Few companies have had an impact on gaming quite like Nintendo, particularly when it comes to handhelds. The company is responsible for bringing portable gaming into the mainstream, and redefining it many times over.
Ranking these consoles is tough, even when striving for an objective viewpoint. Everyone has their favorites, and the platforms could just as easily be defined by their games as their hardware and form factor. With that in mind, let’s give it a shot.
11
Pokémon Mini
The Pokémon Mini was a small, Tamagotchi-like console introduced by Nintendo in late 2001 to capitalize on the success of Pokémon. Despite the name, you couldn’t actually play Pokémon on the platform, with available titles instead consisting of mini-game collections and spinoffs.
Sales were poor and only four games were ever released in the U.S. (compared to 10 in Japan and five in Europe). This included games like Pokémon Pinball mini and Pokémon Puzzle Collection which came on Nintendo’s smallest-ever cartridges. The $40 console was powered by a single AAA battery which offered a respectable 60 hours of playtime.
Despite being cheap and cheerful, in 2001 you could have had a Game Boy Color instead.
10
Game & Watch
Game & Watch was a line of handheld games that appeared in 1980 with Ball and lasted until 1991. While Game & Watch helped establish handheld gaming as a medium, spurring many other toy companies to follow suit and ultimately setting the scene for the Game Boy, these devices feel painfully primitive by modern standards.
Most only have a single game per cartridge, with two difficulty settings. While some of the games were incredibly successful, notably Donkey Kong with its Nintendo DS-like clamshell design, it’s hard for the Game & Watch to compare favorably to the cartridge-based systems that followed.
9
Nintendo 2DS (and New 2DS XL)
The cut-price $130 Nintendo 2DS had its fans, but was ultimately a strange bit of kit. Its very existence was seen as a tacit acknowledgment from Nintendo that the stereoscopic 3D feature of the 3DS was a gimmick, despite the existence of games that took clever advantage of it. Nintendo said it was primarily aimed at younger audiences, for whom the company had warned against using 3D features.
But the console made other sacrifices, like its slate design that dropped the clamshell form factor of the 3DS. This made it unwieldy and at higher risk of damage (you know, like that caused by a child). Sound quality and battery life were also noticeably downgraded. Ultimately, there wasn’t a lot of reason to pick one up for the average gamer in late 2013 (particularly since the 3DS allows you to toggle the 3D effect on and off at will).
2017’s revised New 2DS XL fixed some of these issues, returning to a clamshell design and including updated hardware, controls, and NFC support. Despite this, it still played second-fiddle to the New 3DS line with its sub-par display and speaker quality.
8
Game Boy Micro
The Game Boy Micro was a shrunk-down reimagining of the Game Boy Advance, released in 2005. It was the final revision of the Game Boy Advance, and the first to lose support for original Game Boy and Game Boy Color games since its size did not accommodate a larger cartridge slot. On the plus side, it had a built-in rechargeable battery that was good for around five hours of playtime.
Despite the presence of a backlight, the screen on the Micro was tiny and measured only 2 inches diagonally. The size of the chassis was also an issue, making gameplay a cramped experience. The size was a big plus point for portability, but sales were poor and the $99 console was discontinued in 2008.
7
Game Boy Advance
There’s a lot to like about the Game Boy Advance. The console was compatible with original Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges, plus Advance games. The color screen offered a significant visual boost over the Game Boy models that came before it, and the iconic shape would go on to define the form factor used by most modern handhelds.
But there were issues, too. The screen lacked any kind of illumination, which made it hard to see in all but ideal lighting conditions. The placement of the shoulder buttons also wasn’t ideal. Lastly, 15 hours of battery life on two AA batteries made it an expensive habit when it first arrived on the scene in 2001 (a time when Apple was launching the first iPod, which was fully rechargeable).
The $99 console enjoyed an excellent library of games, but there was eventually a better way to experience these.
6
Game Boy Color
The Game Boy Color was the $79 follow-up to Nintendo’s trailblazing Game Boy, released in 1998, just under a decade after the original. It packed four times the memory, a processor that had twice the speed, and that iconic color screen into a form factor that was smaller, thinner, and lighter than the original. It was also compatible with original Game Boy games.
The console sold like hotcakes, and for good reason. Some criticisms were leveled at Nintendo’s decision to stick with an 8-bit processor and the lack of a backlight, but Nintendo’s strategy won out in the end. In addition to genre-defining games like Pokémon Gold and Silver and Zelda outing Oracle of Ages, the platform saw impressive ports of full-fat console releases like Metal Gear Solid and Donkey Kong Country.
Oh, and those transparent skins were peak ‘90s and will always be cool.
5
Game Boy Advance SP
Arguably the Game Boy Advance’s finest hour, roughly half of all Advance units sold were of the SP variety. Released in early 2003, the console had a square clamshell design to keep the screen safe and made two massive improvements to the original Advance. The first was the presence of a rechargeable battery, which offered up to 18 hours of playtime and the second was front lighting (which was upgraded to backlighting in 2005).
It did this while retaining the Advance’s compatibility with original Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. The console wasn’t perfect, with the unconventional shape being arguably less comfortable than the original. Nintendo also removed the 3.5mm headphone jack (though Game Boy Advance SP headphone adapters were available that routed audio through the AC port).
The console also saw some interesting limited editions including a Rip Curl edition in Australia, an All Blacks rugby-themed release in New Zealand, and tie-ins with Zelda and Pokémon plus a NES-themed version. The SP launched at $79, $20 cheaper than the original Advance and the Micro.
4
Nintendo 3DS (and New 3DS)
2011’s Nintendo 3DS was a runaway success for Nintendo, capitalizing on the stereoscopic 3D trend of the early 2010s while iterating on the success of the DS consoles that came before it. Despite launching at $249.99 (the same price as its Sony rival the PlayStation Vita), Nintendo quickly cut the price to $170 which helped the system establish dominance, paving the way for several iterative revisions.
This included an XL variant and a New 3DS (plus subsequent New 3DS XL) version that added an analog stick, better hardware, shoulder triggers, and improved stereoscopic 3D. The 3DS was successful and still seeing releases well into the Nintendo Switch generation, and the console is still worth picking up today.
If you have a 3DS sitting in a drawer, you might want to fish it out and learn how to change the battery to keep it alive and kicking.
3
Nintendo DS (and DSi)
The original DS was a gamble for Nintendo, with the company dropping the Game Boy moniker and embracing a new form factor. Despite this, compatibility with Game Boy Advance titles was made possible via a cartridge slot along the bottom of the unit, with new DS Game Cards loading along the top. The dual-screen design is finished off with the inclusion of touch input on the bottom display.
Though the 3DS offers an arguably superior experience, the DS was a bold and successful experiment for Nintendo. At the last call it was still Nintendo’s best-selling system (though it’s set to be overtaken by the Switch), and that’s for good reason. Those numbers include revisions like the Lite, XL, and later DSi variants, which further improved the formula.
Developers found some great uses for the dual-screen format to display dialog, maps, inventories, and more. Some highlights from the generation include my personal favorite Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Rhythm Heaven, a bunch of Professor Layton and Ace Attorney games, and Animal Crossing: Wild World.
2
Game Boy
The Game Boy is the console that popularized handheld gaming as we know it, transitioning Nintendo from the Game & Watch era into an age of cartridge-based handhelds. The Game Boy walked so that its successors could run, releasing in 1989 in Japan and the US at $90, with staggered rollouts over the next five years in Europe and the rest of the world.
Much of its success came down to the quality of the components. At a time when Atari and Sega were rolling out color TFTs, Nintendo went with a monochrome LCD that looked great at the time and helped Nintendo’s console stand out despite only having four shades of green. It also helped Nintendo squeeze up to 30 hours of battery life from four AA batteries.
Games like Pokémon Red and Blue, Tetris, and Super Mario Land helped the console find its footing, and revisions like the much smaller Game Boy Pocket and the backlit Game Boy Light made improvements to the ergonomics and display. The Game Boy was finally discontinued in 2003, after a healthy lifespan of around 14 years.
1
Nintendo Switch
The culmination of Nintendo’s efforts in both the home console and portable market, the Nintendo Switch looks set to not only be the best-selling Nintendo console of all time but it may even dethrone the PlayStation 2. The hybridization of Nintendo’s approach to gaming feels like the company coming full circle, and the follow-up Switch 2 that’s due for release in 2025 won’t be shaking the formula up too much.
Despite the hardware limitations that have been present on the Switch since its release in early 2017, the system found favor thanks to Nintendo’s strong game direction and the platform’s status as an indie darling. Revisions like the Lite and OLED models have both been well-received, and the company was even able to weather storms like the Joy-Con drift debacle and come out favorably.
The real success has come down to a strong line-up of games, with two of the best Zelda titles of all time, Super Mario Odyssey, well-executed fan service like Metroid Dread, and the perfect timing of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. On top of this, Nintendo has used the Switch to re-release its best unloved titles from the Wii U era.
Many of the games on these platforms are playable on the Switch with a Nintendo Switch Online membership. If you have a Switch and you’re looking for something new to play, check out some of the best games you may have missed.
