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Riley @lemmy.ml

What's your favourite game made for a handheld console?

Games that can be played on a handheld but aren't really meant for it (e.g. most stuff on the Steam Deck) doesn't really count.

38 comments

  • Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django. You play a vampire hunter with a solar powered gun, and the gimmick is that the GBA cartridge contains a UV sensor so that you're required to go outside and use real sunlight. It's such an absurd gimmick, but it works. It works incredibly well and makes it an unforgettable experience.

    The first game is alright, but the second is where the series really came into its own.

  • Phantasy Star Portable on the PSP was really good, I think I wore out my thumbstick playing it.

  • Gonna go with Donkey Kong (1994). Made for a handheld (Game Boy) but also prominently features an enhanced mode enabled by running it on Nintendo's Super Game Boy accessory for the SNES/Super Famicom (actually mine's an SGB2–even better).

  • I don't think there was a marriage between a game and a system as perfect as with The World Ends With You and the original DS.

    The game has been rereleased on multiple platforms since then. And yet it's nearly universally accepted that if you can play in on the DS/3DS, you should.

    For instance, one of the main themes of the game is that you can't do everything on your own, so you need to trust and work with other people. And so, TWEWY uses both of the console's screens and makes you battle with both the protagonist and his partner at the same time — a very unique system.

    It works even better on the DS, because the stylus gives you the much needed precision even on an otherwise unimpressive touch screen. This is one of the main reasons the original just plays much better than the ports.

    The game also tells you to expand your world by interacting with others — and implements a rudimentary StreetPass-like feature, several years before the actual StreetPass, that rewards you for meeting other people in real life.

    Along the same lines, it encourages you not to spend all the time playing it. So another type of reward you can receive basically requires you to turn the game off and go touch grass.

    It also has an interesting food mechanic, that only allows you to eat a couple of heavy dishes per a real world day. You can snack all you want, but the only way to raise Attack and Defense are the big food pieces. So you'll have an easier time if you take your time with the game, take breaks and properly raise these stats, although that's by no means required.

    Of course, it also uses the console's other features in more conventional ways. Some of the attacks you can use, for example, utilize the microphone, and one mini-boss requires you to put the console to sleep.

    And yeah, it's just a super cool game overall. Many enthusiasts consider it to be the best on the system. Amazing gameplay with tons of variety, great plot, fun characters, really good postgame to sink hours into.

  • As a member of the original Game Boy generation who had a much-loved stack of carts for the old brick, I feel a bit basic saying the packed-in Tetris was my favorite one but it really was the one I kept going back to for a quick fix.

    I also really adored Final Fantasy Adventure (a.k.a. Seiken Densetsu or Mystic Quest) but that was never a quick fix, that was one for sitting down with for a properly long ARPG session.

  • Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks were pretty cool. I played both with the stylus because the DS control pad is tiny as fuck, literally painful to use for more than a few minutes.

    Same with the Layton games.

38 comments