handheld gems and faves

[partymembervii]

i would love to know peoples favorite handhelds and favored games on those systems

i grew up with a gba sp ags 101 and loved that thing to death. my favorite game ever on the system has gotta be mother 3, and im really excited to try out emerald rogue 2.0, and im about to play the whole ff advance line

the whole ds line also holds a special place in my heart, especially with the wireless communication functions, as i never got the opportunity to do anything with the gba link cable stuff. that was only made even better with the 3ds's inclusion of streetpass and eventually miiverse (you will be missed, miiverse).
as for original ds games i gotta go with chrono trigger. i like that i dont have to wear down my buttons when playing one bit
my favorite 3ds game was probably pokemon oras or fire emblem awakening. ive been collecting and playing a bit more of the not as common titles recently though like x zone n bravely default and really loving them

 

[RageBurner]

Welcome to the forums! I'm showing my age a bit here, but the Shinobi games on the Game Gear have always been some of my favorites, same for the Sonic games exclusive to it.

The GBA had an amazing run, obviously with the Fire Emblem games and as a Monster Hunter fan, the series had its golden years, arguably, on the PSP and 3DS, so both of these are very dear to me as well.

 

[partymembervii]

Welcome to the forums! I'm showing my age a bit here, but the Shinobi games on the Game Gear have always been some of my favorites, same for the Sonic games exclusive to it.

The GBA had an amazing run, obviously with the Fire Emblem games and as a Monster Hunter fan, the series had its golden years, arguably, on the PSP and 3DS, so both of these are very dear to me as well.

got a favorite fire emblem or monster hunter title?

 

[RageBurner]

Probably FE8 for being less demanding in general (but GBA FE is peak in my book no matter what) and as for Monster Hunter it would have to be XX/GU (Capcom never localized the 3DS version, which was called XX in Japan, but thankfully fans backported the Switch translation to it).

 

[Arklem]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Pocket Adventure for the Neo Geo Pocket is one hell of a gem, really fun game that i think most sonic fans haven't really played, really cute sprite work, reminds me of the game gear games but a little better looking

 

[DunkeyKong]

Handhelds are my favorites and there's quite a lot of games to choose from. One of my favorite games from one of the earliest handhelds though gotta be Donkey Kong 1994 for the Gameboy and then The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap for the GBA, both of them are really great

 

[partymembervii]

Handhelds are my favorites and there's quite a lot of games to choose from. One of my favorite games from one of the earliest handhelds gotta be Donkey Kong 1994 for the Gameboy and then The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap for the GBA, both of them are really great
View attachment 56982

minish cap might be the best looking game on the gba. handheld is definitely my preferred form factor

 

[DunkeyKong]

minish cap might be the best looking game on the gba. handheld is definitely my preferred form factor

Very true, the sprite work looks amazing. Especially when you shrink to Minish size

 

[ThePeon]

GBA:
Metriod fusion
Fire red
Minish cap
Shining soul
Robotech- the macross saga
Zoids saga

NDS:
Ragnarok DS
Infinite space
Luminous arc
Suikoden tierkreis
Phantasy star 0

PSP:
Brave story
Jeanne d'arc
Mana Khemia student alliance
Phantasy star portable
Monster hunter 3rd
Ragnarok tactics
White knight chronicles oirigin
Shining ark
Killzone liberation

 

[Matricks]

NDS LITE:

 

[Pinballbuzzbro]

Anything Shin'en has made. Those guys know how to push a system to it's limits while simultaneously delivering a quality gaming experience

 

[Ikagura]

Kirby's Dreamland 2.

 

[Mopeybloke]

I own both a DS and 3DS. I no longer play them, but my favourite game on the DS was Radiant Historia. It was one of those games that I finished and then immediately started a new file. It got an expanded port for 3DS, which added voice acting, changed portrait art style, and included way too many side quests IMO. On the whole, the DS original has mostly content worth seeing, the port not so much.

 

[Super Funky Piece]

i'd lost my GBA and most games i had for it years ago, but one i managed to track down again, possibly my exact cartridge, was Game & Watch Gallery 4. it's still technically a Mario game and a collection of minigames at that but it's got that odd transitional period in its presentation with the likes of DK Jr. showing up etc etc. also a very catchy chiptune soundtrack
one of the only GBA games i hadnt lost with the rest and still have some fondness for is the port of Donkey Kong Country 3. along with a new exclusive zone with some pretty good unique levels, it also has a new soundtrack by David Wise better suited to GBA's sound capabilities. I could go either way on some tracks compared to SNES, but its best offerings are some of my favourite in the trilogy.

 

[Bonkers225]

NGPC: SNK vs Capcom, and Metal Slug First

GB: Super Mario Land 2, Final Fantasy Legends III, and Pokemon Blue

GBA: Castlevania COTM, Zone of Enders, Tactics Ogre, Golden Sun, SFA3, SRT OG 2, and Guardian Heroes

PSP: Burnout Legends, Tactics Ogre, SD Gundam Over World, Corpse Party, Disgaea 1, and 2, and Sega Classics Collection

VITA: P4 Golden, Disgaea 3, SD Gundam G Generation Genesis, Ar Nosurge Plus, and Marvel vs Capcom 3

3DS: Rune Factory 4, SMT IV, and Apocalypse, Fire Emblem Awakening, Fates, and Echoes

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

When I actually used physical handhelds(most of the GB series and tertiary experience with sega handleds), i would tend to prefer simple pick up and play games, like puzzles or short levels platformers, classic tetris, the Mario Land games, Sonic come to mind.
Now that i mostly emulate handleds, the line between "simple game and "complex, longer game" has began to diffuse and I will happily enjoy the games that I mostly avoided in their heyday.

 

[stealthRUSH]

My first handheld growing up was Game Boy Pocket. My most played games were Mega Man Xtreme, Battle Arena Toshinden, Bomberman GB, and Power Quest. I did use my link-cable on a few games like Pokémon Blue back then as well. I skipped GBC, and GBA altogether only playing a few games from borrowing my friends system and through emulation in the early 2000s.

Nintendo DS (Polar White Lite) is my most played handheld. At the time I also owned Sony PSP but haven't play nearly as many games as I did on NDS. Besides the handful of games I've owned back in 2006 (some of my favorites- Bangai-O Spirits, Contra 4, Castlevania DS, Sonic Rush, Dig Dug DS) I took a hiatus until around 2017 when I bought an R4 and starting playing plenty more games including fan-translated hacks.

Today I'm interested in exploring a few other handhelds I missed out on like Game Gear, WonderSwan, NeoGeo Pocket, and Lynx. And I might give PSP another chance sometime in the near future.

 

[Bomberman]

Digimon Battlespirit 1,1.5, and 2

Syphon Filter Dark Mirror

Daxter