When it comes to portable consoles, none have come close to the same success that Nintendo has enjoyed. Though Sony, Sega, and Atari have tried in the past, none seem to have the same staying power and broad appeal as the Kyoto based company’s offerings.
While they have made a few mistakes in the portable market over the years, they have also seen overwhelming success with some of their portables being some of the best selling consoles of all time, home consoles included.
To commemorate Nintendo’s now 40 year run of making handheld consoles, here is each one ranked from worst to best!
8 Virtual Boy
The Virtual Boy, released in 1995, was an attempt to make a portal virtual reality headset. While it was intended to be portable, due to its size and lack of a head strap, to comfortably play it you have to either sit at a table or create your own head strap to allow it to sit on your head without the need for the stand.
Due to technical limitations, games are presented in red and black, and though the sense of 3D is impressive, the graphics can be nauseating because of the headset sitting right next to your eyes.
7 Game & Watch
Though the series of Game & Watch games aren’t what you would traditionally call portable consoles, they are portable and they are video games. The games are on basic segmented LCD displays with pre-printed overlays, similar to Tamagotchis.
Nintendo started creating the Game & Watch series in 1980, predating the Nintendo Entertainment System. They continued to make Game & Watches until 1991, the same year the Super Nintendo was released.
Early Game & Watch games feature Mr. Game & Watch, who has now become a Super Smash Bros. staple but later iterations have popular characters like Link from The Legend of Zelda and Mario from Super Mario Bros.
6 Game Boy Color
The Game Boy Color, released in 1998, is often paired with the original Game Boy, however, the Color adds more processing power on top of adding color which allows for more graphically superior games.
Right out of the gate, the Game Boy Color came in a variety of colors including lime green, grape purple, translucent atomic purple, and more. There were many exclusive games for the Game Boy Color with their cartridges having a convex curve on them to prevent them from being put into an original Game Boy and possibly causing damage.
5 Game Boy Advance
Affectionately called the portable Super Nintendo, the Game Boy Advance, released in 2001, has a 32-bit processor that can produce graphics that are similar or even better to those found on Nintendo’s second console.
The Game Boy Advance, like many of Nintendo’s handhelds, has seen a lot of revisions over the years. First was the Game Boy Advance SP which has a clam shell design with a back lit screen – then there was the Game Boy Micro which is incredibly small and can not play Game Boy or Game Boy Color games.
4 Nintendo 3DS
The Nintendo 3DS, released in 2011, had a very rough start. Initially, the price point was too steep for many consumers and the launch lineup was unsatisfactory. However, Nintendo quickly lowered the price and offered free downloadable games for those who bought it prior to the price drop. In time, after the release of many great games, the handheld became incredibly successful.
The Nintendo 3DS has, as the name would imply, glasses-less 3D capabilities as well as augmented reality functionality. The 3DS was followed up by the 3DS XL and the 2DS, a model without the 3D functionality which also has an XL version of its own.
3 Game Boy
The Game Boy, released in 1989, was Nintendo’s first handheld system with interchangeable cartridges. While many games on the system were water-down ports from the Nintendo Entertainment System or the Super Nintendo, the system was graced with many exclusive games made just for it. The console has the longest lifespan for any Nintendo console – it lasted 9 years before being replaced with the Game Boy Color. The console saw a few revisions like the Game Boy Pocket which made the console smaller, and the Japanese exclusive Game Boy Light that added a much-needed backlight to the console.
2 Nintendo DS
Initially, the Nintendo DS, released in 2004, was not supposed to replace the Game Boy line and instead be a separate line of consoles as Nintendo was unsure of how successful the console would be. The shape of the DS took inspiration from the old Game & Watches that also had two screens in a clamshell design.
The Nintendo DS was incredibly successful and is one of the best selling consoles of all time. It was followed up with the DS Lite which had a slimmer design and the DSi which had online capabilities.
1 Nintendo Switch
While it may seem unfair to put the Nintendo Switch up against Nintendo’s other handheld only consoles, the fact is, it is a portable machine. The Nintendo Switch, released in 2017, brings console and handheld gaming together in one console. You can play the same game you are playing on the television on the go, a gimmick that has changed the way many think of handheld gaming. The system also saw a handheld only version of the console, the Nintendo Switch Lite which is sold at a reduced price.
Though it seems Nintendo’s days of making strictly handheld consoles are behind us, they will continue to evolve portable gaming just as they have done with countless other parts of gaming in the past.
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