Best Handheld Game System

[HylianSwordsman]

3DS. It is a crime that this system isn't the best selling handheld system ever. I feel like if it had been released instead of the original DS, it would have at least beaten the Gameboy in sales. The price is good, the games are the best any handheld system has ever had even with subpar 3rd party support, and the features are amazing. My only complaint is how tragically underutilized some of its features are, like the augmented reality stuff for example.

Second place goes to GBA, specifically the SP model. That backlit screen changed everything for me. But it was the first time I felt like portable games gave me a really deep engaging experience. Original Gameboy/GBC had its moments but was mostly only successful for offering decent gameplay for an exceptional price. GBA maintained a fantastic price while offering deep gameplay experiences.

Third place is tough. I want to give it to DS, because I do think the system was innovative, and certainly we see its influence everywhere. It had good game variety, but in my opinion most of its games were less polished than I'm accustomed to. It was a time where developers, including Nintendo, were figuring out how to make good games for a touchscreen input, so its forgivable, but those Zelda games, damn, those Zelda games. They were the worst in the series. I'd rather play Four Swords Adventures than Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Metroid Prime Hunters was okay, but lackluster in comparison to any other game in the series. Mario and Luigi Partners in Time was the most mediocre in the series, Star Fox Command was just bad as much as it pains me to say it, and Pokemon, well, Pokemon left me uninterested in the series for two generations straight. PSP was much less innovative, but it had absolutely superb support with its games, so I say it actually ties with DS.

4th I say is a tie between Gameboy and Vita, because Vita has a lot of innovative moments but Gameboy gets respect for its variety, unmatched price value, and impressive legacy. Vita has the potential to rise above it if it starts getting more than just anime games, indie games, and niche Japanese genres.

After that, Game Gear had some good games, but its design was unforgivable. 5th place. Not much else is worth mentioning. The tablet and phone games are an abomination to the industry, not because good games can't be made for them, but for the damaged they've cause with their bottomless mire of horrifically bad games. Last time we had such a slew of bad games it largely contributed to the crash of the industry. As for Open Pandora, I've never heard of it, but it sounds like it's in a league of its own as the ultimate emulator, so it definitely deserves respect. Props to OP for introducing me to it. I can definitely relate to the OP, as I also have been doing portable gaming by orders of magnitude greater than my console gaming.