They don't need to be in the same gen, for one to be the better system overall, or the better gen if you want.

Yeah, I literally just realized that I misinterpreted the thread lol. I'm sorry. I'll amend.

For me, it was the GBA because it was more of what I prefer in a handheld. It had a light, more compact form factor, amazing battery life, its library had mostly 2D, stripped-down, simplistic titles that felt like SNES successors... and it had the best lineup of handheld Castlevania games, ever imo. Oh, and Golden Sun.

It just felt like the last true dedicated Nintendo handheld. What came after was great, too, but they were different. The DS and 3DS was more blue ocean, less red.

GBA SP had the best form factor ever, and IMO the best Nintendo handheld ever. But library wise the PSP blows both out of the water. There is just an insane amount of variety on it and most games still hold up shockingly well. But all 3 systems are great core systems and personally prefer all of them over the GB and DS.

3DS for me. It had a solid game library from Nintendo and some interesting 3rd party titles like RE revelations, fantasy life, Bravely default and Shinobi. It wins by default being backward compatible with the DS library. I know the 3D wasn't for everyone but I like it, I still use mine to this day and still collect for it.

PSP was best for me. I really enjoyed their line up, and then when adding PS1 games was definitely locked in.

....now if can include the PSP being modded then it's a no brainer as it'd include (NES, SNES, Sega, GB, GBA games etc...)

In terms of which won, GBA and 3DS both "won" their respective handheld generations while PSP did not.

That said, the PSP faced a monster in the DS while GBA had no real competition and the 3DS only had to vanquish the rather weak Vita.

I have a modded Vita that gives me access to the whole vita and psp library, that is insane.Vita is a great system.

The 3DS is my least favorite Nintendo handheld so it comfortably take last place for me. Mostly i thought the games on it was not good enough. The 3D effect is kind of cool, but was annoying before new 3ds came along with better functionality.

The PSP was such a sexy little system. Breaking into the handheld space that almost exclusively was Nintendos domain and making it in such fashion is a feat. That whole generation was sick come to think of it. Xbox and Nintendo having their best home console performances ever. Nintendo and Sony having their best handheld performance ever. PS3 might seen as a disappointment sales wise, but still all of them breaking 80 million in sales including the PSP at the same time.

But GBA take the spot. The first system I saved up for an bought with my own money. Got a version with a better screen since I like the form factor of the original more than the SP one. My hands feel to cramped up holding the sp. But the clamshell design is nice and the buttons also feel better on the SP. And of course the original screen of the first version was awful actually. But with a few mods it sees play on trips, the Switch is to large and heavy for me to use for long trips and the battery is always a let down. But the GBA can be played for 15 hours without straining my wrists, arms or eyes. The library of games is also fantastic. Recently finished Metroid Zero Mission.

Honestly, you have a very skewed memory of the GBA, Pokémon RSE, FRLG, Mistery Dungeon, Metroid Zero Mission, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, Fire Emblem, Advanced Wars, Golden Sun, Kingdom Hearts CoM, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, I could spend all day here. The GBA had the greatest library that a short lived system ever had, and it's not even close.

I have a 3DS that had access to the whole DS library out of the box. Actually, I voted for the GBA but I might have changed my mind just now... The DS+3DS library is unmatched by anything else in the pure handheld landscape.