What is your favorite handheld system?

A look back on our favorite handhelds

Words: GamesRadar Staff on December 16, 2012

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silent_sam86 - March 2, 2013 1:53 p.m.

I own a Vita and its the best portible i've ever owned. My favorite is the PSP because i hacked it and had over 100 games.
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Facelord - January 28, 2013 8:27 p.m.

I grew up with Nintendo but I really despise them for their recent mediocrity, with terrible hardware and the worst franchise-milking in the industry(paired with no good new IPs since 2001). A few years ago I might've said the DS or the Gameboy Color, but now I'm tied between the PSP and the Vita all the way. I love the PSP's wonderful library of 3D action games like Kingdom Hearts, God of War and Persona, but the Vita's got the greatest potential of any console released to date. I've gamed on the Vita every day since its launch, never been happier with any other console. Still, the PSP is pretty awesome... so yeah, a rough tie between Sony's two handhelds. It's just too bad my rose-tinted goggles are off and I now see Nintendo for what they are, I almost think I would've preferred to be a mindless drone playing whatever they throw my way than just being constantly regretful I spent so much time with their systems. ;_;
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JDRoss716 - January 3, 2013 10:12 a.m.

The Atari Lynx was my favorite then, the original monochrome GameBoy.
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TheMariner - December 18, 2012 10:06 a.m.

GBA SP for me. If only because it had Golden Sun which remains my favorite portable game. Although the PSP comes in at a close second if only because of Crisis Core.
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7-D - December 17, 2012 10:37 p.m.

DS Lite is the one for me atm (and I have a 3DS also), though only got it recently(ish) so it feels like a overwhelming wonderland of titles to catch up on.. everyday feels like a release day for me.
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Fhiend - December 17, 2012 6:04 p.m.

GBA SP because yeah it is basically a portable snes. And, as we all know, snes is the greatest system ever. Right? Right.
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COMPTONRiLLO - December 17, 2012 5:39 p.m.

Game Boy color, Hands down. It revolutionized the industry
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oryanbelt - December 17, 2012 5:10 p.m.

My favorite handheld would have to be GBA. First gaming console I bought as a kid and had many of my all time favorite games. Also the first console that I put 100+ hours into a game on (Final Fantasy Tactics Advance).
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TanookiMan - December 17, 2012 4:24 p.m.

Hey Lucas, REPRESENT!!
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C.King - December 17, 2012 4:09 p.m.

game boy advance sp for me, it's the system that makes up most of my game library, and it was mind blowing for me that i could charge it and didn't have to use an accessory for lighting. for me it only had 1 flaw since it had the cartridge slot on the bottom i couldn't play kirby tilt n' tumble on it. other than that it was golden, i got 40+ games for it.
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CountRichtertoffen - December 17, 2012 2 p.m.

I went to buy a couple of Game Gear games the other day and the store clerk didn't know what they were. I think it was that moment that made me realize that I'm the only person my age (17) who likes or cares about the Game Gear
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C.King - December 17, 2012 4:14 p.m.

we're the same age and i only remember one of my childhood buddies having one, it was a smidge outdated for us even wasn't it? (looking over your post again) wait he didn't even know what it was?! i can understand if they don't have more than 5 in the store but never hearing of it?
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matthewframpton - December 17, 2012 8:04 p.m.

i still have my game gear. its fun to bust it out to play some sonic or bust a move on it every now and then.
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CountRichtertoffen - December 18, 2012 1:36 p.m.

I only knew one or two kids who owned it as well. I never actually owned one until around 2008 or 2009 or so, but I'm kinda fascinated by the games on it, so I buy them used sometimes. I think the clerk was new, so she probably wasn't familiar with what the store had in stock.
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exittheory - December 17, 2012 1:15 p.m.

Certainly the PSP-1001 with 5.00 M33-5. What other handheld can control your television?
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SuperNewman - December 17, 2012 10:57 a.m.

I've got an original SMB Game and Watch on display at my desk, I've owned it since it was new in '88. I don't know how, but this is the only pocket LCD game that I owned that survived my childhood relatively unscathed.
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Balaska - December 17, 2012 10:32 a.m.

WiiU is my favourite Handheld. It's awesome play full console games while my girlfriend watches don't tell the bride or some other televisual tradgedy.
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KnowYourPokemon - December 17, 2012 9:32 a.m.

Have to agree with Cooper on the DS Lite. Played all the great Advance games, had an amazing backlight, has a ton of amazing games itself. It's actually still the handheld that gets the most use from me due to its backwards compatibility, and it played DS games better than a 3DS does.
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KnowYourPokemon - December 17, 2012 9:33 a.m.

Oh god... all the mixes between past tense and present...
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C.King - December 17, 2012 4:19 p.m.

would've chose the ds light if it could play gameboy games but why did they modify the slot? the gba could used the same slot for both so why did they change it with the ds?
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