Handheld Appreciation

Fun Fact: handheld games will always be better because developers can focus on making the game fun instead of focusing on giving it good graphics

You can't have both great graphics and great gameplay because devs only have so much time and money. Kids only care about graphics on consoles, so the only place where devs can just make a good game is on handhelds.

I'm very worried that the Switch is going to kill this and the age of 10/10 handheld games is coming to an end and instead we'll just have 'portable console games'

Im sorry but that's what everyone doesn't get, the Switch should be judged as another portable console, not a "rival" to the Xbox and PS4 mainline.
>"But user, the 3DS"
Yes, the 3DS still exists, but that doesn't mean the Switch should be forced into the standards of the "Look at me im 4K and 60 fps", but rather fun games which you can play anywhere. Just like you judge the 3DS. That's it.
And after everyone keks on me, think to yourself "Why the Nintendo portable mainline is the best niche of portable gaming (aside from mobile gaming)?"
It's because Nintendo is the best doing that, and they know it, so why compete against PS$ and Xbox in their own shitty game only for the sake of thousands of nerd fighting over it while you can just make what you are best at and be more loved. they learned from the Wii U boys, so stop complaining if they don't want to repeat it.

the gba still existed after the ds was a thing... heck didn't shantae come out after the ds?

No, shantae was in 2002

>tfw could only afford pokemon for this growing up
Alright, what games did I miss that I need to buy? Got Fire Emblem on there to start.

>they learned from the Wii U boys
But the Wii U unironically was the best console of last/this gen. Sure you can meme on it for not having Skyrim, CoD, FIFA and whatever else the fags writing articles wanted, but Wii U had the largest number of exclusives, and most of them were really fun (which you can't say about most of the Xbone/PS4 exclusives).

The only problem with the Wii U was that Nintendo spread themselves too thin and focused more on 3DS while also not marketing the Wii U at all, I assume they thought that after the Wii the Wii U would just sell itself or something.

But no, I liked the Wii U a lot and I liked my 3DS a lot, they served two different purposes, and I don't know if the Switch will be able to serve the same purpose as my 3DS since it feels more like a portable Wii U with one screen.

Exactly. The GBC was still getting games after the GBA came out. Same goes for the transition from GBA to DS and DS to 3DS

>Alright, what games did I miss that I need to buy?
Just get this bad boy nigga, it hasn't been worth actually collecting old games for almost 10 years because the faggot kids watching youtube are janking up the prices because they don't know what anything is actually worth.

You'll end up paying more than they were worth at launch for any game that is even slightly good.

An EZ Flash IV will run you something like $60-70, but it can play almost everything with a few weird exceptions. But its so fucking comfy having an SP with 200 games in your pocket

>the only game he had for GBA was pokemon
Thats like having a Super Nintendo but only ever playing Super Mario World and nothing else..GBA has one of the greatest libraries of all time

But the Switch isn't really portable. You can fit a GBASP or DS in your pocket easily (even a 3DS). Remember that image of the guy that stuffed a Switch in his jeans? Thing looked like it was going to rip at the seams.

I know what you mean Castlevania is the greatest ever made.

Yeah a flashcart seems to be the way to go since it allows me to keep the sps comfyness.
>greatest libraries
I don't dispute that but can you like, suggest some games worth playing then?

Neither was the original Gameboy or 2DS

>GBA has one of the greatest libraries of all time
I disagree. Besides Pokémon, the GBA had Minish Cap (better than any of the DS Zelda games for sure), two WarioWare games, Golden Sun I guess, Wario Land 4, Metroid Fusion, and a bunch of hacked-together ports from the SNES in various states of disrepair.

Not playing anything outside of the major first party releases doesn't mean a console had a bad library

Honestly I appreciate handhelds just because I can play any way I want, be it in bed, on the shitter, etc. I just don't feel comfortable being "anchored" to a TV console. The 3DS is great just because it has not just a great library of games on its own, but also has virtual console for games like Wario Land 1/2/3, bunch of (S)NES games and now also Pokemon Silver.

Shovelware doesn't count. Can you name three decent third party titles that were actually popular and not just personal favorites?

This level of poorfag justification is intense.
>You can't have both great graphics and great gameplay
DOOM 2016

Not to mention just about near every handheld game I've ever played has felt lower quality and less fully featured in terms of gameplay.
Handhelds are gimped in control, performance, scope of gameplay, types of gameplay, etc.

They're nice but your elitism is misplaced and retarded.

I think they do lend themselves well to certain types of games. Dungeon Crawlers and a lot of rpgs are a lot more enjoyable with something handheld. I agree with everything else.

I'll just list a few of my favourites I guess

>Advance wars 1/2
>Demikids
SMT games with more of a pokemon vibe, Light and Dark each have different stories, but Dark is the harder one so I recommend that
>Boktai 1/2
Fucking great adventure/RPG/Dungeon Crawling games made by Hideo Kojima. Great music, art direction, controls, combat, everything. They both have amazing puzzles and boss fights, however the first game focuses more on stealth, while the sequel focuses on weapon crafting and exploring. Although these aren't nearly as fun without the solar sensors, still 10/10 games however
>Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
literally the best Kirby game ever imo, its kirby meets metroidvania with lots of secrets and shit to find
>Summon Night: Swordcraft Story
really fucking fun dungeon crawler RPG with action combat on a 2D plane. The real fun in this game is the weapon crafting though. The writing can be too weeb for my tastes at times, but the gameplay is fucking on point. The sequel is fun too I guess but I didn't like a lot of the changes they made, and the writing gets even weebier
>Drill Dozer
>F-Zero GP Legend/Maximum Velocity
both are great
>Megaman Battlenetwork 1-6
these games have highs and lows, but they're all really fucking cool RPGs
>Ninja Five-O
Ninja Gaiden meets Bionic Commando
>Car Battler Joe
>All three GBA Fire Emblem games
people meme on 6, but its still a lot of fun, Roy is just weak for a lord but whatever, who the fuck even uses the lords
>Hamtaro: Ham-Ham HeartBreak
Laugh all you want, but its made by Shigeru Miyamoto and the guys that worked on the Mario and Luigi RPGs. The GBC game is really good too
>Metroid Zero Mission
not a fan of Fusion myself since its very linear and focuses more on narrative than the other games, but other people seem to like it a lot
>Shining Soul II
really cool dungeon crawler RPG with lots of unique classes and shit, kinda reminds me of Diablo, but on the GBA
>Castlevania Aria of Sorrow

This is great, thanks a ton. I just want to ask about demikids which game is it closest to in terms of story/atmosphere/themes. There's a huge difference between devil survivor 1, digital devil saga and persona 5 for instance so I'd like to know what to expect so I don't set myself up for dissapointment.

>that were actually popular
I don't see how that fucking matters

Either way, its not hard to mention great third party games
Boktai 1 and 2, Gradius Galaxies, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, Klonoa 1 and 2, Megaman Battlenetwork, Scurge: Hive, Summon Night, Advance Guardian Heroes, Car Battler Joe, Tactics Ogre, Gunstar Super Heroes, Mega Man & Bass, Yggdra Union, River City Ransom EX, Metal Slug Advance, Puyo Pop Fever, Super Robot Taisen,

Just because you never explored the GBA's library doesn't mean it doesn't have one, you're just a weenie

>I just want to ask about demikids which game is it closest to in terms of story/atmosphere/themes.
Basically you play as one of two friends in a school, and weird rifts start to open up everywhere after they read from some summoning spell from a strange book they found in the library. Monsters show up everywhere and they get their own (which can evolve and change shape in branching paths based on how you play), and each kid gets sucked into the other world. Dark Version has you teaming up with lucifer and Light Version has you teaming up with god or something. I think they take you through a few different areas, but essentially Light is easy mode and Dark is hard mode. I can't really compare either of them to a previous SMT game, it really does just feel like SMT and Pokemon had a bastard love child

Sounds great but can it topple the GOAT jack bros?

Fuck, you made me realize how I much I miss the Gameboy SP and its library.

>castlevania aria of sorrow
>advance wars
>metroid fusion
>NES classics
>pokemon
>kirby & the amazing mirror
>golden sun
>final fantasys + tactics
>megaman battlenetwork
>zelda
>fire emblem
>super mario
>shining force 2
>shining soul 2
>summon night
>breath of fire 1&2
>yggdra union
>sword of mana

The list just goes on.

Why didn't you keep the console and those games?

gameboy advance SP design was a godsend.
they havent been able to get to that design point since then.

The switch is close

I lost everything[/spoiler]in an eviction because my parents are/were incompetent adults and only try to salvage things last second.[/spoiler]

>Mania style remixes of 3D Mario levels
I think I just came.

The SP really was the GOAT handheld.
>Compact
>Backlit
>Satisfying clicky d-pad
>Comfortable despite being completely square
I don't really like handhelds, but I have never stopped playing my GBA.

Going from the advanced to the SP really was like night and day, but the other way around

You mean because you could play the SP at night?

Exactly
No more of those late car rides home and having to depend on streetlights to try and play a game

>Going home after brother's soccer game
>Sitting in the backseat
>Sound of rain on the window and the wipers going back and forth
>Playing Wario Land 4
>Using the passing streetlights to light up the screen
Goddamn, that shit was so soothing, even if it was kind of annoying as well.

It also had the Megaman Battle Network series, Castlevania AoS, Boktai 1 and 2, Advanced Wars, Fire Emblem 6 7 and 8, the Dragonball Z Legacy of Goku games and Buu's Fury (which was basically Legacy of Goku 3), some Kirby's, and Mother 3.

>You can't have both great graphics and great gameplay

totally untrue see games like mgs 3 or FF9

Does it work with old Ds?

MGS3 is fucking ugly, smeared textures and jagged foliage at a pathetic resolution while consistently framedropping.

MGS2 looked better simply because the textures were crisp and clear and the framerate was so much more consistent.

yes

Minish Cap.

pure ludo

Boktai

>You can't have both great graphics and great gameplay
simply untrue

are third party gameboy SP replacement cases any good? I got one of a
flea market and it's pretty scratched, screen and buttons are fine though...

Glad to see someone agree. I only played through the mgs series for the first time recently and after unanimously hearing that 3 is the pinnacle of the trilogy I was very disappointed by it, the visuals, story and gameplay are all relatively weak coming off of 2.

I've got one and it works pretty well but it seems a little more fragile than the normal shells

>focus on making the game fun

I think what you meant to say way
>Outsource a quick cash-in game to a shitty third-world startup studio

Handhelds didn't typically have much of a budget, until just recently.

like cheap plastic?

Mandatory touch controls is the worst thing to happen to video games.

While I like the double screen thing, touch controls are really just pointless 99% of the time and no game ever does it properly

Loved that castlevania machine.

I like how (3)DS touch controls evolved
>DS comes out
>touch gimmick abused for dumb crap like analog controls for Mario 64 and seal drawing in Dawn of Sorrow
>years pass
>touch screen relegated to being mostly a map screen and sometimes inventory control

The megaman battle network series. I reccomend 3, 5, and 6. the version is yours to choose.

>Not 2
Leave

desu I like it more that way