{"id":3962,"date":"2015-05-28T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bensbargains.net\/thecheckout\/?p=3962"},"modified":"2023-07-14T08:20:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T15:20:00","slug":"whats-next-handheld-game-consoles-through-the-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/features\/whats-next-handheld-game-consoles-through-the-years\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Next? Handheld Game Consoles Through the Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
See also: What’s Next? Video Game Consoles Through the Years<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

While home game consoles get the lion’s share of the spotlight, handheld gaming has been around for a while now with a few ups and many downs. Its biggest challenge to date has come in the form of smartphones, which have now completely cornered the portable gaming market.<\/p>\n

The most recent high-profile handheld game console, the Sony PlayStation Vita, was released in early 2012 and has really struggled to find an audience.<\/p>\n

With the latest handheld gaming device, the NVIDIA Shield<\/a>, set to release next month, we take a look back at handheld game consoles through the years.<\/p>\n

1979: Milton Bradley Microvision<\/h3>\n

The first handheld gaming console as we know it, with interchangeable game cartridges. Not exactly a world-beater in its day\u201413 total games over 3 years, screen rot and 16 x 16 resolution didn’t exactly help things.<\/p>\n

\"Microvision\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1989: Nintendo Game Boy<\/h3>\n

When we think of modern handheld gaming, the words “Game Boy” come to mind. Once again, Nintendo revived a flagging or non-existent industry with an \u00fcber-successful product. A little game by the name of Tetris<\/em> helped this modest 8-bit monochrome device set records.<\/p>\n

\"Nintendo-Game-Boy\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1989: Atari Lynx<\/h3>\n

Despite it being the first color handheld and the first to have online networking (ComLynx), the 16-bit Lynx could not compete with the runaway success of the Game Boy or competitive offerings from Sega and NEC (see below). However, independent developers continued to make games for the Lynx years after its demise.<\/p>\n

\"Atari-Lynx\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 1990: NEC TurboExpress<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While its battery life was weak, the TurboExpress was the most powerful handheld of its day and could play games directly from the TurboGrafx-16. Unfortunately for NEC, nobody cared.<\/p>\n

\"TurboExpress\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1991: Sega Game Gear<\/strong><\/h3>\n

With 11 million units sold, the Game Gear was the most successful handheld outside of the Game Boy for its time. Even though it only had an 8-bit processor, the Game Gear had a fairly long life due to the popularity of its titles like Sonic the Hedgehog<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Sega-Game-Gear-Handheld\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1998: Nintendo Game Boy Color<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Years after the release of the original Game Boy, Nintendo released the official followup called simply Game Boy Color. In addition to the color screen, the sequel was twice as fast and could play the old Game Boy games. Nintendo has sold  almost 120 million Game Boy and Game Boy Color handhelds combined, a number which would only be surpassed years later by the Nintendo DS.<\/p>\n

\"Nintendo-GameBoy-Color\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1999: SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Pretty much forgotten in an era when Nintendo dominated handheld gaming, the 16-bit NGPC carved out a small but brief niche in the market with a wide release in major American retailers.<\/p>\n

\"SNK-Neo-Geo-Pocket-Color\"<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

2001: Nintendo Game Boy Advance<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The 32-bit successor to the Game Boy Color is the third highest-selling handheld game console of all time with over 80 million sold. It sported a 2.9″ screen, rechargeable battery and backwards compatibility with all Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. It underwent two later redesigns known as the Game Boy Advance SP in 2003 (right) and the Game Boy Micro in 2005 (bottom).<\/p>\n

\"Nintendo-Game-Boy-Advance\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2003: Nokia N-Gage<\/h3>\n

You may laugh at it now, but to date it’s actually sold more units than the PlayStation Vita (3 million vs 2.2 million).<\/p>\n

\"Nokia-N-Gage\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2004: Nintendo DS<\/h3>\n

For the DS (Dual Screen), Nintendo returned to the clamshell design first introduced in the Game Boy Advance SP, except this time there were two screens, with the lower display being touch sensitive. It also featured built-in Wi-Fi. Two redesigns would follow: the DS Lite (bottom left) in 2006 and the DSi (bottom right) in 2008. The Nintendo DS is the top-selling handheld game console of all time and second  among all game consoles.<\/p>\n

\"Nintendo-DS-versions\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2005: Sony PlayStation Portable<\/h3>\n

Sony’s first handheld gaming console used an optical disc (UMD) for games, featured a large 4.3″ display and could connect with the Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and the web. Some movies and TV shows were also released on UMD. The PSP underwent several revisions, including the slimmer PSP 2000 in 2007 and the totally redesigned PSP Go in 2009, which actually had a smaller 3.8″ screen and no UMD drive. The PlayStation Portable was the first big success in handheld gaming outside of Nintendo, selling over 70 million units.<\/p>\n

\"Sony-PlayStation-Portable\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2011: Nintendo 3DS<\/h3>\n

Nintendo’s latest handheld gaming device features 3D effects without the need for special 3D glasses. It can play regular Nintendo DS\/DSi games. The 3DS has sold extremely well in the U.S. (over 30 million in two years), but it’s an even bigger success in Japan. In 2012, Nintendo released the 3DS XL, which features 90% larger screens, but with the same resolution.<\/p>\n

\"Nintendo-3DS\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2012: Sony PlayStation Vita<\/h3>\n

As the successor to Sony’s popular PSP, the PS Vita has received accolades for its powerful hardware, but so far has fallen short in the software department, lacking a standout game. Sales have been a disappointment; to date the Vita has sold just over 2 million units.<\/p>\n

\"PlayStation-Vita\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2013: Nvidia Shield<\/h3>\n

With a price tag of $350, this Android-based handheld game console is aimed squarely at gamers who want a more powerful experience than you’d find on your average smartphone. You’ll also be able to stream select Steam games<\/a> (PC required, of course).<\/p>\n

\"nvidia-shield-android\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch the Ben’s Bargains video games page<\/a> for the latest hardware and software deals!<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While home game consoles get the lion’s share of the spotlight, handheld gaming has been around for a while now with a few ups and many downs. Its biggest challenge to date has come in the form of smartphones, which have now completely cornered the portable gaming market. The most recent high-profile handheld game console, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[413,142,414,367,25],"class_list":["post-3962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-handheld-game-console","tag-nintendo","tag-nvidia-shield","tag-video-game-consoles","tag-video-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3962"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45145,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3962\/revisions\/45145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}