Nintendo Switch is officially the GOAT as confirmed by The Guardian

[GameDadGrant]

#1 handheld of all time! Topped the list of 19 other competitors. Check it out:

 

CLICK!

The greatest handheld games consoles – ranked! | Games | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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During lockdowns, handhelds have come into their own: here’s our Top 20, from Gizmondo to Nintendo

 

PSP and Vita also ranked high on the list. Have y’all played all or any of these systems before? Which is your favorite? Agree or disagree with the placement of Switch? 
 

I probably would have ranked Game Boy higher, but that’s likely my nostalgia talking, haha.

[Paperclyp]

The Gameboy Advance is for my money the best one I think. 
 

I really like my switch, but I’m actually bummed about the Nintendo support on the thing. Zelda and Mario were such a great start and it’s just been meh since. I very much enjoy having many great third party games and indies in handheld, but it feels lacking in the killer Nintendo titles. 

[stepee]

Gameboy Advance had a really short life before the ds too which is crazy considering it’s library.

 

But I agree with the ranking of switch as number one, it’s what I’ve wanted for a long time in a portable, and while the library suffers a bit if you had a wiiu in regards to first party (quantity wise), there’s still tons of great stuff, and if you didn’t have a wiiu it’s a tremendous library.

[Biggie]

1 hour ago, Paperclyp said: 
 

I really like my switch, but I’m actually bummed about the Nintendo support on the thing. 

[Ghost_MH]

The most obscure thing I owned that made the list was the Tapwave Zodiac. I wonder if I still have Tony Hawk for that thing somewhere in my basement. I mostly bought it for emulation which it handled pretty well for a portable back in the early '00s. I was a huge PalmOS nerd, so I bought the Zodiac 2 with its whole 10MB of RAM the second it came out 

[Paperclyp]

40 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Yeah I just don’t think they’ve been pumping out their A game for a lot of their stuff. Others seem to enjoy it and that’s fine.

[Chris-]

Just now, Paperclyp said:

Yeah I just don’t think they’ve been pumping out their A game for a lot of their stuff. Others seem to enjoy it and that’s fine.

I don’t know about this take, man. 
 

Breath of the Wild

Super Mario Odyssey

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Smash Bros Ultimate

Splatoon 2

Link’s Awakening

Mario Maker 2

Animal Crossing New Horizons

And that’s without counting stuff like the Xenoblade games and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, which I seem to remember being extremely well liked, but I didn’t pay enough attention for that impression to fully register. That’s a hell of a run for one console, I don’t think even Sony rivals it. 

[Chris-]

The lack of a Metroid does make it feel incomplete, though. 

[GameDadGrant]

5 minutes ago, Chris- said:

I don’t know about this take, man. 
 

Breath of the Wild

Super Mario Odyssey

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Smash Bros Ultimate

Splatoon 2

Link’s Awakening

Mario Maker 2

Animal Crossing New Horizons

And that’s without counting stuff like the Xenoblade games and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, which I seem to remember being extremely well liked, but I didn’t pay enough attention for that impression to fully register. That’s a hell of a run for one console, I don’t think even Sony rivals it. 

 

Fire Emblem: Three Houses can't forget that one. Plus y'know, Pokémon. 

[stepee]

1 hour ago, Chris- said:

I don’t know about this take, man. 
 

Breath of the Wild - Wiiu

Super Mario Odyssey - dog shit game lizard people play

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Wiiu

Smash Bros Ultimate - Wiiu with new dlc

Splatoon 2 - Wiiu with new dlc

Link’s Awakening - Gameboy

Mario Maker 2 - Wiiu with new dlc

Animal Crossing New Horizons - fad

And that’s without counting stuff like the Xenoblade - 1/2 is Wiiu games and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze - Wiiu, which I seem to remember being extremely well liked, but I didn’t pay enough attention for that impression to fully register. That’s a hell of a run for one console, I don’t think even Sony rivals it. 

 

[Biggie]

1 hour ago, GameDadGrant said:

 

Fire Emblem: Three Houses can't forget that one. Plus y'know, Pokémon. 

Been currently playing thru this.  Sooooooo gooooooood. 

[Chris-]

25 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

I make sensible choices and have good taste, so I never owned the Wii U. Based on sales, I’m far from alone lol

[Biggie]

1 minute ago, Chris- said:

I make sensible choices and have good taste, so I never owned the Wii U. Based on sales, I’m far from alone lol

I feel ya. I’m a Nintendo fan boy and the only console I’ve never owned was the Wii. 

[Paperclyp]

1 hour ago, Chris- said:

I don’t know about this take, man. 
 

Breath of the Wild

Super Mario Odyssey

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Smash Bros Ultimate

Splatoon 2

Link’s Awakening

Mario Maker 2

Animal Crossing New Horizons

And that’s without counting stuff like the Xenoblade games and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, which I seem to remember being extremely well liked, but I didn’t pay enough attention for that impression to fully register. That’s a hell of a run for one console, I don’t think even Sony rivals it. 

Yeah I mean I know the games, I think they’re good games...mostly. They haven’t held my attention long term though or in some cases I’ve been supremely disappointed with games that have historically been some of my favorite games ever (Paper Mario is like the epitome of this, I hate they way they’ve turned it away from a more classical RPG). I’ve played a lot of animal crossing but I feel like its design is stuck in 2005 overall. They tease me with potential and squander it, and it makes what isn’t a bad game into a really frustrating experience for me. Same with how they’ve neutered finding good content in Mario Maker 2. 
 

I kind of wish they’d stop trying to do multiplayer stuff to be honest. They so bad at the little stuff it really ruins a lot of the fun. Give me single player Zeldas, Mario’s, Metroids all day long. 
 

So yeah it was like bam they hit me with the good shit right away and everything since has just disappointed me in some significant way, with the exception of Smash which depresses me in a different way in that I no longer have a bunch of friends close by who come and play it with me every few days. 

[stepee]

14 minutes ago, Chris- said:

I make sensible choices and have good taste, so I never owned the Wii U. Based on sales, I’m far from alone lol

 

I was obv joking ok, I do not think Mario is a dog shit game lizard people play.

 

For reals tho Wiiu is the first console that I regret owning retrospectively. The really good games Nintendo released were fun enough that I didn’t regret the purchase exactly at the time, because I’d rather play them than not. But if I had known everything would get ported to a system I didn’t fucking hate a few years later I would have been happy to wait and then the switch would be my favorite system ever +.

[Xbob42]

Why would it be on a list of handhelds? I can fit handhelds in my pocket. It's a tablet.

[Keyser_Soze]

I liked 3DS and GBA more. Sure Switch has games but they are console games and indie games rather than unique experiences tailored to the platform. I have a lot more 3DS and GBA games than I do Switch games.

[Biggie]

11 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Why would it be on a list of handhelds? I can fit handhelds in my pocket. It's a tablet.

Cause you hold it in your hands while you play? If it were called a pocket-held you might have an argument. 

[Xbob42]

Just now, Biggie said:

Cause you hold it in your hands while you play? If it were called a pocket-held you might have an argument. 

I hold my PS5 in my hand while I play. Whole damn console.

[Brian]

Joycons prevent it from ever being the 🐐 

 

[crispy4000]

5 hours ago, Chris- said:

I don’t know about this take, man. 
 

Breath of the Wild

Super Mario Odyssey

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Smash Bros Ultimate

Splatoon 2

Link’s Awakening

Mario Maker 2

Animal Crossing New Horizons

And that’s without counting stuff like the Xenoblade games and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, which I seem to remember being extremely well liked, but I didn’t pay enough attention for that impression to fully register. That’s a hell of a run for one console, I don’t think even Sony rivals it. 

The most exciting of those games were stacked in the first 12 months, and Smash’s input lag was a killjoy for me.

 

There has been some decent stuff since.  But too many remakes or Wii U remasters for my liking.

 

Other than the first year, their output has felt almost like a continuation of the Wii U.  Not bad, but not quite what I’d expect from their divisions folded together.

[Fizzzzle]

I was all about my Switch for like the first 6 months I owned it, but I think the only game I've played in the last 2 years on it is Jackbox Party Pack.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I love the Switch but I think my personal favorite handheld would be DS or 3DS, based on the games alone. 
 

But I really can’t disagree too hard with Switch being the pick for this list. 

[BloodyHell]

Yeah, its hard to look at the DS library and call the Switch better, blut I definitely can't hate their choice.

 

I'm still sour Sony didn't support the Vita, because design wise, that was the best handheld ever made, but no games puts it very low on the list. Also, I might personally put the PSP equal with the switch, but below the DS. I played a ton of PSP, especially when I was in the military. So many great games. 

 

I need to play Peace Walker again. Crisis Core too.

[crispy4000]

7 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

Yeah, its hard to look at the DS library and call the Switch better, blut I definitely can't hate their choice.

 

I think Nintendo's own DS output was kind of iffy for them, to be honest.  The Advanced Wars DS games kicked ass, Canvas Curse was a brilliant game for the time, and I loved MK DS for the snake-offs, lol.  But the rest?  It's pretty forgettable IMO.  

 

3rd party support was good though, which made up for it.