You can take your entertainment anywhere with the help of the best handheld gaming consoles. When you are at home, you can get the best of gaming from the Xbox Ones, PS4s, and the gaming PCs, but you can’t take them on a trip, and cannot play with them while on the go. This is the void that the handheld consoles fill.
Although they aren’t often regarded as a hand-held console, mobile phones are often filled with the latest technology which makes them powerhouses on a gaming stage. Whether it’s to visit casino sites and play the latest online slots and games or to finally complete the Final Fantasy collection you’ve not touched since the PlayStation 1 days, mobile phones make this list for obvious reasons.
Most hand-held consoles will come with enough power, and are so lightweight that you can easily slip them inside your pocket or backpack and jet out of your house. Now, in the past, there were only a few handheld gaming consoles, and so you were left to make a choice between the Sega Game Gear that consumes too much power and the Nintendo Game Boy. You are no longer restricted to a few choices, because there are a lot of modern handheld consoles now. In this article, we will expose you to a lot of mobile gaming gadgets that will offer you very elegant graphics and allow you to enjoy deep games at the same time. Owing to their strong batteries, you will have the chance to play for many hours nonstop.
1. Nintendo Switch
Where to buy games – Nintendo eShop
Battery life – 9 hours
Weight- 14.1 ounces
Size – 9.4 x 4.0 x 0.6 inches
- Pros
Hybrid design
Amazing selection of games
Inbuilt multiplayer feature
- Cons
The interface is tedious
Battery life is a bit short
This is regarded as the best to have come from Nintendo for many years, and with it, you will enjoy seamless gaming action both at home and on the go. You can play in two different ways – by plugging the device switch on a dock and enjoying your game on your TV with the standard controller, or you can remove the switch from the controller, plug the Joy-Con controllers on both sides of the system and travel anywhere you want with it. Either way, you will enjoy an identical gaming experience, plus the amazing thing is that you won’t have to stop your current gaming session.
In the game catalogue, you will enjoy a lot of titles from Nintendo, like Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey, Animal Crossing New Horizons and many others. However, you can only back up your saves with a paid subscription to the very complex Nintendo Switch Online service.
2. Nintendo Switch Lite
Where to buy games – Nintendo eShop
Battery life – 7 hours
Weight – 9.8 ounces
Seize – 8.2 x 3.6 x 0.6 inches
- Pros
Very elegant lightweight design
Amazing and full game catalogue
Easy to move
- Cons
Cannot connect to TV
Battery is small
The Switch Lite could be described as the smaller size of the Switch – actually a two third of it. In the same vein, it gives you a two third of the amazing services of the main Switch. But just like the Switch, the Lite will give you an amazing number of games from Nintendo, plus some games from other developers. The screen is big and very colorful, while the control scheme is very comfortable. You can easily slip it into your pocket or backpack, and will enjoy titles like the Animal Crossing, Mario, Bayonetta and others on it.
However, this has some cons and they include the smaller battery because of the small size of the device, and which reduces the overall playtime. You also can’t detach the Joy-Cons, so you can’t easily get on impulsive multiplayer sessions. It is also not easy to transfer data between the Switch Lite and Switch.
3. Apple Ipad Air
Where to buy games – Apple App Store
Battery life – 10 hours
Weight – 16.0 ounces
Size – 9.8 x 6.8 x 0.2 inches
- Pros
Apple arcade offers amazing value
The tablet is good for other purposes
Battery life is very good
- Cons
Tablet is very costly
It’s not easy to transport it
We can tell you that this stands among the best tablets you can have today. That alone will tell you that it would be among the best handheld gaming consoles. You will enjoy most of the best smartphone games on it, and new games are listed on it even before android systems get theirs. Games like Minecraft, Hearthstone and Fortnite, plus others like the Threes, Florence and Monument Valley are available on it.
The Apple Arcade is the major thing that differentiates this from the android tablets. When you subscribe with just $5, you will have access to more than 100 games. Some of these are exclusive to the Arcade, while some are available on PC or Switch. But you can’t get any of them on android.
4. Google Pixel 3A
Where to buy games – Google Play Store, Google Stadia
Battery life – 12 hours
Weight – 5.2 ounces
Size – 6.0 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches
- Pros
A generally amazing phone
An avalanche of amazing android games
Very long battery life
- Cons
Lack of exclusive games
Stadia setup is not perfect
Now, it’s strange to note that you may have the best handheld gaming device on your hand without knowing it. Any mid-range android phone that comes with the Google Pixel 3A will do. This amazing smartphone that does not put a hole in your pocket has the power to give you any game on android. The meaning is that you can enjoy the long duration games with a controller and the casual handheld games on it. Whether you cherish titles like the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or games like the Crossy Road, you will enjoy them on this phone.
This is among the select smartphones that work with the Google Stadia and that is to say that with the help of a controller; you have the chance to savor costly console titles like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2 on it. However, your Wi-Fi connection has to be strong for you to enjoy these, and the stadia may not bode well on smaller screens.
5. New Nintendo 2DS XL
Where to buy games – Nintendo eShop
Battery life – 7 hours
Weight – 9.2 ounces
Size – 6.3 x 3.4 x 0.9 inches
- Pros
Important second screen
Strong clamshell design
Amazing game collection
- Cons
New games are not available
Very scarce
We can use the word fantastic to describe the new Nintendo 2DS XL. It is equipped with two very beautiful screens, and you can easily throw the device into your pocket or bag. The game library is also so huge that all will be satisfied with titles like the Animal Crossing, Mario, The Legend of Zelda and some titles from other developers like Capcom, Atlus, and Square Enix. Seeing that Nintendo put almost everything in the same basket in this game, it may not last long. Currently, it is very difficult to find, so we may be right after all. New games are not developed for it , and it might be decommissioned before the year runs out.
