Love or no Love for handheld systems.

[+GoldenWheels]

I have no particular love for handhelds themselves (I don't game on the go) but I do have great love for particular handheld games. I bought a Gameboy Advance, and then a DS, solely to continue the Castlevania series and it was worth every penny.

 

I had some other good games but 99% I could have played on my TV through a console at the time (FF, River City Ransom). I purchased the systems for Castlevania.

[Pixelboy]

Generally, when it comes to handhelds, I hate the hardware, but I love the software.

 

I'd rather play old Game Boy games on the Super-NES (with a Super Game Boy) or GBA games on the Game Cube (with the Game Boy Player) rather than play those games on their intended handheld platforms. I could tolerate the Game Boy's non-backlit monochrome screen when I was a kid because I didn't know any better at the time, but once I played GB games on a TV screen with the SGB, playing on tiny screens became a chore and I could never go back. Of course, I bought the GBA long before the GBP came out, but I didn't like the playing experience very much. The GBP itself was a big relief for me, and the #1 reason to buy a Game Cube. When I saw the touchscreen on the DS, I knew Nintendo would never release anything that would allow DS games to be played on a TV screen, and I dropped out of handheld gaming completely as a result.

 

On the other hand, I've played a lot of great handheld games: Metroid II, the Mega Man GB series (the second game sucked though), Super Mario Land 1, 2 and 3, the Final Fantasy Legend series, Gargoyle's Quest, Bionic Commando, Batman, Zelda Link's Awakening, Boxxle, the Castlevania games, Operation C, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Land, DuckTales, the Kirby titles, Ninja Gaiden Shadow, Revenge of the Gator, and of course I have to mention the pack-in game Tetris. I could also mention Pokemon, but I've never been a fan of that series. All wonderful games, and that's just on the original Game Boy! I could create similar favorite lists for the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance!

 

The games make me appreciate the platform, but I can still dislike the platform itself.

[+GoldenWheels]

Generally, when it comes to handhelds, I hate the hardware, but I love the software.

 

I'd rather play old Game Boy games on the Super-NES (with a Super Game Boy) or GBA games on the Game Cube (with the Game Boy Player) rather than play those games on their intended handheld platforms. I could tolerate the Game Boy's non-backlit monochrome screen when I was a kid because I didn't know any better at the time, but once I played GB games on a TV screen with the SGB, playing on tiny screens became a chore and I could never go back. Of course, I bought the GBA long before the GBP came out, but I didn't like the playing experience very much. The GBP itself was a big relief for me, and the #1 reason to buy a Game Cube. When I saw the touchscreen on the DS, I knew Nintendo would never release anything that would allow DS games to be played on a TV screen, and I dropped out of handheld gaming completely as a result.

 

 

 

I had high hopes for this thing but seeing the games blown up just killed it for me. They looked fairly terrible on my TV and I went back to the system itself in a hurry.

 

Still wish I hadn't lost the GBP disc though, as now the hardware is pointless. I'm clearly not the only one who lost it seeing what it goes for on ebay.

[sqoon]

I generally dislike handhelds, though I do have a few Gameboy and Gameboy Color's, along with some games in my collection. I prefer to play them on Super Gameboy or Gameboy Player though. Handheld screens are just too small for my eyes and the original GB was not even backlit. What were they thinking?

[+save2600]

I generally dislike handhelds, though I do have a few Gameboy and Gameboy Color's, along with some games in my collection. I prefer to play them on Super Gameboy or Gameboy Player though. Handheld screens are just too small for my eyes and the original GB was not even backlit. What were they thinking?

 

They weren't. And years later when Neo Geo Pocket came out, they still hadn't figured it out.

 

Original LameBoy wasn't even in color!! Dumb, dumb, dumb shit right there. They say you can't argue with success. Maybe from a monetary standpoint, but ummm, just because something might be popular, doesn't make it right.

[CatPix]

Do you realize what was the technology back in 1989?

Game Boy : 15 hours on 4 batteries.

Game Gear : 5 hours on 6 batteries.

Atari Lynx : 7 hours on 6 batteries.

 

Backlight improved very very slowly, and even today on modern hardware, Android clearly shows that the display is the prime power eater, and backlight is the main part of it.

 

Backlight was expensive, power-eating and making the unit bulkier (we're talking about a backlight being almost 1cm thick). And NO, making a "LCD shovel" like on the Game Boy Advance SP was not possible, because white LEDS were not created at the time.

 

Color LCD screens at the time were too bad for being not backlighted like it would get on the first Game Boy Advance, so if you removed the backlight, you removed the color.

Heck, even the first Game Boy monochrome screens had ghosting, and on cheaper Taiwanese handheld, it was worse (slightly worse on the SuperVision, and even worse on the Gamate for most models.) Only the Mega Duck/Cougar Boy got a ghosting-free screen, but it was in 1993 and at the time, the Game Boy had ghosting-free screens too.

 

Also, 4 levels of gray mean less data. Less data mean smaller games data wise, so cheaper carts.

 

They were thinking, oh yeah, and they were thinking wisely.

 

Look at the Game Gear and Lynx : who remember about them, who can name 5 game on them?

 

They were more impressive on every domain, except two : the size and the price.

They were bulky, and they were expensive as hell; first to buy one, and second to feed them.

5 hours play? at school it means that batteries are drained in the week. If you play out school also, it mean 6 batteries per DAY. My goodness, even today, those shit are expensive.

 

Nintendo did the right thing at the time.

Edited August 7, 2013 by CatPix

[MH_Warrior]

I do have love for the few handheld systems I do have, and oddly the was a time where I was almost exclusively buying Game Boy / GBA games, but I haven't picked up anything new in a long time. I also haven't bought too much into the DS, although I probably would if I had a 3DS (lots of great looking games on that system). The problem is that out in the wild, I always tend to be looking for stuff for my home consoles, and when I do browse the Game Boy stuff, at least to me, it always seems overpriced. I know it doesn't make sense, but when I'm looking at both NES and GB games and they're priced around the same, I instinctively shy away from the GB games and I think it's because of their physical size. Stupid, I know. I'm also wary of investing in either a Game Gear or a Lynx because it's so much harder to find a good one than it is a GB.

[karokoenig]

...when I'm looking at both NES and GB games and they're priced around the same...

 

I made the experience that in summertime, it's much easier to get really good deals on Gameboy carts. The reseller-private seller ratio is much better when the weather is good. There's a shitload of GB carts around in people's drawers, and they just want to get rid of them. In winter, those people aren't bothering to go to flea markets and sell their crap.

[sqoon]

Look at the Game Gear and Lynx : who remember about them, who can name 5 game on them?

 

Mainly due to the Nintendo propaganda machine at the time.

 

.. second to feed them.

5 hours play? at school it means that batteries are drained in the week. If you play out school also, it mean 6 batteries per DAY. My goodness, even today, those shit are expensive.

 

Nintendo did the right thing at the time.

 

Umm, all the handhelds at that time had A/C adapters available for purchase. So, some kid who played on lunch breaks may burn through a package of batteries in a week's time, but for those multi-hour gaming sessions, anyone with smarts would have used a power brick, backlit screen or not.

[famicommander]

Mainly due to the Nintendo propaganda machine at the time.

 

 

 

Umm, all the handhelds at that time had A/C adapters available for purchase. So, some kid who played on lunch breaks may burn through a package of batteries in a week's time, but for those multi-hour gaming sessions, anyone with smarts would have used a power brick, backlit screen or not.

AC adapters (sold separately) are not a compelling argument for a handheld system. I myself prefer to play my handhelds at home, but that ignores the basic reason for the system's existence and therefore most people's interest in it: portability. If you're always going to be tethered to the wall anyway, there are much better options for a kid in 1989 to look for in the home consoles of the day.

 

The Game Gear and Lynx were too large to fit in your pocket, and they ate batteries at an alarming rate. That makes it hard to take along with you consistently, andthat disqualifies it from consideration for the vast majority of people in the market for a portable.

 

I love my Lynx and I love my Game Gear, but it should not be difficult to understand why people of that era preferred the Game Boy, and it should be even less difficult to understand why third parties supported the Game Boy over the others.

[famicommander]

They weren't. And years later when Neo Geo Pocket came out, they still hadn't figured it out.

 

Original LameBoy wasn't even in color!! Dumb, dumb, dumb shit right there. They say you can't argue with success. Maybe from a monetary standpoint, but ummm, just because something might be popular, doesn't make it right.

The lack of the backlight and color screen are what made the Game Boy viable. It kept the cost down of the unit, it kept the cost of game development down, and it kept battery life up.

 

The point is to make money. Color screens and backlights are awesome things, but if they doom the system to a quick death it's obviously a pointless addition. The technology was not there yet, and it wouldn't be until over a decade later when the Game Boy Advance SP was released. Every handheld with a backlight to release before that point (Lynx, Turboexpress, Nomad, Game Gear, Game Boy Light) was a financial failure.

[akator]

Every handheld with a backlight to release before that point (Lynx, Turboexpress, Nomad, Game Gear, Game Boy Light) was a financial failure.

 

Are there any vetted and reliable sources that show Sega lost money on the Game Gear? There's no question that the Game Boy sold many more, but that doesn't mean Game Gear was a financial failure for Sega. It was definitely not the #1 handheld, but profitability is not a zero sum situation (meaning you don't have be the #1 in sales to make a profit).

 

The Game Gear was the only non-Nintendo handheld to sell over 10 million until the PSP. The Game Gear was also produced for years and has a selection of hundreds of games. It often sold better in non-US markets, also illustrated by the larger number of non-US games. Doesn't it seem unlikely that Sega and game publishers would continue producing hardware and games for several years if there was no profit?

[famicommander]

The Game Gear benefited largely from being easy to port games from the Master System, which was quite popular in PAL regions in the late 80s and many places in Latin America until the mid to late 90s.

 

And there is also the example of the PS3: Sony will absolutely never recoup the money they've lost on it overall but they can still profit from it on a year to year basis in terms of cost of production/development versus revenue generated. In other words a system can be revenue positive in a given time frame and still be a money loser overall. It would have cost Sony more to abandon the PS3 than sticking it out and recouping some of their investment while operating at a profit on a yearly basis.

 

At only 10 million units sold overall it places it in the same realm as the Saturn, Turbografx-16/PC Engine, and Dreamcast. The PC Engine and Saturn could have been considered successes in Japan, but both failed in the West and the Dreamcast failed everywhere.

 

I do not have any sources that describe the Game Gear's overall performance and my statement that it lost money was an assumption. Given the above I consider it a likely and reasonable one, but an assumption it remains. I am open to being proven wrong.

 

But even if the Game Gear DID manage to scrape out a profit overall, it definitely failed to meet SEGA's expectations. If you had told them going in that the Game Boy would beat them roughly 10:1 (higher if you include Color sales, lower if you don't) they probably wouldn't have made the initial investment.

[akator]

I don't recall any specific financial figures from specific sources on the Game Gear, either... however, I do remember reading that because the Game Gear hardware was so closely related to the SMS, development and production costs were low.

 

I also remember reading that the Game Gear was profitable when Sega turned over licensing to Majesco in the late 90s with figures in the low millons, but that wasn't profitable enough and Sega needed to streamline products. Majesco was happy to continue with a product resulting in the same financial figures that Sega wasn't, so they continued to produce and sell the Game Gear for years more.

 

These things lead me to believe that the Game Gear was not a financial loss for either Sega or Majesco. But again, it would be nice to have decent references and specific financial figures

[Osgeld]

AC adapters (sold separately) are not a compelling argument for a handheld system. I myself prefer to play my handhelds at home, but that ignores the basic reason for the system's existence and therefore most people's interest in it: portability. If you're always going to be tethered to the wall anyway, there are much better options for a kid in 1989 to look for in the home consoles of the day.

 

I had a buddy back when we were kids that would salivate over my Genesis, so I would bring it with me many times for sleepovers, He had a game gear ... which had to be teathered to the wall when we would go on our all night marathons ... and a old tv in his room, never understood why he choose the GG cause I never saw him outside the house with it

[Emehr]

I had a buddy back when we were kids that would salivate over my Genesis, so I would bring it with me many times for sleepovers, He had a game gear ... which had to be teathered to the wall when we would go on our all night marathons ... and a old tv in his room, never understood why he choose the GG cause I never saw him outside the house with it

 

Maybe he liked the games.

[fiddlepaddle]

Just to chime in again: I think the Gamegear is an EXCELLENT handheld. The screen may be a bit blurry compared to more modern lighted screens, and it tends to need new caps after a few years, and batteries don't last as long as I'd like (which accurately described would be forever), but it's LOTS of fun (playing both the GG and Master System library), and it's got a great form factor. Better or not better than the Game Boy is not relevant, as we can all own both.

[akator]

Just to chime in again: I think the Gamegear is an EXCELLENT handheld. The screen may be a bit blurry compared to more modern lighted screens, and it tends to need new caps after a few years, and batteries don't last as long as I'd like (which accurately described would be forever), but it's LOTS of fun (playing both the GG and Master System library), and it's got a great form factor. Better or not better than the Game Boy is not relevant, as we can all own both.

 

Even better, a Game Gear with an LED backlight mod (replacing the original fluorescent) will run between 10-20 hours on batteries. I keep one in the nightstand with an Everdrive GG. It has the entire Game Gear and SMS library accessible from a menu. Of course a few of the SMS games don't work and there's no point trying to play a SMS light phaser game, but 98% do and that's good enough for me

[Austin]

I like handhelds a lot. Now while I don't give much time these days to systems like the Lynx, original Game Boy, Game Gear, or even the Neo-Geo Pocket Color (I need to pick up another, now that I think of it), I have a lot of nostalgia for the old ones, and I do actually play a decent bit of the newer ones, such as the DS, 3DS (XL), PSP. I even bring out the 'ole N-Gage QD once in a while when I want to mix things up a bit.

 

Handheld gaming is typically great for quick, pick up and play type of games, and that works well for me in particular situations. Be it on the can, to waiting for water to boil, to laying down on the heating pad when my back is giving me trouble, handhelds are definitely, well.. handy!

 

As far as the old ones, I have spent a ton of time with them over the years, particularly in the '90s. With the Game Boy, despite its crummy screen, it had a lot of great games that are still fun to go back to via the Game Boy Player on the Game Cube, or the Super Game Boy on the SNES. Games like the Mega Mans, Super Mario Lands, Link's Awakening, the Castlevanias, Kirby, and a bunch of others lend it to hold up really well. Now that I think of it, it was basically a black & white (or yellow & green) NES in the palm of your hands, the games were typically pretty close to that level of quality in terms of how they looked and played.

 

With the Game Gear, I need to procure another working one (which is aside the point), but it was my personal first handheld system. It was relatively useless when it came to using batteries, but I mostly used it around the house with the wall adapter. I have a lot of nostalgia for this thing as well, because the video quality with its color screen was a good step above the Game Boy, and it was the first system I got to have my own version of Mortal Kombat on (and man was it a good version, all things considered!). Other games like the first two Sonic the Hedgehog titles are incredible and still hold up great today, and I had a lot of fun with games like Columns, Predator 2 (my first game for it), Revenge of Drancon (Wonder Boy), and the Streets of Rage games back in the day.

 

As far as the Lynx, I didn't get one until the late '90s, but I had a blast with it when I did. I was truly floored when I first saw the scaling in games like Shadow of the Beast, Electrocop, and Blue Lightning. Truly impressive stuff and it's a damn shame it didn't do better than it did in the marketplace (fortunately it at least did better than some of Atari's other platforms, like the Jag, and we got a pretty solid arcade-oriented library).

 

I could go on about other ones like the Wonder Swan and the Neo-Geo Pocket series, but yeah, handhelds basically get a big "thumbs up" from me!

[roland p]

Since it was so cheap, and looked so cool, I've ordered a gameboy color clone (not delivered yet):

 

 

It plays original gameboy and gameboy color games. No emulation.

Edited August 8, 2013 by roland p

[Seob]

Since it was so cheap, and looked so cool, I've ordered a gameboy color clone (not delivered yet):

 

 

It plays original gameboy and gameboy color games. No emulation.

Does it have a backlit screen?

Please let us now how it works and how the screen qaulity is.

[roland p]

From what I've seen/read it is definitly backlit. I'll keep you informed.

[Classic Pac]

I love handhelds and recently been playing them more than my consoles.

[Ransom]

The only handheld I still play with any regularity is the Mattel Electronics Dungeons & Dragons Computer Fantasy Game handheld I've had for thirty years. I really haven't had much interest in handheld games overall. The only cartridge-based one I ever bought was the Lynx, and that wasn't until it was on sale dirt cheap at the local Venture. I played it for a while and then lost interest. I still have one along with a bunch of games, but last time I tried to play it I found it too uncomfortable to do so. Some day I'll probably just get rid of it.

 

But I'm keeping my D&D handheld.

[xDragonWarrior]

Love love and more love.I don't understand all the hate toward handheld consoles,The whole reason Handheld consoles were made was to let people get their gaming on while on the road.If I'm on the bus and wanna play Super Mario, I can pull out me DS or 3DS and play away.Also consoles like the PSvita have console quality graphics so the same experience I have on my PS3, I can on my PSvita(minus the big screen TV).The screen sizes are fine by me because if they were bigger then it would not be as portable.I have a huge screen tablet and it's good but when it comes to portability I wish I had a smaller more pocket sized one.Also if I wanna play a Nes game on the go lets say River City Ransom I can play it on my DS via R4 card, sure it's not the ideal way i'd like to play it but when I'm out and about and there's no Nes around then that will have to do.So again I LOVE handhelds.