Handheld Consoles

Article by: Alex W. Shipp

Late 1980's

Game Boy

   Game Boy, is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America in August 1989, and in Europe on September 28, 1990. It is the first handheld console in the Game Boy line, and was created by Gunpei Yokoi and Nintendo Research & Development 1—the same staff who had designed the Game & Watch series as well as several popular games for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Atari Lynx

   The Atari Lynx is an 8-bit handheld game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1989. The Lynx holds the distinction of being the world's first handheld electronic game with a color LCD. The system is also notable for its forward-looking features, advanced graphics, and ambidextrous layout. The Lynx was released in 1989, the same year as Nintendo's best-selling, monochromatic Game Boy. However, the Lynx failed to achieve the sales numbers required to attract quality third party developers, and was eventually abandoned.

TurboExpress

   The TurboExpress or PC Engine GT (Game Tank) in Japan was a portable version of the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine (video game console), released by NEC in 1990 for $249.99 (the price was briefly raised to $299.99, soon dropped back to $249.99, and by 1992 it was $199.99). It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TurboGrafx-16's HuCard games. It had a 66 mm (2.6 in.) screen, the same as the original Game Boy, and could display 64 sprites at once, 16 per scanline, in up to 481 colors from a palette of 512. It had 8 kilobytes of RAM. The Turbo ran its 6820 CPU at 1.79 or 7.16 MHz. The optional TurboVision TV tuner included RCA audio/video input, allowing the player to use TurboExpress as a video monitor. The TurboLink allowed two-player play. Falcon, a flight simulator, included a "head-to-head" dogfight mode that could only be accessed via TurboLink, same as Bomberman multiplayer. However, very few TG-16 games offered co-op play modes especially designed with the TurboExpress in mind. As of July 30, 2007, the TurboExpress has sold 1.5 million units.

Bitcorp Gamate

   The Gamate, is a handheld game console manufactured by Bit Corporation in the early 1990s, and released in Australia, parts of Europe and Asia, Argentina, the USA, and possibly other regions.
It never sold in numbers comparable to the Game Boy or even the Watara Supervision, and as a result information on the console and its games remains scarce - no emulator or ROM dumps exist. However, over 70 games are known to have been produced for the system, and a color version was rumoured to have been released in Asia and Mexico, but this has never been confirmed.

Sega Game Gear

   The Sega Game Gear was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress. Work began on the console in 1989 under the codename "Project Mercury", following Sega's policy at the time of codenaming their systems after planets. The system was released in Japan on October 6, 1990, North America, Europe and Argentinain 1991, and Australia in 1992. The launch price was $150 US and £145 UK. Sega dropped support for the Game Gear on April 30, 1997.

Watara Supervision

   The Watara Supervision (also known as the QuickShot Supervision in the UK) is a monochrome handheld game console, originating from Asia, and introduced in 1992 as a cut-price competitor for Nintendo's Game Boy. It came packaged with a game called Crystball, which is similar to Breakout. One unique feature of the Supervision was that it could be linked up to a television via a link cable. Games played in this way would display in four colors, much like Nintendo's Super Game Boy add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. A full color TV link was also in the works, but because of the Supervision's failure to make a major impression among gamers it was cancelled, along with the games which were in development for it. Though the machine garnered some attention at launch it was ultimately unsuccessful in unseating the Game Boy from its position as the world's most popular handheld. Reasons commonly cited are the poor quality screen which was prone to blurring and made following the action difficult, a general lack of games and the simplistic nature of those that were released. Yet another problem was that most of the games that were available were developed in Taiwan or Hong Kong, meaning that fans of big-name western and Japanese developers were underwhelmed by the apparent lack of support from these companies. Only a tiny handful of games were developed by third parties, including Sachen and the British developer B.I.T.S.. Up against Nintendo's list of popular franchises (Zelda, Mario, Metroid) and those of its third parties (Castlevania, Mega Man) - all of which eventually surfaced on the Game Boy - the Supervision's games were of little interest to most.

Hartung Game Master

   The Game Master is a handheld game console developed by the German company Hartung to compete with the Nintendo Game Boy. It was also released in the UK as the Systema 2000 by already well established maker of cheap LCD gamesSystema. The Game Master has a 64 x 64 monochrome LCD screen capable of displaying graphics on par with the Atari 2600. The design was much like the Sega Game Gear with a D-Pad and 2 action buttons. The cartridges resemble those used by the Watara Supervision mainly that the card edge of the cartridge jutted out past the plastic of the cartridge. The Game Master utilizes a 40-pin cartridge port like the Supervision but is not compatible with Supervision games.

1990's

Game.com

   The Game.com is a handheld game console released by Tiger Electronics in September 1997. It featured many new ideas for handheld consoles and was aimed at an older target audience, sporting PDA-style features and functions such as a touch screen and stylus. Unlike other handheld game consoles, the first Game.com consoles included two slots for game cartridges and could be connected to a 14.4 kbit/s modem. Later models reverted to a single cartridge slot.

Game Boy Color

   The Game Boy Color is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than the Game Boy Pocket. As with the original Game Boy, it has an 8-bit processor. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined have sold 118.69 million units worldwide.

Neo Geo Pocket Color

   The Neo Geo Pocket Color (shortened NGPC), is a 16-bit colour handheld game console by SNK. It was the last console they produced in the Neo Geo family. It was released on March 16, 1999 in Japan, August 6, 1999 in North America, and some time in 1999 in Europe. The Neo Geo Pocket Color was designed to replace SNK's original Neo Geo Pocket monochrome handheld, which debuted in 1998 in Japan. In 2000, following SNK's purchase by Japanese pachinko manufacturer Aruze, the Neo Geo Pocket Color was dropped from both the North American and European markets. It did, however, last until 2001 in Japan, with a total of 2 million units sold.

Wonderswan Color

   The WonderSwan Color was released on December 9, 2000 in Japan, and was a moderate success. The original WonderSwan had only a black and white screen. Although the WonderSwan Color was slightly larger and heavier (7 mm and 2 g) compared to the original WonderSwan, the color version featured 512KB of RAM and a larger color LCD screen. In addition, the WonderSwan Color is compatible with the original WonderSwan library of games. Prior to WonderSwan's release, Nintendo had a virtual monopoly in the Japanese video game handheld market. After the release of the WonderSwan Color, Bandai took approximately 8% of the market share in Japan partly due to its low price of ¥6800 Japanese yen (approximately $59 USD). Another reason for the WonderSwan's success in Japan was the fact that Bandai managed to get a deal with Square to port over the original Famicom Final Fantasy games with improved graphics and controls. However, with the popularity of the Game Boy Advance and the reconciliation between Square and Nintendo, the WonderSwan Color and its successor, the SwanCrystal, quickly lost its competitive advantage. They were discontinued in 2003.

2000's

Game Boy Advance

   The Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China on June 8, 2004 (excluding Hong Kong).

Game Park 32

   The GP32 (GamePark 32) is a handheld game console developed by the Korean company Game Park. It was released on November 23, 2001, in South Korea only. The GP32 is based on a 133 MHz ARM CPU and 8 MB of RAM. Unlike other hand held gaming systems, which tend to be proprietary cartridge-based, the GP32 uses SmartMedia cards (SMC) for storing programs and data, making it accessible for amateur developers as no further development hardware is required. The console has a four-way mini-joystick controller, two main buttons ('A' and 'B'), two shoulder buttons on each side of the SMC slot ('L' and 'R') and two other menu buttons on each side of the screen ('SELECT' and 'START'), made from a softer, translucent rubber. The console also has a USB 1.1 port for connection with a host computer, a serial expansion port, a 3.3 V power adapter input, a headphone connector and a rear compartment which holds two AA sized batteries. The overall design is not unlike the original version of the Game Boy Advance. Commercial units are white in color with either grey or white buttons and trim. There are also a number of differently colored promotional units, and several prototype units with different designs. There are three main commercial versions of the unit characterized by different display types.

N-Gage

   The N-Gage is a mobile telephone and handheld game system by Nokia, based on the Nokia Series 60 platform, released in October 2003. It began sales on October 7, 2003. The N-Gage QD replaced the original N-Gage in 2004. N-Gage attempted to lure gamers away from the Game Boy Advance by including cellphone functionality. This was unsuccessful, partly because the buttons, designed for a phone, were not well-suited for gaming and when used as a phone the original N-Gage was described as resembling a "taco". In 2005, Nokia announced that it would move its N-Gage games capabilities onto a series of smart phones. These devices have been available since early 2007, and a pre-release version of the N-Gage application allowing users to purchase and download games was made available for download from the official N-Gage website on February 4, 2008. The full version of the N-Gage service was released to the public on April 3, 2008. On October 30, 2009, Nokia pronounced the end of the N-Gage service at the end of 2010. It was never released in Japan.

Tapwave Zodiac

   The Zodiac is a mobile entertainment console, launched on 5 May 2003, and released in October 2003 by Tapwave, a former private company that was based in Mountain View, California. The product was designed to be a "high performance mobile entertainment system” centred on games, music, images, and video, aimed at 18 to 34 year old gamers and technology enthusiasts. By running an enhanced version of the Palm Operating System (5.2T), Zodiac also provided access to Palm’s personal information management software and many other applications from the Palm developer community. With fewer than 200,000 units sold, the Zodiac is the third worst selling handheld console, after the Gizmondo and the R-Zone. This was primarily due to strong pressure from the PlayStation Portable (PSP) from Sony, and the DS fromNintendo, both released approximately a year after Zodiac. The Zodiac was discontinued on 26 July 2005, with Tapwave subsequently selling off its assets and winding down.

Nintendo DS

   The Nintendo DS is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP. The Nintendo DS also features a built-in microphone and supports wireless standards, allowing players to interact with each other within short range, or online with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. The Nintendo DS is the first Nintendo console to be released in North America before Japan. On March 2, 2006, Nintendo released the Nintendo DS Lite, a redesign of the Nintendo DS, in Japan. It was released in North America, Europe, and Australia in June 2006. The DS Lite is a slimmer, smaller, and lighter version of the Nintendo DS; it also has brighter screens. Nintendo of America refers to the older model as the "original style" Nintendo DS, but it has also been nicknamed by fans and the media as the "DS Phat." On November 1, 2008, Nintendo released the Nintendo DSi, another redesign of the Nintendo DS. The DSi possesses more powerful hardware than the original DS, including a faster CPU and more RAM. Unlike previous models, it does not feature a slot for Game Boy Advance games, but instead features a slot for SD cards. On November 21, 2009, Nintendo released the Nintendo DSi XL, a model featuring larger screens, and a greater overall size, than the original DSi. The Nintendo DS is the successor to the Game Boy Advance series of portable consoles, with the DS and DS Lite models featuring single-player backwards compatibility with Game Boy Advance games. The console's name officially stands for "Developers' System", an expression of Nintendo's hope that the system would inspire innovative game design from developers. "DS" also stands for "Dual Screen", the system's most obvious and distinctive feature. As of December 31, 2011, all Nintendo DS models combined have sold 151.06 million units, making it the best selling handheld game console to date, and second best selling video game console overall, behind the PlayStation 2.

Game King

   GameKing is a brand of handheld game consoles, designed and developed by TimeTop in 2003, for the Hong Kong consumer market. The brand has three consoles, the GameKing I, the GameKing II and the GameKing III. A fourth console, the Handy Game, was produced by Timetop and shares some branding, but otherwise has little to do with the Gameking franchise.

PlayStation Portable

   The PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced duringE3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in the PAL region on September 1, 2005. The PlayStation Portable is the only handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage medium. Other distinguishing features of the console include its large viewing screen, robust multi-media capabilities, and connectivity with the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, other PSPs and the Internet. After the release of a slimmer, lighter, remodeled version of the PlayStation Portable (the PSP-2000/"Slim & Lite") in early September 2007, sales quadrupled in the United Kingdom the following week and increased by nearly 200% in North America for the month of October. This model was later replaced by another remodeling, the PSP-3000, which included a new screen and an inbuilt microphone. Since then, a complete redesign called the PSP Go has been released, which was sold alongside the PSP-3000. In 2011 a budget model, the PSP-E1000, was announced. The PSP line was succeeded by the PlayStation Vita, released in December 2011 in Japan, and in February 2012 in North America, Europe and Australia, respectively.

Gizmondo

   The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console which was released by Tiger Telematics in March 2005. The electronics design was undertaken by Plextek Limited and the industrial design by Rick Dickinson. With fewer than 25,000 units sold, the Gizmondo was named by GamePro as the worst selling handheld console in history. By February 2006, the company discontinued the device and was forced into bankruptcy. In 2008, founder and CEO Carl Freer announced that he had reached an agreement with the liquidators, and planned to re-launch Gizmondo as Gizmondo 2. Gizmondo was overshadowed by the involvement of one of its executives, Stefan Eriksson, in organized crime. It was never released in Japan or Australia.

Game Park Holdings GP2X

   The GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea only. The GP2X is designed for homebrew developers as well as commercial developers. It is commonly used to run emulators for classic game consoles such as Neo Geo, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Amstrad CPC,Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, MAME and others.

Dingoo

   The Dingoo A320 is a gaming handheld that supports music and video playback and open game development. The system features an on-board radio and recording program. It is available in two colors—white and black—with a third color, pink, announced for future release. It was released in February 2009. It sold over 1 million units.

PSP Go

   The PSP Go is a version of the PlayStation Portable handheld game console manufactured by Sony. It was released on October 1, 2009 in American and European territories, and on November 1 in Japan. It was revealed prior to E3 2009 through Sony's Qore VOD service. Although its design is significantly different from other PSPs, it is not intended to replace the PSP 3000, which Sony will continue to manufacture, sell, and support. On April 20, 2011, the manufacturer announced that the PSP Go would be discontinued so that they may concentrate on the PlayStation Vita. Sony later said that only the European and Japanese versions were being cut, and that the console would still be available in the USA. Unlike previous PSP models, the PSP Go does not feature a UMD drive, but instead has 16 GB of internal flash memory to store games, video, pictures, and other media. This can be extended by up to 32 GB with the use of a Memory Stick Micro (M2) flash card. Also unlike previous PSP models, the PSP Go's rechargeable battery is not removable or replaceable by the user. The unit is 43% lighter and 56% smaller than the original PSP-1000, and 16% lighter and 35% smaller than the PSP-3000. It has a 3.8" 480 × 272 LCD (compared to the larger 4.3" 480 × 272 pixel LCD on previous PSP models). The screen slides up to reveal the main controls. The overall shape and sliding mechanism are similar to that of Sony's mylo COM-2 internet device.

Pandora

   The Pandora is a handheld game console designed to take advantage of existing open source software and to be a target for homebrew development. It is developed by OpenPandora, which is made up of former distributors and community members of the GP32 and GP2X handhelds. When announcing the system, the designers of Pandora stated that it would be more powerful than any handheld video game console that had yet existed. It includes several features that no handheld game consoles have previously had, making it a cross between a handheld game console and a subnotebook.

2010's

Nintendo 3DS

   The Nintendo 3DS is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software. Announcing the device in March 2010, Nintendo officially unveiled it at E3 2010, with the company inviting attendees to use demonstration units. The console succeeds the Nintendo DS series of handheld systems and primarily competes with Sony's PlayStation Portable and the newly released PlayStation Vita. The Nintendo 3DS was released in Japan on February 26, 2011; in Europe on March 25, 2011; in North America on March 27, 2011; and in Australia on March 31, 2011. On July 28, 2011, Nintendo announced a major price drop starting August 12. In addition, consumers who bought the system at its original price gained access to ten free Nintendo Entertainment System games starting September 1, 2011 and 10 free Game Boy Advance games starting December 16, 2011, from the Nintendo eShop.

Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY

   The Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY, codenamed Zeus, is a handheld game console smartphone produced by Sony Ericsson. Under the Xperia smartphone brand running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the device is the first device to be part of the PlayStation Certified program which means that it can play PlayStation Suite games. The device was originally thought to carry the PlayStation branding, though this has been clarified to be a certification of being part of the PlayStation Certified program. The device was revealed officially for the first time in a Super Bowl ad on Sunday, February 6, 2011. On February 13, 2011, at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2011, it was announced that the device would be shipping globally in March 2011, with a launch lineup of around 50 software titles. In the US, the Xperia Play was initially available only on the Verizon network, until the release of the Xperia Play 4G on AT&T. In Mexico it is available through Telcel. In the UK, carriers O₂,Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and Three have confirmed that they intend to stock the handset. In Canada, the device is carried exclusively by Rogers Wireless.

PlayStation Vita

   The PlayStation Vita is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to thePlayStation Portable as part of the PlayStation brand of gaming devices. It was released in Japan and parts of Asia on December 17, 2011, in Europe, North America, South America and Singapore on February 22, 2012, and in Australia on February 23, 2012. It primarily competes with the Nintendo 3DS, as part of the Eighth generation of gaming.
A limited edition was released in North America on February 15, 2012 a week earlier than the official launch with the 3G model of the device (Wi-Fi model in Canada), the game Little Deviants, a limited edition carry case and a 4GB memory card. The handheld includes two analog sticks, a 5-inch (130 mm) OLED multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, and supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and optional 3G. Internally, the Vita features a 4-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCoreprocessor and a 4-core SGX543MP4+ graphics processing unit, as well as LiveArea software as its main user interface, which succeeds the Xross Media Bar.

Razer Switchblade

   The Razer Switchblade is an upcoming portable gaming device developed by Razer. It was first unveiled on January 5, 2011, on the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The Switchblade won The Best of CES 2011 People's Voice award. It has since been in development and the release date is still unknown. The Switchblade's main goal is to provide gamers with the functionality of a Windows computer, combined with the portability of a handheld device. It features a multitouch LCD screen and an adaptive keyboard that changes keys depending on the game you play. It also features a full mouse.