Handheld consoles have been around since the late 1970s, beginning with “Merlin” created by Parker Brothers, and have continued to evolve over the years. Since Nintendo’s handheld debut with the Gameboy in 1989, they have dominated the market of pocket gaming.
From the many versions of the Gameboy to the newest Switch Lite, Nintendo has plowed ahead in the industry with little competition and what little there was came from Sony PlayStation as late as 2005, when Sony created the PlayStation Portable. Since the fall of the PSP, PlayStation struggled to stay in the game and eventually gave up.
The Gameboy’s basic design was practical and attractive, especially after Nintendo continued to update the system by making it more slim and adding colors. The drawbacks of a single-color interface were nothing compared to the advantage of a long battery life, especially on those long after school “Tetris” battles.
The Game Link port, which allowed for multiplayer gaming, broadened the gaming market to include women and make the Gameboy one of the first gender-friendly consoles.
Nearly all of my favorite games including the multiple versions of “The Legend of Zelda”, “Super Mario Bros”, “Pokemon” and several others were finally playable on the go in the compact console.
A console that may be somewhat more memorable to those born after 2000 would be the Nintendo DS, particularly the insanely popular DS Lite. This was the first handheld console I actually owned and holds a special place in my heart after the amount of weeds I picked to earn the money to buy a pawned one.
Nintendo nailed the basic, welcoming design again with the DS Lite, inviting even non-gamers to play without needing to go through too much hassle to learn. Being able to stab at a screen with a stylus was more than enough. When Nintendo launched “Brain Training”, the popularity of the DS Lite skyrocketed among people who weren’t necessarily considered gamers before.
When Sony released the PSP as their first hardcore attempt to enter the handheld industry the pocket console was thought to be a sure success for a few reasons. It massively outperformed Nintendo’s handheld in graphics, included a widescreen display and was a sort of precursor to smartphones because of the massive variety of media that could be stored on the device.
So, what went wrong? Why did the PSP disappear? Sony’s poor release time and marketing was a huge factor, along with the energy sucking disc drive and wide screen combo. The battery life was so short, people would have been better off leaving it plugged in to the charger. These, combined with the limited Universal Media Disk format, had the PSP drowning in the DS Lite’s dust.
In an attempt to make a comeback in the portable gaming industry, Sony released the PlayStation Vita. The console was a total flop, doing even worse than the PSP did. The PS Vita was overpriced compared to Nintendo’s 3DS and was a disappointment as far as being able to bring the power of a console to a small device in your pocket.
Now, Nintendo has dominated the world of handheld gaming with the Switch and Switch Lite. Nintendo went above and beyond with the Switch, making an affordable home console and portable device all in one. There is no competition, even three years later. The Switch Lite is another example of success when it comes to Nintendo drawing in a traditionally non-gamer crowd.
With the release of the Switch, Nintendo was basically competing with themselves for best game of the year in 2017. “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” and “Super Mario Odyssey,” two of the largest franchises ever, made sure the Switch had the games which made the console a must buy.
Nintendo just keeps on giving, creating popular pocket consoles time and time again. The Switch is, by far, one of the most creative and practical consoles in handheld gaming history. The experience is well worth the buy.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5.