Handheld gaming isn't underwhelming. There's a clear, unconscious bias in videogames reviewing whereby the top, original handheld titles aren't consider to be of an equivalent quality (scoring wise) to the best home console games. That's why home console ports are the highest rated software available for any handheld, because most games critics don't seem to think a top portable game is worthy of the same marks as a top home console game.

Maraccuda said: The top 2 spots make me question reviews again....

Can't speak for Mario Kart, but Chinatown Wars is awesome.

The overall list is... quite a bit shorter than I was expecting. Frustrating, but I think it says a lot about the expectations of most game reviewers. They generally want the bigger, supposedly bolder experiences you can get on a home console.
I played two of my all-time favorites on handheld though. :( I can understand Chrono Trigger DS not making the list no matter what since it's a port, but I'm pretty bummed The World End With You falls short. Loved that game.

Squeezol said: Super Circuit is overrated?

All Other MK>Super Circuit. So either thats too high or the other MK's need to be adjusted starting from a 94 then up :P

Never said: 1. GTA Chinatown Wars (93) [PSP/DS] (Sorry, but meh) 2. Mario Kart: Super Circuit (93) [GBA] (I loved it at the time, and put many hours into it, perfecting my best times. It's aged, but I don't object to its presence here.) 3. Advanced Wars (92) [GBA] (Awesome) 4. Fire Emblem Awakening (92) [3DS] (One of the best games in recent years) 5. Metroid Fusion (92) [GBA] (I liked this but I preferred Zero Hour) 6. God of War: Chains of Olympus (91) [PSP](I tried to get into this game twice but couldn't. I'm not sure why but it just wasn't interesting to me.) 7. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (91) [GBA] (One of my favourite castlevanias. A simple and solid metroidvainia) 8. Golden Sun (91) [GBA] (To slow for my tastes) 9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (91) [3DS] (I was utterly griped by his game) 10. Castlevania Circle of the Moon (91) [GBA] (Good but Aria of sorrow steals the show) 11. Mario Kart DS (91) [DS] (My favourite Mario kart, snaking and all) 12. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (90) [GBA] (One of my fav jrpg's) 13. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (90) [DS] (Finally a worthy sequel) 14. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (90) [DS] (Too many flaws to really enjoy. Spirit Tracks was far better) 15. Advance Wars: Dual Strike (90) [DS] (Advanced wars is just soooo fun!) 16. Super Mario 3D Land (90) [3DS] (Though I was disappointed at first, once I unlocked the secret worlds and the difficulty was at the right level I found this a huge amount of fun.) Not a bad list. I've played them all and loved most of them.

Awesome, i played 9 of those games with 2 sitting on my virtual console ready to play soon :)

Don't mean to nitpick, but I see you have Chinatown Wars as PSP/DS. The PSP version is a port of the DS game and has a 90 on Metacritic...

I've played GOW: COO, GTA; CW and TLOZ: PH, and only GOW: COO deserves such a high rating, though there are others not present in the list which deserved the spot, like GOW: GOS, GTA: VCS and MGS: PW.

KLXVER said: Don't mean to nitpick, but I see you have Chinatown Wars as PSP/DS. The PSP version is a port of the DS game and has a 90 on Metacritic...

I labelled it with psp for being multiplat. Higher reviews are wat matter so thats why 93, and Psp version had less reviews and like you said a port.

GTAexpert 3 minutes ago




I've played GOW: COO, GTA; CW and TLOZ: PH, and only GOW: COO deserves such a high rating, though there are others not present in the list which deserved the spot, like GOW: GOS, GTA: VCS and MGS: PW.




My favourite games of all time (in bracket the platforms I've played them on):

1. GTA V (PS3, soon getting it on PS4 too)

2. God Of War III (PS3)

3. God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta (PSP)

4. Assassin's Creed II (PC)

5. God Of War II (PS3, Vita)

6. BioShock (PC)

7. GTA: Vice City Stories (PSP)

8. GTA: San Andreas (PC)

9. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)

10. TLOU (PS3, PS4)

All your games are on a platform with a P at the start.... you poofter!

I see the ban coming my way now adios amigos

GTAexpert said: I've played GOW: COO, GTA; CW and TLOZ: PH, and only GOW: COO deserves such a high rating, though there are others not present in the list which deserved the spot, like GOW: GOS, GTA: VCS and MGS: PW.

GTA VCS is more of a ps2 game, and it scored high but GTA VCS for PS2 was the real score as the amount of reviewers are much different. Maybe MGS got close to a 88-89 I didn't see it