Which Of These Classic Handheld Gaming Systems Was The Best?
121Old man moment here, but I'm not going to be shouting at the clouds I promise. Handheld gaming has come so far in 40 years. Things like the Switch OLED, Switch 2, Evercade EXP, SteamDeck, and the HyperMegaTech Super Pocket. You get amazing games, beautiful displays, and hybrid capabilities that allow you to play at home on the TV and on the go. But when handheld gaming started, you had 1 game per system with things like the Game and Watch. But things changed with Gunpei Yokoi and the Game Boy. Not to be left behind, Atari and Sega entered with the Lynx and the Game Gear, and each tried to beat Nintendo at their own game.
Game Boy
The Nintendo Game Boy, first released in 1989 (1990 in North America and 1990 in Europe), is a revolutionary handheld game console that essentially defined mobile gaming for a generation.
Its most recognizable feature is its distinctive, somewhat bulky, grey brick-like design. It sports a relatively small, reflective, monochromatic LCD screen capable of displaying four shades of olive green, which became iconic in itself. Despite the lack of color, the screen's clarity and backlight (in later models like the Game Boy Pocket and Color) allowed for surprisingly detailed sprite-based graphics.
Controls were simple and intuitive: a familiar D-pad on the left for movement, and two action buttons, "A" and "B," on the right. Below the screen were the "Start" and "Select" buttons, essential for pausing games and navigating menus. Power was supplied by four AA batteries, providing hours of gameplay.
Nintendo made the call to not pack in a Mario Game at the last minute, instead launching with Tetris. That decision alone was one of the biggest reasons why Nintendo was so dominant in this category, and that carries on to this day.
Sega Game Gear
The Sega Game Gear is a handheld game console released by Sega in Japan in 1990, and in North America, Europe, and Australia in 1991. It was Sega's response to Nintendo's highly successful Game Boy, and it aimed to differentiate itself with a full-color, backlit screen, a significant improvement over the Game Boy's monochrome display. Games like Sonic the Hedgehog, while different from what was on the Genesis, was still a great game to itself.
Full-Color Backlit Screen was its biggest selling point. The 3.2-inch LCD screen could display up to 32 colors simultaneously from a palette of 4096, offering a much richer visual experience than the Game Boy. The backlighting also meant it could be played in dimly lit environments without an external light source, though this came at a cost.
The backlit screen, while visually appealing, was a major power hog. The Game Gear typically ran on six AA batteries, which often lasted only 3-5 hours, a stark contrast to the Game Boy's significantly longer battery life. This led to the popularity of AC adapters and rechargeable battery packs.
Atari Lynx
The Atari Lynx was a groundbreaking handheld game console released by Atari Corporation in September 1989 in North America (and 1990 in Europe and Japan). It was developed in partnership with Epyx, initially known as the "Handy" system, before Atari acquired the rights.
What set the Lynx apart from its contemporaries, most notably the Nintendo Game Boy, was its color liquid-crystal display (LCD). It was the first handheld to feature a backlit color screen, boasting a 3.5-inch diagonal display capable of rendering 16 simultaneous colors from a palette of 4096. This was a significant visual upgrade compared to the Game Boy's monochrome screen.
The library of the Game Boy, along with evolutions such as the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color, along with the Super Game Boy for the Super Nintendo and Super Famicom, led it to be being an absolute beast. The Game Gear looked much better and was basically a portable Master System, but that color display also ate batteries. The Lynx was a beast as well, but more in the unruly, large, and uncomfortable sense. It also ate batteries even faster and didn't have a great library, which hurt all around.
Which were you a fan of and do you own any of them today? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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