in 1989 and packaged with one of the definitive examples of the killer app in Tetris, Nintendo’s Game Boy was a hit almost immediately and never looked back.

Despite a monochrome screen with no backlight and some decidedly outdated technology under the hood, Nintendo aggressively released a wide range of original games based on their most beloved characters, as well as titles developed by third party companies like Capcom and Konami. A seemingly endless array of competitors tried to dethrone the Game Boy in the 1990s, with the console eventually evolving into the Game Boy Color, but nothing came close. The Game Boy was simplicity itself, with games like Super Mario Land, Pokémon Red and Blue, and Wario Land II offering a compelling argument to buy and continue supporting the system.

And people sure did, didn’t they? Combined with the Game Boy Color, the Game Boy is the 5th best-selling video game console of all time. It’s been surpassed a few times now, but we’ll always have a lot of love for the handheld that brought us to where we are now.

 

7. PlayStation Vita

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
PlayStation Vita	Sony	December 17, 2011 (JP)	15-16 million (estimated)

We had such high hopes for the successor to the PlayStation Portable. The fact that it still fares so well against so many excellent handheld consoles speaks volumes of what it achieved in the few years that Sony bothered to offer it genuine support.

Because while the PS Vita lasted 8 years in Japan from a 2011 release, and 7 years in the west and elsewhere after coming out in 2012, it really only had two or three truly good years. That’s a shame. When you look at the best PlayStation Vita games, including Persona 4: Golden, Rogue Legacy, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and Velocity 2X, it’s hard not to feel a little frustrated. Fans deserved better than what Sony gave them, and the PS Vita is something of a black eye for the company.

Despite demanding expensive memory cards, on top of the steep $250 price tag, and an unfortunate lack of meaningful third-party support (unless you really, really like JRPGs and visual novels), the PS Vita was a good system and we’re glad Sony’s last hurrah for proper handhelds exists at all.

 

6. 3DS

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
3DS	Nintendo	February 26, 2011 (JP)	75.94 million

Nintendo almost botched the release of the 3DS, charging far too much for their DS follow-up and not really having any worthwhile launch games to get excited about. Despite this rocky start, the system would go on to a thriving run of nearly ten years of some of the best games ever made for a handheld system. That list includes The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Super Mario 3D Land, Pokémon Sun and Moon, and Bravely Default, to name a few.

The dual screen feature on the 3DS could have been a disaster, as well, but Nintendo had proven the gimmick viable with the DS and would do so again here. Games such as Kid Icarus: Uprising and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon proved it could be a unique and engaging element to the overall impressive design of the system.

While mobile gaming continued to eat into the dominance Nintendo once had, the last pure handheld console by Nintendo managed to stand on its own and give players a worthwhile system. The 3D slider wasn’t great, no, but you can’t have everything.

 

5. DS

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
DS	Nintendo	November 21, 2004 (NA)	154.02 million

The Nintendo DS ended the unbelievable run of the Game Boy as the name Nintendo put its weight behind. The dual screen handheld was released in 2004 in North America and Japan and in 2005 in Europe and Australia as a successor to the Game Boy Advance. For this system, Nintendo opted for mechanical ingenuity over something that could compete with the PlayStation Portable, which basically allowed you to carry around a portable PS2 that you could play whenever you wanted.

Nintendo didn’t concern themselves with graphical prowess, although games like Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story and The World Ends with You looked gorgeous, but rather with design choices that would ideally create unique playing opportunities. Thanks to exceptional releases such as Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, and Mario Kart DS, Nintendo succeeded in this regard.

Retailing for $149 at launch, the Nintendo DS had shovelware issues and weak third-party support towards the end of its life, but it’s still a fantastic handheld. It’s also the 2nd best selling console ever with over 150 million units, so maybe there’s something to that, too.

 

4. Game Boy Color

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Game Boy Color	Nintendo	October 21, 1998 (JP)	118.69 million (inc GB)

Nearly ten years after the release of the original Game Boy, Nintendo made the upgrade everyone had been waiting for them to tackle for most of the Game Boy’s run with the release of the Game Boy Color in 1998.

While these color games may look a little basic today, it really cannot be understated how the GBC not only improved on the aging Game Boy, extending its vitality even further, but also contributed some of the best titles to ever appear on a Nintendo handheld. We’re including games like Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, Metal Gear Solid, Shantae, Wario Land III among the many titles that made the Game Boy Color an essential purchase, and that’s without mentioning how the backwards compatibility even punched up the original Game Boy’s extensive library.

While the presence of Pokémon helped the Game Boy Color in a very significant way, Nintendo ensured the system lasted well into the next century by providing strong first party support with a commendable range of third-party titles that were pretty great in their own right. Even if some of these games don’t look great in today’s light (because you literally need a light in order to see them sometimes thanks to the screen), the massive accomplishments of this system are worth highlighting, and the games themselves are often still a lot of fun to play.

 

3. Switch

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Switch	Nintendo	March 3, 2017 (WW)	132.46 million (September 2023)

Nintendo needed to do something decidedly bold to get out of the hole the Wii U had left them in. With a lot of skepticism that Nintendo could even turn things around from their previous console’s failure, the Nintendo Switch made its debut on March 3rd, 2017 in most markets. Proving that Nintendo’s unique world and characters still had value to gamers in the modern age, the console enjoyed success almost immediately, backed by a much, much better marketing campaign than what we had seen for the Wii U. By comparison, the Switch was considerably simpler, and promised unique games, third-party releases, and the ability to play the console docked or on the go with absolute ease.

Early reviews reflected just how much the Switch seemed to get right for the vast majority of the people who bought it (even if it still had quite a few doubters). No console is obviously perfect, and while the Switch’s online capabilities, lack of trophies/achievements, and general lack of power as it moved into the 2020s are worth mentioning, they can’t stop the astonishing success the Switch has enjoyed over the course of 7+ years.

When we talk about why the Switch is in our top 3 best handheld consoles of all time, despite its comparable youth to other portable systems, we have to talk about the games. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Super Mario Wonder, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Metroid Dread — it just goes on. And there’s the third-party support, with games like Strardew Valley, Hades, Hollow Knight, and Dead Cells all flourishing on the system to provide arguably the best library in Nintendo history.

The Switch has allowed Nintendo to carve out a truly unique corner of the gaming sphere. One which is largely their own, with the Switch selling nearly 140 million consoles at time of writing.

 

2. Game Boy Advance

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
Game Boy Advance	Nintendo	March 21, 2001 (JP)	81.51 million

The Game Boy Advance won people over quickly with two things: A strong launch library that included Super Mario Advance, F-Zero Maximum Velocity and Rayman Advance among its 17 titles in North America alone, and the ability to actually see what you were doing while playing. The Game Boy Advance started strong and didn’t really have any significant missteps in its design or execution of its release in 2001 all over the world. The headphone adapter and rechargeable battery in the 2003 SP edition would make a good thing even better.

Backwards compatibility didn’t hurt either, plus the 32-bit portable powerhouse was also fun to control. Play Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow sometime to see what we mean (as soon as that lottery win goes through). Production of the Game Boy Advance ended in 2009, with more than 40 games produced for the console in 2007, and just one game released to the system in 2008. What’s kind of wild about that is that the DS came out in 2004, meaning Nintendo continued their support for the GBA for several years, even as the future of their handheld plans was on the shelves.

With one of the most extraordinary game libraries of all time behind it, the Game Boy Advance is still a favorite among many. The GBA has been seeing renewed interest from Nintendo as a virtual console on the Switch, and the list of fantastic GBA games that we hope to see released to that is a long one.

 

1. PlayStation Portable

Console	Manufacturer	Release Date	Sales
PlayStation Portable	Sony	December 12, 2004 (JP)	82 million

How great is the PlayStation Portable? While not everyone may agree with the choice, the absolutely wild versatility and capabilities of the PSP when it launched two decades ago feels like Sony hopped in a Delorean.

Released in Japan in 2004 and elsewhere across 2005, the PSP immediately established itself as a must-have console. Sony put as much effort into this system as they did into their home consoles, and it showed in almost every aspect of its design, and in terms of the utterly staggering list of fantastic games that the console received over a period of nearly ten years.

But it wasn’t just a matter of the PSP having bangers like Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and Patapon. You could watch movies, read comics, listen to music, and even record video. The PSP was ambitious, and it still leaves you a little awestruck to see just how well Sony stuck the landing on this one, as well as how well it stands up even today. The Switch doesn’t have half the features the PSP did.

Keep in mind, all of this was done in a time before smartphones. The PSP simply felt like Sony had skipped a couple of handheld generations. Nintendo may dominate this list and the sales rankings, but as far as we’re concerned, no one has ever made a portable console quite like the PlayStation Portable.

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