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[Klosshufvud]

Without a doubt, this year is the best year ever to be a handheld enthusiast. For the first time ever, we can play games handheld on a PC platform and not being beholden to some shitty closed walled garden business that demands us to rebuy all our older games. There's been a lot of alternatives for a lot of tastes with different budgets. Steam Deck OLED has been a substantial upgrade over the original version and the Windows handhelds come in every form factor and power profile for every taste. Improvements are being made on a daily basis and we don't go by a single week without some substantial hardware news on the handheld front. The star of the show is obviously the AMD SoC of Ryzen CPU and RDNA2-3 graphics. It has enabled a level of low wattage gaming that was just a few years back considered a fantasy. These chips allow us to play everything from 8-bit era classics to modern current-gen games ported straight from PS5/Series consoles. This is the first time in history where someone with a handheld can play a AAA release on the same date all while having a perfectly acceptable gaming experience. Something considered an impossibility for decades. 2023 marks a paradigm shift for handhelds, and it will hopefully only keep snowball further from here. Do you guys agree?

 

[Punished Miku]

Its mostly just console games. There's a type of design we used to see for games made specifically for handhelds that is lost now. With no Vita, PSP, 3DS, DS, GBA, no I dont really agree. Its just lots of options for console games on the go now. Its nice but mostly the same thing.

 

[Krappadizzle]

It's been an incredible year across the board for games and just about every publisher and developer of note put out something. One of the best years in gaming I can remember in a very long time.

 

[Klosshufvud]

Its mostly just console games. There's a type of design we used to see for games made specifically for handhelds that is lost now. With no Vita, PSP, 3DS, DS, GBA, no I dont really agree. Its just lots of options for console games on the go now. Its nice but mostly the same thing.

To be fair, the more sophisticated handhelds got, the less those type of games were made. Switch and Vita are proof enough of that. And while occasionally some innovative games were made due to the severe restrictions and unique form factor of handhelds, most of the time I just felt very limited.

 

[mystech]

Just wait for 2024! I’m thinking the Switch 2 will blow us away.

 

[64bitmodels]

Its just lots of options for console games on the go now. Its nice but mostly the same thing.

Console games are the main reason we're in the gaming hobby.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Valve knocked it out of the park on the first try. All things considered it’s the GOAT handheld especially the new model. Always loved handhelds and still have all my old ones but I find them all hard to go back to now. Switch 2 will be day 1 as well.

 

[KXVXII9X]

Its mostly just console games. There's a type of design we used to see for games made specifically for handhelds that is lost now. With no Vita, PSP, 3DS, DS, GBA, no I dont really agree. Its just lots of options for console games on the go now. Its nice but mostly the same thing.

I do really miss the games exclusively design around handhelds. I have handhelds since the Gameboy Pocket and loved the different experiences they brought. I do like that we can now play console quality games on handheld now though. It has been a dream of mine since the PSP. I do, however, wouldn't want every device out there to be just like a PC and standard console. I also think the best games on handhelds are designed around the limitations and features.

 

[Topher]

Definitely agree. Competition in the handheld market hit a new high in 2023.

 

[Mr Hyde]

It has been very exciting to see the PC handheld market explode this year with a lot of good options to choose from. The next couple of years are gonna be interesting to watch unfold. Lots of advancements to be had in this market.

 

[lughnasadh123]

I think the Game Gear was my last handheld only to finally jump back in with Switch lite which just turned out to be too damn small of a screen along with being not too comfortable to hold or play. Having the Steam Deck and others as an option for a beefier option with a great power for price, ease of use with options to go beyond it, better ergonomics, and yes - a much better screen is exactly what I'm hoping for. It's nice to see that gaming space expand hopefully with better competition to push each other to do more.

While it's really tempting to go for that SD Oled, I'm might wait a year or two to see if there's something coming for a SD 2. Maybe even just holding out for when my PS5 eventually dies to just fully make the switch over to whatever they have out at the time.

 

[cireza]

How times have changed. People are happy with huge bricks that last for 2 hours, only to play TV games on a small screen where text is barely readable. You get the most uneven experience ever, you get home console games that require a ton of buttons and good ergonomics (= proper controller) for long sessions of gaming. No dedicated handheld efforts at all. All of this leads to a pretty meh-ish experience. Enjoy your best year ever for handheld I guess...

 

[Gambit2483]

As much as I want to give the credit to Nintendo for kicking off the "console on-the-go" era, I have to admit Sony truly started it all with the Vita.

Perhaps Sony was too ahead of their time..

 

[Xenon]

Considering I just set up my Vita with Retroarch, completely agree.

 

[Unknown?]

Its mostly just console games. There's a type of design we used to see for games made specifically for handhelds that is lost now. With no Vita, PSP, 3DS, DS, GBA, no I dont really agree. Its just lots of options for console games on the go now. Its nice but mostly the same thing.

A lot of those handhelds had console games too, just from older generations. GBA had tons of SNES ports.

 

[Deerock71]

Just wait for 2024! I’m thinking the Switch 2 will blow us away.

I'm thinking that's the opposite of what this individual was talking about.

 

[nial]

That was 2004.

 

[Deerock71]

As much as I want to give the credit to Nintendo for kicking off the "console on-the-go" era, I have to admit Sony truly started it all with the Vita.

Perhaps Sony was too ahead of their time..

Bad boardroom decisions, or Sony might still be in it.

 

[Klosshufvud]

How times have changed. People are happy with huge bricks that last for 2 hours, only to play TV games on a small screen where text is barely readable. You get the most uneven experience ever, you get home console games that require a ton of buttons and good ergonomics (= proper controller) for long sessions of gaming. No dedicated handheld efforts at all. All of this leads to a pretty meh-ish experience. Enjoy your best year ever for handheld I guess...

You know full well that the medium-to-light games usually result in 3-4 hours of battery life just fine? What you're talking about is the the hype of heavy performing type of games that were never viable on handhelds before. Nowadays they are, although you will of course be restricted in battery life. And I can't recall handheld displays ever been as big and vivid as they are today.

 

[Xtib81]

It's great indeed and I've been tempted for the first time ever but I feel like the tech isn't quite there. You have to make significant compromises to play on a handheld, visually/framerate wise.

 

[Unknown?]

They need to make a gas powered handheld. Small generator to keep the batteries charged.

 

[Setsuna Mudou]

As much as I want to give the credit to Nintendo for kicking off the "console on-the-go" era, I have to admit Sony truly started it all with the Vita.

Perhaps Sony was too ahead of their time..

Still have a few vitas in my collection, probably my favorite piece of hardware ever made even with unbelievable flaws the Sony of today would never make (no R2/L2 & R3/L3, proprietary cards).

Hoping this trend is here to stay with the new AMD APUs things will look even better in the coming years

 

[Shakka43]

As much as I want to give the credit to Nintendo for kicking off the "console on-the-go" era, I have to admit Sony truly started it all with the Vita.

Perhaps Sony was too ahead of their time..

They started it with the PSP imo

 

[asciidog]

How times have changed. People are happy with huge bricks that last for 2 hours, only to play TV games on a small screen where text is barely readable. You get the most uneven experience ever, you get home console games that require a ton of buttons and good ergonomics (= proper controller) for long sessions of gaming. No dedicated handheld efforts at all. All of this leads to a pretty meh-ish experience. Enjoy your best year ever for handheld I guess...

First post ever – hi GAF!

i really like my oled steam deck. Bought it as a gift for myself. Unsure what you are playing on your handheld but most of the time the Deck lasts more then enough time for me (>4hours).

Currently I am enyoying lots of games that I have never played before (Hollow Knight, Turbo overkill, sea of Stars) and already played a bunch of games i have already played elsewhere (shredders revenge, streets of Rage 4, nobody saves the world) just to enjoy them on the, in my opinion, brilliant OLED screen.

to me, the device i am using is very fun – my wife plays stuff on the big screen on consoles, i am sitting nearby on the Couch enjoying my games on my handheld.

unsure what games you are playing on your deck/handheld, but so far i had no trouble reading the on screen text. Controls are fine too for me,not much of a difference to lets say a xbox Controller.

but this is just my opinion. what i am trying to say is: to me, a handheld is a Good and enjoyable experience. No problems with what i am playing so far at all. could be just lucky, yeah, but on the other hand i do not intend to Play anything else on it than indie stuff or smaller/older games (for that, i have other devices). Thats what they are primarily made for.

 

[Topher]

How times have changed. People are happy with huge bricks that last for 2 hours, only to play TV games on a small screen where text is barely readable. You get the most uneven experience ever, you get home console games that require a ton of buttons and good ergonomics (= proper controller) for long sessions of gaming. No dedicated handheld efforts at all. All of this leads to a pretty meh-ish experience. Enjoy your best year ever for handheld I guess...

Maybe for “you” but your experience isn’t similar to mine at all. You do realize there are plenty of PC games that work just as well on small screens as they do on large, right?

 

[Hohenheim]

Very happy with the Legion Go. Perfect size, and very comfortable.
Liked the Rog Ally too, but the Legion Go was a step up.

Really excited for the next wave of these machines, when batteries hopefully is improved,combined with even better mobile chips.

 

[Topher]

They need to make a gas powered handheld. Small generator to keep the batteries charged.

Just played Octopath Traveler 2 for 2 hours in the car on my Steam Deck OLED. Battery is at 70%.

What handheld are you using?

 

[Klosshufvud]

Just played Octopath Traveler 2 for 2 hours in the car on my Steam Deck OLED. Battery is at 70%.

What handheld are you using?

Man that game is so brilliant. I'm playing it aswell and unless it takes an abrupt nosedive in quality halfway through, this should be considered one of the greatest JRPGs ever.

 

[Topher]

Man that game is so brilliant. I'm playing it aswell and unless it takes an abrupt nosedive in quality halfway through, this should be considered one of the greatest JRPGs ever.

Yeah, fantastic game. I actually prefer it on handheld than on TV.

 

[coffinbirth]

As much as I want to give the credit to Nintendo for kicking off the "console on-the-go" era, I have to admit Sony truly started it all with the Vita.

Perhaps Sony was too ahead of their time..

They started it with the PSP imo

SEGA started it in 1995.

 

[cireza]

Maybe for “you” but your experience isn’t similar to mine at all. You do realize there are plenty of PC games that work just as well on small screens as they do on large, right?

First of all, let me clarify my intention = I did not want to poop on something people love and enjoy. I shared my thoughts, it was maybe a bit rough, sorry about it

It is not a curated list. It is not even. Some games are fine, others are not. The issue here is the lack of consistency. We had a first glimpse of this on Vita, with ports barely adapted to the small screen. Actually, it was the case of a TON of games. For example Darkest Dungeon. Text is unreadable on this console. VNs, for example the Utawarerumono games. Menus are super tiny. These are optimized for big screens and you sitting not too far away. Same issue on Switch with a ton of games as well. And of course, handheld PCs are the same.

Everything ends up being tiny. I don't think I am the only one, text issues seem like a pretty common topic on the internet, for example on the deck. Maybe you guys have bionic eyes lol. But if it is fine for you, then great.

 

[PanzerCute]

Man that game is so brilliant. I'm playing it aswell and unless it takes an abrupt nosedive in quality halfway through, this should be considered one of the greatest JRPGs ever.

There is no drop in quality, quite the opposite I would say.

Enjoy this masterpiece!

 

[Klosshufvud]

Yeah, fantastic game. I actually prefer it on handheld than on TV.

I do too. It's perfect for those short sessions of pick up and play due to its "octopath" structure. Absolutely beautiful too.

 

[cireza]

Yeah, fantastic game. I actually prefer it on handheld than on TV.

A few years back, this would have been straight at home DS or 3DS for example. It really inherited the genes of older Square RPGs.

 

[Topher]

First of all, let me clarify my intention = I did not want to poop on something people love and enjoy. I shared my thoughts, it was maybe a bit rough, sorry about it

It is not a curated list. It is not even. Some games are fine, others are not. The issue here is the lack of consistency. We had a first glimpse of this on Vita, with ports barely adapted to the small screen. Actually, it was the case of a TON of games. For example Darkest Dungeon. Text is unreadable on this console. VNs, for example the Utawarerumono games. Menus are super tiny. These are optimized for big screens and you sitting not too far away. Same issue on Switch with a ton of games as well. And of course, handheld PCs are the same.

Everything ends up being tiny. I don't think I am the only one, text issues seem like a pretty common topic on the internet, for example on the deck. Maybe you guys have bionic eyes lol. But if it is fine for you, then great.

Fair enough. I do think a lot of games are keeping handhelds in mind during development since they have become popular. Doesn’t help games like Darkest Dungeon but games like Midnight Suns, Octopath Traveler and others actually play really well in my experience.

 

[asciidog]

Yeah, fantastic game. I actually prefer it on handheld than on TV.

That i can relate to!

I‘ve enjoyed half life 1 (the old one, not black mesa) on my deck more then i did on my PC decades ago (Old man yelling at cloud, lol). Just wanted to replay it, and yes, xen still is shit. Hollow Knight, that i did not Play prior owning a steam deck, is a true delight. Tried it before on pc/xbox, but so somehow it did not „Click“ on me, but on the deck its been a blast so far.

To me it is all about the oled screen and the feeling a handheld creates (to be fair i am a sucker for metroidvanias, but skipped HK for an unknown reason, really really unknown reason…).

there are games that, to me, are made to be played handheld. Or at least create a comfy feeling when doing so. Unsure how to describe it. Sea of Stars with its beautiful Pixel Art is another example (as was shredders revenge to me, but i Liked turtles in time on the snes/md too, maybe it is just Nostalgia… dont care, it works for me, that is what makes them handhelds viable to me).

 

[cireza]

Fair enough. I do think a lot of games are keeping handhelds in mind during development since they have become popular. Doesn’t help games like Darkest Dungeon but games like Midnight Suns, Octopath Traveler and others actually play really well in my experience.

I definitely agree with this. I simply can't see myself picking a game like Cyberpunk and play on a small screen, when as far as I am concerned, I already have to lean forward a bit to try and read the text in the menus when playing on Xbox + big TV. It is so tiny and not the best color choices.

Something I would like to note that fits the topic as well, is that I enjoyed a lot Nintendo Switch Online this year, playing tabletop mode on my OLED Switch. The screen is big enough to enjoy 8 and 16 bits games, even made for CRTs back then, with integer scaling (slight loss of space, but much cleaner experience). The size and readability feel right. And for people with aging eyes like me, a Nintendo DSi XL is an absolute must have, highly recommended (softmodded). And you get much better battery life as well with these old hardware.

 

[Hugare]

I agree, but not due to Steam Deck or any other Windows handheld, but due to the Android handhelds market.

Anbernic, Retroid, Powkiddy and etc. are on fire. We had the announcement of Retroid Pocket 4 Pro this month that will have performance equivalent to the Ayaneo Pocket Air, capable of running up to PS2/GC/Wii on the go in your pocket. This will mark a new generation of Android devices that will boom in 2024.

Differently than the Windows handhelds, Android handhelds are smaller, have more battery life and their interface is actually good.

The Deck, Ally, Ayaneo and etc. are huge in size. So I dont see the appeal of it being a "handheld" when you cant put it in your pocket and take it outside. Not only that, but battery life is dreadful.

 

[EverydayBeast]

I welcome powerful handhelds

 

[coffinbirth]

I agree, but not due to Steam Deck or any other Windows handheld, but due to the Android handhelds market.

Anbernic, Retroid, Powkiddy and etc. are on fire. We had the announcement of Retroid Pocket 4 Pro this month that will have performance equivalent to the Ayaneo Pocket Air, capable of running up to PS2/GC/Wii on the go in your pocket. This will mark a new generation of Android devices that will boom in 2024.

Differently than the Windows handhelds, Android handhelds are smaller, have more battery life and their interface is actually good.

The Deck, Ally, Ayaneo and etc. are huge in size. So I dont see the appeal of it being a "handheld" when you cant put it in your pocket and take it outside. Not only that, but battery life is dreadful.

I mean...Ayn Odin 2 is already out, brother!

 

[asciidog]

I agree, but not due to Steam Deck or any other Windows handheld, but due to the Android handhelds market.

Anbernic, Retroid, Powkiddy and etc. are on fire. We had the announcement of Retroid Pocket 4 Pro this month that will have performance equivalent to the Ayaneo Pocket Air, capable of running up to PS2/GC/Wii on the go in your pocket. This will mark a new generation of Android devices that will boom in 2024.

Differently than the Windows handhelds, Android handhelds are smaller, have more battery life and their interface is actually good.

The Deck, Ally, Ayaneo and etc. are huge in size. So I dont see the appeal of it being a "handheld" when you cant put it in your pocket and take it outside. Not only that, but battery life is dreadful.

hm.

to me, „handheld“ is something different than “Portable“. the Deck is fine in size. My hands do not “cramp“ compared when using the Switch for a while. That is a plus at least for me and my big hands.

is it implied that a handheld needs to be Maximum portable? For me it is enough to have enough screen Space (your mileage may vary) while having a comfy hold on it to enjoy the things i am playing. So “huge“ seems to be relative here.

 

[Hugare]

I mean...Ayn Odin 2 is already out, brother!

Not truly "portable". You cant put it in your pocket.

For handhelds, I prefer something that can fit in my pocket. The Retroid Pocket is almost the size of a PSP, so its great.

Odin 2 is an amazing device, tho

 

[Hugare]

hm.

to me, „handheld“ is something different than “Portable“. the Deck is fine in size. My hands do not “cramp“ compared when using the Switch for a while. That is a plus at least for me and my big hands.

is it implied that a handheld needs to be Maximum portable? For me it is enough to have enough screen Space (your mileage may vary) while having a comfy hold on it to enjoy the things i am playing. So “huge“ seems to be relative here.

Sure, everyone has their own preference and definition. I grew up with Game Boy, GBA, DS, 3DS, PSP and etc., and all of them fit in my pocket. So having such a "huge" handheld like the Steam Deck feels just wrong.

Cant take it everywhere without having a bag with me. Also playing it on my way to work would be awkward af.

When I had the Switch I only played it at home due to its size, so I ended up not playing it very often and sold it.

 

[asciidog]

Sure, everyone has their own preference and definition. I grew up with Game Boy, GBA, DS, 3DS, PSP and etc., and all of them fit in my pocket. So having such a "huge" handheld like the Steam Deck feels just wrong.

Cant take it everywhere without having a bag with me. Also playing it on my way to work would be awkward af.

When I had the Switch I only played it at home due to its size, so I ended up not playing it very often and sold it.

If you are going the „it has to be portable“ route, you are absolutely right. SD, ally and Legion are by that definition not „portable“ at all. I have to admit that.

but to Me, it is all about „handheld“. My use case is to play “somewhere in the near of my wife while not distracting her“ (tm). Or at work on a Break, where i do not move anywhere around to me, there is No need for portability, thats why i mentioned the difference between these two Definitions.

additionally, and that is weird to me too: i only Play my Switch docked. it Is too small for my hands and it hurts After a while… the Deck size is Fine though.

 

[Gambit2483]

SEGA started it in 1995.

Damn, completely forget about the Nomad. Yea SEGA has almost always been way too ahead of their time (SEGA channel, online play, etc.)

 

[Topher]

Not truly "portable". You cant put it in your pocket.

For handhelds, I prefer something that can fit in my pocket. The Retroid Pocket is almost the size of a PSP, so its great.

Odin 2 is an amazing device, tho

Pocket size doesn’t define portable. Steam Deck is portable. Your preference is what it it is but a device that can be played on the go is portable. Any handheld qualifies

 

[Hugare]

Pocket size doesn’t define portable. Steam Deck is portable. Your preference is what it it is but a device that can be played on the go is portable. Any handheld qualifies

Fair enough

I dont see the point of having a device only to play 'cause someone else is using the tv, or playing on the bed, but obviously there's a huge market for it.

Luckily the handheld market is very diverse right now

 

[Celine]

SEGA started it in 1995.

PC Engine GT/TurboExpress could play a good conversion of Street Fighter 2 earlier than that (not enough buttons though ah ah).

In truth handheld consoles were always an off-spring of TV consoles, typically replicating earlier TV console experiences due to the contemporary power/thermal constraints.
So for example a lot of Game Boy games were based on game experiences created for the Famicom/NES, even with their own peculiarities like a croppred screen and the possibility to exchange data between two Game Boys through a cable.
Handhelds were always "[TV] console on the go".
The Switch revolutionized with the hybrid concept (giving the user the option to effortlessly choose if playing TV, tabletop or handheld mode) and by adopting the most widespread multiplatform engines out of the gate which meant it received a lot of multiplatform releases (when feasible).
Switch have over 10000 games available for it and a lot of them are releases shared with PlayStation and Xbox.
In the past handhelds received games that were custom made.

GB/C - PS1 (completely different games)

GBA - PS2 (completely different games)

3DS - PS4 - NSW (3DS: DQXI demake mandatory to not lose sales in Japan - PS4: DQXI main version - NSW: subsequent DQXI definitive version that later was ported "as is" to PS4)

 

[bender]

Pocket size doesn’t define portable. Steam Deck is portable. Your preference is what it it is but a device that can be played on the go is portable. Any handheld qualifies

We've had gaming laptops for ages and those are portable too. Therefor this topic is incorrect and should be locked.

Love,
bender

 

[cireza]

Damn, completely forget about the Nomad. Yea SEGA has almost always been way too ahead of their time (SEGA channel, online play, etc.)

Actually the Game Gear is a basically a Master System with stereo sound and more colors, so it was even before the Nomad.

In the past handhelds received games that were custom made.

And this is why games were much better and a perfect fit for the screen and resolution.