Best Nintendo handheld

[Jumpin]

curl-6 said:

d21lewis said:

It still had a "wow factor", though. Even though I had a Vita, the 3DS held its own. I guess, even though it was around GameCube level in power, it felt fairly modern. 

-The original Gameboy offered crappy 2D at a time when we were used to great 2D games at home.

-The GBA offered great 2D at as time when we were playing good 3D games at home.

-The DS offered crappy/good pixelated 2D/3D at a time when we had great 3D at home.

-The 3DS offered great 3D experiences at a time when we had great 3D experiences at home.

I enjoyed all of them but 3DS just made me feel like we'd finally arrived.

Well, for most of 3DS's life we were playing 8th gen games at home while 3DS essentially offered 6th gen graphics on the go.

Also, I don't find his assessment to be accurate as to where the handhelds fit in their respective generations: Gameboy, GBA, and DS all offered the best handheld experiences of their generation, the 3DS was the only major Nintendo handheld that didn't, since it fell behind iOS in terms of offering compelling software; and the sharp decline in handheld sales reflect this.

The Switch, while not a pure handheld (it's a handheld/home console hybrid) took Nintendo hardware back to the top of handheld gaming, compelling software availability has resulted in a sharp increase over 3DS for Switch hardware.

The Switch isn't perfect, it misses out on top quality casual experiences - including Nintendo's own titles in the genre, like Fire Emblem Heroes - but that is mainly because of the lack of a proper pipeline of approval and implementation for these games, it's something that can come in the future with new updates, though they should wait for new hardware (a glass capacitive touchscreen with a higher tap density would help). Of course, Switch MUCH more than makes up for this omission with games like Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8, and Animal Crossing... which, in a way, is Nintendo exploring the casual games genre with one of the highest quality casual games (if not the highest quality casual game) ever created.