This really hits home for me. As happy as I am to have so much power in handhelds, I'm definitely going to miss what handheld games were like while I was growing up
I'm constantly struggling with "is it nostalgia" or "do I actually think an art form is lost?" It's tough. There's something so tactile about handheld gaming sometimes that I think is a hard feeling to replicate
@@KurtIndovina an interesting snapshot of gaming that helps me frame my view on the topic is the Monster Hunter series. Originally the series was home console exclusive, but when the PSP came out they started making 'portable' versions of each entry for handhelds, continuing on to the 3ds when that came out. They were made by a different team, and were basically just ports of the home versions, but they made some small changes in an effort to streamline the gameplay loop and make it more 'bite sized'. The end result? They were more popular than the home versions, the distinct difference in game design was more appealing for most people. Eventually, when MH4 came out, it was handheld exclusive. Now handhelds are gone, and the games are released for PC and home consoles, but the game design is far more in line with what the portable games were doing because they were more popular. I know that's long winded, but I really believe MH and other handheld series had handheld game design philosophy that made them unique from their home console counterparts. Those differences could be impactful enough that in the case of Monster Hunter they were even more appealing for some people, and it's design choices like this that are likely to disappear in a general sense. As awesome as it is that I can play Elden Ring in the car, I can't help but feel like that's the wrong setting for it. Some games were just meant to be played an hour or two at a time instead of 20-30 minutes.
It’s what keeps my 3ds and vita relevant. But I was having this same thought the other day when I was finishing spider-man remastered on my phone with a backbone controller and I flashed back to when I played spider-man on the original gameboy. Yeah playing a triple a game on the go was awesome, but it was something that hit different when I was playing games on the gameboy, which had massive limitations compared to now, but the games were made specifically around those limitations.
@@KurtIndovinathe good thing about Steam is that there are a lot of indie games or games designed to bait your nostalgia. I haven't played Crosscode, but it looks fun, much like something I'd have played on the PS1 or GBA.
Between my Steam Deck, Analogue Pocket and Miyoo Mini, I've got basically everything - but you're 100% spot on for the lack of focus. They do everything so I run into choice paralysis more than I'd like to admit.
I, regretfully, solved that by buying more handhelds and dedicating them to specific consoles. (1) Miyoo Mini+ for GBA, SNES/NES and some MAME (2) RP3+ for PSP, Saturn and some GameCube (3) soon-to-purchase RP2S for N64 and Genesis (4) Switch for easy indie and AAA modern gaming in a portable format and (5) Steam Deck for my steam library primarily at home that I lost access to years ago when my desktop broke. Of course I’ve acquired all these over years and years…
I feel this so incredibly hard. After getting a Steam Deck within the last year, I actually retroactively went back and acquired a relatively new 3DS and finally received my Analogue Pocket to begin collecting physical titles for those systems. There is just something about that era of handhelds that we will never get back and I did not want to lose access to those libraries going forward. Spot on, Kurt.
The massive boost the Switch has received by being supported by both Nintendo's console teams AND their former handheld teams has been undeniable. I don't see them ever going back on that. I do think the handheld game space would be awesome for indie devs though. Smaller experiences designed to be digested in bite-sized chunks and are best in handheld mode. There's definitely a market there!
I couldn't agree more on your take of handhelds. It's those games that embraced their hardware setting that produced the best experiences and left their platforms better for it. Having missed out on the 3DS completely and a good chunk of the PSP library, it's been fun exploring these spaces for the first time, and a few favorites again too 😀
Kurt, I never comment on videos but your passion for gaming and the way you film your videos is just awesome! Followed you over to Gamespot from your old channel… your videos are brilliant! Keep up the great work!
Tim, it's so nice to see you pop up in the comments. And such a huge honor to know you've been along on this journey for so long! Thank you endlessly, Tim!
“The tech defines the experience” echoes Marshall McLuhan’s famous theory “the medium is the message”. The last portable games console I loved was the GBA, and now the Switch Lite gives me that same feeling when I play 2D indie games on it.
I have been lamenting the loss of true handheld game design since the Switch was released. Often on the Switch, developers don't even consider small things like if text is too small in handheld mode. Many space checkpoints hours apart which isn't always conducive to playing during a commute.
Thats why I enjoy this new era of Handhelds. I've got the SteamDeck for Emulation and PC play. Then the Switch for Nintendo and the Evercade for still using cartridges and physical manuals, yes its emulation as well. It has a certain charm to it and it puts games on my Radar I either didn't know about or forgot over time.
A lot of your video topics are actually things that I find interesting and coupled with your style, the video turns out really entertaining and informative.
It's funny because a big part of my enjoyment of portables now is that I'm not playing portable 'versions' of games. I'm just playing the actual full game on the go. I agree you can still miss the magic of made for handheld stuff, but I feel like a lot of indie games fill that niche. So much handheld emulation!
I personally think that indie games should take control for portables, i can imagine games like deep rock and battlebit for handhelds. Plus maybe AAA developers can make franchise games for handhelds such games like MGS peacewalker for example.
Swapping cartridges is inconvenient and you can't put the games on other devices. That seems to be a product for people with irrational nostalgic desires
I feel like 2d games and highly stylized games are simply meant to be played on the go. 3ds, switch and the steam deck are for that reason alone my contenders for the best console ever made. I play AAA rtx 3d games on my beefy PC but everything else is on the deck. And with deck (emulation included) having such a massive library, it's hard not to recommend it.
We also lost the handheld price point. 3DS and Vita had smaller games so they were $40 vs. $60. Even if they were great or big like a long rpg. Switch first made all games the same price and even has gone full $70 with TOTK.
I love my Steam Deck, but I miss that handheld experience of a console having limitations. They couldn't do much technologically, so they made the games great. The games were different and I liked it. As much as the Steam Deck experience is great, console and handheld felt different and brought different gaming experiences. I always thought I wanted the console experience on the go, but I was wrong.
I loved this more than I expected. Very insightful. Meticulously explained a "hole" in handheld gaming... basing his opinions on experience while injecting analysis as an outsider. You sir are not blinded by nostalgia nor closely adapted what's being made available to gamers. I love your logic and expansion on something that's been subtly missing in handheld gaming. While I myself have my gaming needs covered, from Nintendo games, PS, PC, Xbox, and retro games... You are 100% correct that hardwares like DS and 3DS offer a very different function and experience. Hopefully the upcoming Switch 2 has some tech built into it that alleviates our wishful thinking and desires on what handheld gaming was all about.
I've always loved the idea of having powerful handhelds. As a kid, all I wanted was to play PS2 games on the go, but this was before the PSP came out, which I of course got immediately. I thought it was a little underwhelming at the time but I can appreciate it for what it was. At this point in time, the Steam Deck is my absolute favorite handheld of all time since I got it a few months back, only surpassing the Switch that I've had since 2018 which I also immediately declaired my favorite at the time. I'm excited to see what the future holds for handhelds and what YaBoyNintendo does with their next console, speculating that it'll be in line with the Switch/handheld formfactor.
Yeah, that's definitely been a hurdle for me too. Even more so with graphic settings, but tailoring controls and how the track pads function for some games can feel like a chore, especially when it still doesn't feel quite as good as I'd want it too.
Funny you should say that because it's one of the things I feel isn't as big of a problem on the Steam Deck as people make out to be. Many games do require tinkering, but quite a few on Steam are Steam Deck verified, meaning that controls and graphics settings seem to be automatically optimised, making it a very console-like experience once the shaders are cached. Some modern games on pc are also generally quite good at detecting your computer specs, and as thus optimise your games settings to match your pc performance. Some games I don't realise touch the settings (especially much older titles).
This may be an unpopular opinion. I actually think games that had their development on the console (e.g., Resident Evil 4 on the Gamecube, Final Fantasy XIII on the PS3) are better than later releases on PC (or Steam). I don't care much about frame rate or resolution because the artistic design was always based on those specific consoles. Something is usually lost (particularly in the older games) in ports.
6:28 the lost art of handheld gaming. This could be a video all on its own! As someone who was raised in the 90s and remembers playing pokemon / tetris / super mario land on the game boy color, downsizing an image to a handheld is just not the same as a game made to be played handheld. Albeit, most games had a just as reasonable console counterpart.
I think aswell that a lot of handheld games did seem to be more personal to the player. In your own bubble, compared to what there is now. Really enjoyed this video, Kurt really does do the best gamspot content by a mile. Also everyone, you should check out his own channel, he hasn't uploaded for a while but there is tons of still great content there.
As a fellow handheld fan, I'm happy to be living in this golden age of gaming anywhere. I picked up a Deck and Ally (which replaced my OG Aya Neo 4500U for Windows gaming) and have a RetroidPocket 3 and Anbernic RG35XX laying around the house for when I want to hop into some retro games. I'm happy with my non-one and done solution
Great video, definitely relate to the stress of figuring out which camera(s) and which handheld(s) as well as whatever accessory and attachments to bring when I travel. Glad to hear im not the only person who plays multiple games and reads mutliple books concurrently, most people find that strange I find.
If it weren't for the steam deck, I never would've been able to afford the hardware to get started on pc gaming. I didn't want to sit at a desk gaming all day so the steam deck was perfect for me. Being able to play xbox exclusives, playstation exclusives, pc games and indie games all on one console has made my dream come true. I use the steam deck around the house a lot. It feels nice. When it comes to gaming on the go though, I have a modded new 2ds xl and ps vita 1000. Being able to just game and then put it in your pocket feels nice. Better than lugging a case around all day. I have enough games on both handhelds to give me literal YEARS of entertainment. I love emulation and the modding community. They're the reason why gaming history has been preserved so well.
I remember when I was a kid I would play pokemon ruby on my Nintendo xp as it's whimsical music drowned out the sounds of my parents fighting. God I loved that game.
@@KurtIndovina the memory is in fact that despite how good it is, you can softlock the game by not picking up the blacklight required at the end + the game doesn’t let you leave the room that requires it to progress 🤦🏽♂️
@@deagiI HOWEVER there's actually away around that puzzle if you tilt the screen a certain way. So it's not entirely a soft-lock... but a REALLY esoteric solution (which, yes, can be infuriating)
I own a switch, 3ds, retroid pocket 3 plus and an Ambernic RG35XX, I can honestly say I've never had so many options to play games before and on one hand I absolutely love it, but on the other I just have so many options I don't even know where to start
This was a very good watch. I love tetris, i have a small handheld just for that (TrimUI), retro gaming (RP2+), several 3DS, and 2 switches (Lite and normal). When i go out, i just have to choose which one to carry with me, all depending on my what I'm going to do. We need more videos that reflect on the current state of things.
Totally agree and maybe it's the reason my relationship with the switch feels different than the 3ds. I love how "small" games feel. The switch to me feels like I'm emulating other consoles (because it is filled with ports)
This is how I felt when the Switch was Announced, and my friends didn't understand me. The DS library was not only unique, but it didn't take a huge budget to make a successful game for it. Upping the fidelity and making it the only Nintendo platform meant companies had to start conforming to a style that would translate well to handheld and docked environments. Some companies still sell well by only making a handheld experience yes, but we have definitely lost some of those quirky and obscenely original games in the past few years.
Great video! I have the same opinion. One important thing that affects handheld game design is pacing. These are games that are made to be played in chunks, if that's all the time you have. It also works well in case you're interrupted or run out of battery. This is great, because it usually means you can have a meaningful session in less time. There is an interview with Super Mario 3D Land developers where they say their max level length was the time between a couple train stations, because so many people played their 3DS on their commute. In my opinion, this is a key reason why Sony's handheld consoles didn't work out so well for them. They were trying to replicate AAA games in your pocket. They were technically impressive, but that's not what I'm looking forward on a handheld console.
Great video. I’m also into handheld gaming and fell down the PC handheld rabbit hole. Aside from the ROG a ally and Steam Deck, also have handhelds from AyaNeo, GPD, and OneXPlayer. Very niche, expensive, but they are great and sometimes quirky (see GPD Win 4 and WinMax2)
A few years ago I bought a 3DS XL as word got out that the hardware was being discontinued. I already owned a 3DS but wanted the larger screen with improved 3D tech. I'm very happy I did as I can concur that it is no other gaming experience that exists like it with it's dual screens and 3D features. I still find myself collecting games for it as I still carry it around with me along with my Switch OLED. It just provides a different gaming experience which I applaud Nintendo for offering these unique gaming avenues like the DS, WII, and even the Wii U they always seem to be great complementary systems to Playstations and Xboxes. I like to see console like gaming on handhelds and portables but I hope there continues to be handhelds that offer unique gaming experiences outside of beefier portable home consoles.
It was one of those things that your suggestion just validated a reason to make an episode about one of my favorite things! So thank you for watching, suggesting, and being on the same wavelength!
@@KurtIndovina I don’t know if it’s gonna help, but with all the fuzz around Ubisoft taking down inactive accounts, making impossible to reach the games already bought. It seems like a nice topic to talk about. Do we really own our games on this digital era? Game services like gamepass are making more common the idea of renting games. What will happen with the physical copies? (The ones with a CD with only the code of the game on it already moving toward only digital) Sure will appreciate a video about your opinion on the subject. Sorry for my English, not my primary language.
It’s funny I’ve been handheld gaming my whole life but as an adult I love nothing more than being able to play my console gamers handheld, the Switch changed the game for me and the G Cloud kept me playing so much this year.
I can’t believe GameSpot has a Anbernic device in one of there vids 😂 I thought I’d never see ANY big VideoGame outlet even mention a Retro Handheld device just because of the legality of it
As far as I know, making copies/backups of games to sell or share online is what could get someone in trouble. Likewise, you shouldn’t/can’t use backups from other people, but if you create it yourself from the games you own, to use it and preserve the original copies, then that’s ok. At least that’s what I heard last time I checked (about 5 years ago).
I couldn’t agree more; I use an Anbernic “ the one that looks like a Gameboy”. I love it for traveling since it actually fits into your pocket. As a 33 year old adult I just feel kinda childish and goofy bring my switch with me.
I also vary my games and books at the same time. Couldn’t do anything else! Also I still have my original Donkey Kong and Mario Bros handhelds from the 80s, and 1st gen Gameboy. We need to keep those fun systems/games alive.
I'm glad you understand what it's like to vary game and book intake! There's a lot of people I know who don't understand how I do it, but it's honestly the only way I can manage to get through it all.
I agree with the points you made. I have a Switch, Vita, and Anbernic. I love the flexibility of these handhelds but I miss the ones that had dedicated games like the 3DS and Vita. Technology has been amazing for gaming over the last several years but I think it's becoming a bit stale too if that makes sense. I'm excited to see what the Switch successor will be. Nintendo loves to think outside the box sometimes when it comes to their consoles. I really love your series and always look forward to a new video from you Kurt. Keep up the great work
as a child of the DS generation, I totally understand this feeling. I have both a DSi XL from my childhood, a new 3DS XL with dual IPS screens, a cheap DSi i got on marketplace, a Lite thats for parts in a drawer and a transparent 2DS from when i was a kid. I mostly use the XL models since the New 3DS is a significant upgrade, and the DSi one comes with dope ass IPS screens, but I've found myself also loving to toss the smaller one in my bag in case i get bored, more like i would with a book on a commute. While i love my Steam Deck and its an amazing device, it's really not something I'd bring out to a night on the town. Same with the Switch, I've both brought them with me to friend's houses, family and school, but I find myself gravitating towards small puzzles games on the 3DS like Pushmo a lot more when I'm just going to have 15 ish minutes of play time at a time. If i know i might have to wait in line at the pharmacy, for example, I'll bring my DS and play some Pokemon, but I would never bother to pack up my Steam Deck just to maybe play 15 minutes. Clamshell systems with a good automatic sleep function are a lot easier to treat as a book than a slab style console: no exposed screens to be careful of and you can just close it at any time and start back up later. It's truly a shame we don't have any options on that market anymore.
I had a dual IPS 3ds XL, but the polarizer film started to peel off on the upper screen XC i got a regular new 3ds with dual IPS but now I’m too scared to use it at all XD
Yeah the handheld market has gotten over saturated over the past couple years, BUT this was all thanks to the Steamdeck. So thank you Valve. The interest to handhelds has always been there Ever since things like the switch and the Ds eras. It's cool too. Surprised Sony hasn't made a vita successor yet. big sad. I think its crazy how handhelds are making a comeback. Haven't seen this much variety in a long time.
I love the switch and use it portably quite a bit but I will say lately I've just been using my phone with retroarch to emulate retro games. I got that tiny 8bitdo controller that I carry around and it works really well especially playing vertical shmups. I do really miss having a 3ds though I think its the perfect handheld.
I've had Switch Lite for couple of months now and I do enjoy it a lot! But just the last week I had a weird thought that my Switch experience feels very different from DS or 3DS. That's when I really felt that god damn I miss those games that were specially developed for an unusual piece of hardware with it's own unique features. I even spent some time thinking what could be my own portable gaming device if I were to develop one. Glad I still got my 2DS with me and the R4 cartridge🤤
Why oh why did everyone hate the 3d on the 3ds it was so awesome and now well never get anything like that again !!! Imagine what they could do now with stereoscopic 3d handhelds
Photography and gaming! My new love and my old one. Thank you for this video. I agree. I rebought my 3DS a few months ago for preservation. Homebrew allowed me to have a little time capsule of a transitional period of my life.
Agree with everything you said. What I think, we also lost with all those devices now available: a lack of focus. I got several retro emulation handhelds, a Vita, 3DS, GBA SP, Steam Deck and Switch and a Series X. Back in the days, I only had one device at a time and played just one or two games usually. These days it's difficult to even decide which game to start with or which is "worthy" of my time to be played until the end. It's kinda sad because there's good games that don't get the time they deserve because of so many "better" games or just other options. Is it my fault? Yes, definitely 😅 But it's also a problem of the whole gaming landscape. Just my thoughts.
I think it's equally a byproduct of an over saturated market! It's the same with every medium. We are simply paralyzed with options. It's a "good" problem to have, but ultimately, I think we need to be more comfortable with simply accepting that we can't experience all of those great things. Trust me, it's a pill I'm constantly trying to swallow. It's tough.
@@KurtIndovina It really is. And I do want to actively reduce my options again step by step to reduce this option paralysis. So as a first step, I actually just sold my PS5 a few minutes ago 😁(forgot to mention that I also owned that one, too)
I guess the answer to what I'm going to say is mobile, and sure, it's great that soon I'll be able to play Batman: Arkham Asylum on Switch, but I miss the DS era and things designed for bite sized moments of playtime. Things like Elite Beat Agents or Rock Bank Unplugged. I just got a Vita in May, and it was hard to carve out 15 minutes on my break at work to say, play LEGO Batman 2.
Handheld games always seemed to respect your time more. They were for rides in the car, time between classes, or a bit before bed. So every minute had to be enjoyable.
I have to agree I feel like something has been lost with the end of the 3DS and Vita both feel like the last traditional handhelds that had stuff tailor made for them. I enjoyed the hell out of both machines but at the same time I usually reach for my Deck before I do either one of those two. I'm just too fond of it's all around nature and the sheer ability of being able to play nearly any thing I want. Sure it's not the most portable thing out there but then again I'll take that trade off for the power.
I do think a lot of Nintendo's 1st party games (not counting ports) still have that handheld design philosophy. Mario Odyssey and Zelda Botw/TotK are full of little objectives so it is still possible to make tangible progress in small sessions. Fire Emblem and Advance Wars have long stages but have always let players suspend a session until the game is booted up again. Then again, it might be just because Nintendo doesn't often make games that with huge stories that require a lot of cinematic setpieces or certain pacing to fully enjoy. Having said that, the fact that the 3DS and PSP had good ports for older console games does tell me that handheld gaming peaked with those two.
Etrian Odyssey series is an excellent example of games designed for dual screen handheld of DS. The remastered version on switch is great and all but the map drawing is exactly should be on a separate screen.
I'd argue that the Sega Nomad was the Switch before the Switch. You could play the Nomad on its screen or connect it to a TV to play, you couldn't do that with a Turbo Express without modding the hardware. Some of the more modern retro handhelds run Android, this means they aren't just for emulation. You can play native Android games on them or use them to stream games via Game Pass. But I do agree that we now have games that can be played on handhelds but we don't have handheld games.
This really hits home for me. As happy as I am to have so much power in handhelds, I'm definitely going to miss what handheld games were like while I was growing up
I'm constantly struggling with "is it nostalgia" or "do I actually think an art form is lost?" It's tough. There's something so tactile about handheld gaming sometimes that I think is a hard feeling to replicate
@@KurtIndovina an interesting snapshot of gaming that helps me frame my view on the topic is the Monster Hunter series. Originally the series was home console exclusive, but when the PSP came out they started making 'portable' versions of each entry for handhelds, continuing on to the 3ds when that came out. They were made by a different team, and were basically just ports of the home versions, but they made some small changes in an effort to streamline the gameplay loop and make it more 'bite sized'. The end result? They were more popular than the home versions, the distinct difference in game design was more appealing for most people. Eventually, when MH4 came out, it was handheld exclusive. Now handhelds are gone, and the games are released for PC and home consoles, but the game design is far more in line with what the portable games were doing because they were more popular.
I know that's long winded, but I really believe MH and other handheld series had handheld game design philosophy that made them unique from their home console counterparts. Those differences could be impactful enough that in the case of Monster Hunter they were even more appealing for some people, and it's design choices like this that are likely to disappear in a general sense. As awesome as it is that I can play Elden Ring in the car, I can't help but feel like that's the wrong setting for it. Some games were just meant to be played an hour or two at a time instead of 20-30 minutes.
It’s what keeps my 3ds and vita relevant. But I was having this same thought the other day when I was finishing spider-man remastered on my phone with a backbone controller and I flashed back to when I played spider-man on the original gameboy. Yeah playing a triple a game on the go was awesome, but it was something that hit different when I was playing games on the gameboy, which had massive limitations compared to now, but the games were made specifically around those limitations.
@@KurtIndovinathe good thing about Steam is that there are a lot of indie games or games designed to bait your nostalgia. I haven't played Crosscode, but it looks fun, much like something I'd have played on the PS1 or GBA.
That’s why I guess Nintendo are still popular even with their weaker switch chip.
Obviously gamers miss that 90s
gaming nostalgia 👍
Love this guy and his perspective on gaming
Means a whole damn lot. Thank you for watching.
@@KurtIndovina Been keeping up with your content since your Skyrim on Switch video on your old channel, keep making incredible content Kurt 🙏
@@cameronc6114 It MEANS EVEN MORE that you've been on this journey with me for that long! BY THE NINE. Thank you, Cameron
Yeah your stuff is some of the only times I click anything on here or ign.
@@KurtIndovina Its so nice to see that they saw your potential. You are huge! Been your fan since your newspaper days hahaha
GameSpot needs to give this guy a raise!
Seriously makes the best videos!
Absolutely agree!
He's really the main one that pulls me back to them lately.
He has a nice style I like to watch.
Between my Steam Deck, Analogue Pocket and Miyoo Mini, I've got basically everything - but you're 100% spot on for the lack of focus. They do everything so I run into choice paralysis more than I'd like to admit.
I, regretfully, solved that by buying more handhelds and dedicating them to specific consoles. (1) Miyoo Mini+ for GBA, SNES/NES and some MAME (2) RP3+ for PSP, Saturn and some GameCube (3) soon-to-purchase RP2S for N64 and Genesis (4) Switch for easy indie and AAA modern gaming in a portable format and (5) Steam Deck for my steam library primarily at home that I lost access to years ago when my desktop broke. Of course I’ve acquired all these over years and years…
I feel this so incredibly hard. After getting a Steam Deck within the last year, I actually retroactively went back and acquired a relatively new 3DS and finally received my Analogue Pocket to begin collecting physical titles for those systems. There is just something about that era of handhelds that we will never get back and I did not want to lose access to those libraries going forward. Spot on, Kurt.
and the design too, I personally like the design for the analogue pocket thou nowadays i like having joysticks and shoulder buttons
To me the NDS Lite and PSP 3000
Will always be some of the best handheld gaming had to offer
Agree
I miss having games with the same title on both console & handheld which each provide a unique experience while following a similar plot
A handheld should fit in your pocket. That’s what made them awesome.
YES
@@overlordh1254 yes and im dying to find an alternative
I love my og 3ds
It's so compact
💯💯💯
I haven't even watched the video yet but when I see this guy in a video you know it's going to be quality I love him
Love you too. Thanks for watching.
The massive boost the Switch has received by being supported by both Nintendo's console teams AND their former handheld teams has been undeniable. I don't see them ever going back on that. I do think the handheld game space would be awesome for indie devs though. Smaller experiences designed to be digested in bite-sized chunks and are best in handheld mode. There's definitely a market there!
Aye!
Kurt is great, one of the few people on youtube I watch somewhat regularly. I still play my old handheld devices for the exact reasons Kurt mentions.
Hey, you're great. Thank you so much for coming by again and again. Long live handhelds!
Kurt showing Hotel Dusk Room 215 warms my heart.
I will take any chance I can get to sneak that game in.
I couldn't agree more on your take of handhelds. It's those games that embraced their hardware setting that produced the best experiences and left their platforms better for it.
Having missed out on the 3DS completely and a good chunk of the PSP library, it's been fun exploring these spaces for the first time, and a few favorites again too 😀
Kurt, I never comment on videos but your passion for gaming and the way you film your videos is just awesome! Followed you over to Gamespot from your old channel… your videos are brilliant! Keep up the great work!
Tim, it's so nice to see you pop up in the comments. And such a huge honor to know you've been along on this journey for so long! Thank you endlessly, Tim!
Kurt you got it totally right. We are missing our handheld eclectic games. Really love the Kurt Locker series.
Correlating the range of handhelds to camera types was brilliant. Different forms for different functions.
i miss my psp and gameboy. when handhelds were pocketable. those were fun times
It warms my heart to see someone else who hasn’t forgotten about Hotel Dusk.
I will never forget, nor will I allow others to forget.
Lol still have my physical copy
“The tech defines the experience” echoes Marshall McLuhan’s famous theory “the medium is the message”.
The last portable games console I loved was the GBA, and now the Switch Lite gives me that same feeling when I play 2D indie games on it.
I have been lamenting the loss of true handheld game design since the Switch was released. Often on the Switch, developers don't even consider small things like if text is too small in handheld mode. Many space checkpoints hours apart which isn't always conducive to playing during a commute.
This was a fun video, diving into an aspect of gaming. I wish there were more videos like this.
We'll keep doing our best! Thank you for watching.
Thats why I enjoy this new era of Handhelds. I've got the SteamDeck for Emulation and PC play. Then the Switch for Nintendo and the Evercade for still using cartridges and physical manuals, yes its emulation as well. It has a certain charm to it and it puts games on my Radar I either didn't know about or forgot over time.
Its pretty crazy how you manage to make videos this entertaining and informative with these run times!
A lot of your video topics are actually things that I find interesting and coupled with your style, the video turns out really entertaining and informative.
It's funny because a big part of my enjoyment of portables now is that I'm not playing portable 'versions' of games. I'm just playing the actual full game on the go. I agree you can still miss the magic of made for handheld stuff, but I feel like a lot of indie games fill that niche. So much handheld emulation!
exactly how I feel.
Me too 👍🏻
I personally think that indie games should take control for portables, i can imagine games like deep rock and battlebit for handhelds. Plus maybe AAA developers can make franchise games for handhelds such games like MGS peacewalker for example.
The steam deck turned out to be the best purchase I have ever made!
Especially once you get Emu Deck installed on it. I love my Steam Deck.
mine too!! I can experience my child hood again and new games too in 1 single device.
@@ThangPlants I agree! Being able to hop between Spider-Man (2018) and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance on the same system is next level.
Fire Emblem! 🔥
i just wish they made a much smaller one
Toilet gaming is the best type of gaming.
Facts homie, I love that shit😉
Politely Disagree
Watching this video from the toilet!
Until you get up and your legs completely collapse
@@miggy3890i thought it's only me, good to hear that i am not alone 😂
Dude needs to get an Evercade! Awesome handheld with cartridges 🔥
There's SO MANY options these days. It is mind boggling.
Swapping cartridges is inconvenient and you can't put the games on other devices. That seems to be a product for people with irrational nostalgic desires
I feel like 2d games and highly stylized games are simply meant to be played on the go. 3ds, switch and the steam deck are for that reason alone my contenders for the best console ever made. I play AAA rtx 3d games on my beefy PC but everything else is on the deck. And with deck (emulation included) having such a massive library, it's hard not to recommend it.
I really like gunvolt, but i cant play it anywhere but the 3DS D:
We also lost the handheld price point. 3DS and Vita had smaller games so they were $40 vs. $60. Even if they were great or big like a long rpg. Switch first made all games the same price and even has gone full $70 with TOTK.
When ToTk is a glorified DLC to BOTW…
I love my Steam Deck, but I miss that handheld experience of a console having limitations. They couldn't do much technologically, so they made the games great. The games were different and I liked it. As much as the Steam Deck experience is great, console and handheld felt different and brought different gaming experiences. I always thought I wanted the console experience on the go, but I was wrong.
I loved this more than I expected. Very insightful.
Meticulously explained a "hole" in handheld gaming... basing his opinions on experience while injecting analysis as an outsider.
You sir are not blinded by nostalgia nor closely adapted what's being made available to gamers. I love your logic and expansion on something that's been subtly missing in handheld gaming.
While I myself have my gaming needs covered, from Nintendo games, PS, PC, Xbox, and retro games... You are 100% correct that hardwares like DS and 3DS offer a very different function and experience.
Hopefully the upcoming Switch 2 has some tech built into it that alleviates our wishful thinking and desires on what handheld gaming was all about.
Thank you so much! Very glad we're on the same wave length. Really appreciate you taking the time to watch and leave a comment.
Wow, I was binging Kurt Locker right about for the past 40 minutes... New video, huh? Thanks for the video, Kurt!
Love your content!
First and foremost, thank you for sharing your time with me! Very happy this episode is keeping that train going. It means a lot.
@@KurtIndovina Keep it up the good videos!
PS: your cat is awesome in the videos 😂
I've always loved the idea of having powerful handhelds. As a kid, all I wanted was to play PS2 games on the go, but this was before the PSP came out, which I of course got immediately. I thought it was a little underwhelming at the time but I can appreciate it for what it was. At this point in time, the Steam Deck is my absolute favorite handheld of all time since I got it a few months back, only surpassing the Switch that I've had since 2018 which I also immediately declaired my favorite at the time. I'm excited to see what the future holds for handhelds and what YaBoyNintendo does with their next console, speculating that it'll be in line with the Switch/handheld formfactor.
i wish it would be portable i.e fit in the pocket
The Steam deck is great, but having to fiddle with settings like a PC really does damage to the 'pick up and play' feel of a handheld.
Yeah, that's definitely been a hurdle for me too. Even more so with graphic settings, but tailoring controls and how the track pads function for some games can feel like a chore, especially when it still doesn't feel quite as good as I'd want it too.
Funny you should say that because it's one of the things I feel isn't as big of a problem on the Steam Deck as people make out to be.
Many games do require tinkering, but quite a few on Steam are Steam Deck verified, meaning that controls and graphics settings seem to be automatically optimised, making it a very console-like experience once the shaders are cached. Some modern games on pc are also generally quite good at detecting your computer specs, and as thus optimise your games settings to match your pc performance. Some games I don't realise touch the settings (especially much older titles).
This may be an unpopular opinion. I actually think games that had their development on the console (e.g., Resident Evil 4 on the Gamecube, Final Fantasy XIII on the PS3) are better than later releases on PC (or Steam). I don't care much about frame rate or resolution because the artistic design was always based on those specific consoles. Something is usually lost (particularly in the older games) in ports.
6:28 the lost art of handheld gaming. This could be a video all on its own! As someone who was raised in the 90s and remembers playing pokemon / tetris / super mario land on the game boy color, downsizing an image to a handheld is just not the same as a game made to be played handheld. Albeit, most games had a just as reasonable console counterpart.
I think aswell that a lot of handheld games did seem to be more personal to the player. In your own bubble, compared to what there is now.
Really enjoyed this video, Kurt really does do the best gamspot content by a mile. Also everyone, you should check out his own channel, he hasn't uploaded for a while but there is tons of still great content there.
As a fellow handheld fan, I'm happy to be living in this golden age of gaming anywhere. I picked up a Deck and Ally (which replaced my OG Aya Neo 4500U for Windows gaming) and have a RetroidPocket 3 and Anbernic RG35XX laying around the house for when I want to hop into some retro games. I'm happy with my non-one and done solution
Great video, definitely relate to the stress of figuring out which camera(s) and which handheld(s) as well as whatever accessory and attachments to bring when I travel. Glad to hear im not the only person who plays multiple games and reads mutliple books concurrently, most people find that strange I find.
If it weren't for the steam deck, I never would've been able to afford the hardware to get started on pc gaming. I didn't want to sit at a desk gaming all day so the steam deck was perfect for me. Being able to play xbox exclusives, playstation exclusives, pc games and indie games all on one console has made my dream come true. I use the steam deck around the house a lot. It feels nice. When it comes to gaming on the go though, I have a modded new 2ds xl and ps vita 1000. Being able to just game and then put it in your pocket feels nice. Better than lugging a case around all day. I have enough games on both handhelds to give me literal YEARS of entertainment. I love emulation and the modding community. They're the reason why gaming history has been preserved so well.
I remember when I was a kid I would play pokemon ruby on my Nintendo xp as it's whimsical music drowned out the sounds of my parents fighting. God I loved that game.
I love these videos so much! Retro handhelds are such a cool thing
7:00 just unlocked a core memory of Hotel Dusk Room 215
I am honored to have been responsible for this memory unlocking.
@@KurtIndovina the memory is in fact that despite how good it is, you can softlock the game by not picking up the blacklight required at the end + the game doesn’t let you leave the room that requires it to progress 🤦🏽♂️
@@deagiI HOWEVER there's actually away around that puzzle if you tilt the screen a certain way. So it's not entirely a soft-lock... but a REALLY esoteric solution (which, yes, can be infuriating)
this is… news and life changing information. I need to dig out my DS immediately.
@@deagiI If you tilt the DS and look at the screen from a different angle, the number will be revealed! ITS AMAZING.
I own a switch, 3ds, retroid pocket 3 plus and an Ambernic RG35XX, I can honestly say I've never had so many options to play games before and on one hand I absolutely love it, but on the other I just have so many options I don't even know where to start
This was a very good watch. I love tetris, i have a small handheld just for that (TrimUI), retro gaming (RP2+), several 3DS, and 2 switches (Lite and normal). When i go out, i just have to choose which one to carry with me, all depending on my what I'm going to do. We need more videos that reflect on the current state of things.
Totally agree and maybe it's the reason my relationship with the switch feels different than the 3ds. I love how "small" games feel. The switch to me feels like I'm emulating other consoles (because it is filled with ports)
To add to your point, many Switch games are designed with the TV in mind. The prior 3DS couldn't be docked, so the games were designed around that.
For those wondering what is that weird game with VW Beetle/Bug - it's Mizzurna Falls. Looks like pre GTA3 before GTA3 was a thing.
First time I'm seeing this guy. Immediately subbed and liked. He's legit cool!
This is how I felt when the Switch was Announced, and my friends didn't understand me. The DS library was not only unique, but it didn't take a huge budget to make a successful game for it. Upping the fidelity and making it the only Nintendo platform meant companies had to start conforming to a style that would translate well to handheld and docked environments. Some companies still sell well by only making a handheld experience yes, but we have definitely lost some of those quirky and obscenely original games in the past few years.
Great video! I have the same opinion. One important thing that affects handheld game design is pacing. These are games that are made to be played in chunks, if that's all the time you have. It also works well in case you're interrupted or run out of battery. This is great, because it usually means you can have a meaningful session in less time.
There is an interview with Super Mario 3D Land developers where they say their max level length was the time between a couple train stations, because so many people played their 3DS on their commute.
In my opinion, this is a key reason why Sony's handheld consoles didn't work out so well for them. They were trying to replicate AAA games in your pocket. They were technically impressive, but that's not what I'm looking forward on a handheld console.
Great video. I’m also into handheld gaming and fell down the PC handheld rabbit hole. Aside from the ROG a ally and Steam Deck, also have handhelds from AyaNeo, GPD, and OneXPlayer. Very niche, expensive, but they are great and sometimes quirky (see GPD Win 4 and WinMax2)
Another awesome video. Keep up the great work Kurt!!
A few years ago I bought a 3DS XL as word got out that the hardware was being discontinued. I already owned a 3DS but wanted the larger screen with improved 3D tech. I'm very happy I did as I can concur that it is no other gaming experience that exists like it with it's dual screens and 3D features. I still find myself collecting games for it as I still carry it around with me along with my Switch OLED. It just provides a different gaming experience which I applaud Nintendo for offering these unique gaming avenues like the DS, WII, and even the Wii U they always seem to be great complementary systems to Playstations and Xboxes. I like to see console like gaming on handhelds and portables but I hope there continues to be handhelds that offer unique gaming experiences outside of beefier portable home consoles.
Thank you so much for making a video about my suggestion!
Amazing job as always! Keep the great work!
It was one of those things that your suggestion just validated a reason to make an episode about one of my favorite things! So thank you for watching, suggesting, and being on the same wavelength!
@@KurtIndovina I don’t know if it’s gonna help, but with all the fuzz around Ubisoft taking down inactive accounts, making impossible to reach the games already bought. It seems like a nice topic to talk about. Do we really own our games on this digital era? Game services like gamepass are making more common the idea of renting games. What will happen with the physical copies? (The ones with a CD with only the code of the game on it already moving toward only digital)
Sure will appreciate a video about your opinion on the subject.
Sorry for my English, not my primary language.
Really surprised there wasn’t a gameboy camera cameo in here
An interesting perspective. This video was so slickly produced though!!
My week is never complete without an episode of Kurt Locker! Keep up the incredible work.
Thank you so much, Brian. Honored we're a part of your week.
It’s funny I’ve been handheld gaming my whole life but as an adult I love nothing more than being able to play my console gamers handheld, the Switch changed the game for me and the G Cloud kept me playing so much this year.
I can’t believe GameSpot has a Anbernic device in one of there vids 😂
I thought I’d never see ANY big VideoGame outlet even mention a Retro Handheld device just because of the legality of it
As far as I know, making copies/backups of games to sell or share online is what could get someone in trouble. Likewise, you shouldn’t/can’t use backups from other people, but if you create it yourself from the games you own, to use it and preserve the original copies, then that’s ok. At least that’s what I heard last time I checked (about 5 years ago).
I couldn’t agree more; I use an Anbernic “ the one that looks like a Gameboy”. I love it for traveling since it actually fits into your pocket. As a 33 year old adult I just feel kinda childish and goofy bring my switch with me.
Hotel Dusk is masterpiece
YOURE DAMN RIGHT IT IS
Give Kurt his own channel!
DUDE, that soviet pioneers tie was GOLD
This guy is cool. The past few Gamespot vids with him I watched were dope…keep him on the payroll lol
I still carry my PSP go, great handheld & can fit in your pocket 👍
I also vary my games and books at the same time. Couldn’t do anything else!
Also I still have my original Donkey Kong and Mario Bros handhelds from the 80s, and 1st gen Gameboy. We need to keep those fun systems/games alive.
I'm glad you understand what it's like to vary game and book intake! There's a lot of people I know who don't understand how I do it, but it's honestly the only way I can manage to get through it all.
I miss being able to carry a handheld console in my pocket. They're so big now.
You and me both.
Did Kurt just said "VELVE"? Great video, Kurt. Thanks!
You didn't hear that Valve is rebranding to Velve? That's the new hip cool way to say it. I promise. Seriously. I didn't say it weird. Nope.
Just bought a 3Ds from Mecari and I love it
I agree with the points you made. I have a Switch, Vita, and Anbernic. I love the flexibility of these handhelds but I miss the ones that had dedicated games like the 3DS and Vita. Technology has been amazing for gaming over the last several years but I think it's becoming a bit stale too if that makes sense. I'm excited to see what the Switch successor will be. Nintendo loves to think outside the box sometimes when it comes to their consoles. I really love your series and always look forward to a new video from you Kurt. Keep up the great work
as a child of the DS generation, I totally understand this feeling. I have both a DSi XL from my childhood, a new 3DS XL with dual IPS screens, a cheap DSi i got on marketplace, a Lite thats for parts in a drawer and a transparent 2DS from when i was a kid. I mostly use the XL models since the New 3DS is a significant upgrade, and the DSi one comes with dope ass IPS screens, but I've found myself also loving to toss the smaller one in my bag in case i get bored, more like i would with a book on a commute.
While i love my Steam Deck and its an amazing device, it's really not something I'd bring out to a night on the town. Same with the Switch, I've both brought them with me to friend's houses, family and school, but I find myself gravitating towards small puzzles games on the 3DS like Pushmo a lot more when I'm just going to have 15 ish minutes of play time at a time. If i know i might have to wait in line at the pharmacy, for example, I'll bring my DS and play some Pokemon, but I would never bother to pack up my Steam Deck just to maybe play 15 minutes.
Clamshell systems with a good automatic sleep function are a lot easier to treat as a book than a slab style console: no exposed screens to be careful of and you can just close it at any time and start back up later. It's truly a shame we don't have any options on that market anymore.
I had a dual IPS 3ds XL, but the polarizer film started to peel off on the upper screen XC i got a regular new 3ds with dual IPS but now I’m too scared to use it at all XD
A fellow Photographer Kurt here and this video gets all my thumbs up for THE KURT LOCKER
Long Live Photographer Kurts!
I was a handheld gamer kid growing up!!!
Yeah the handheld market has gotten over saturated over the past couple years, BUT this was all thanks to the Steamdeck. So thank you Valve. The interest to handhelds has always been there Ever since things like the switch and the Ds eras. It's cool too. Surprised Sony hasn't made a vita successor yet. big sad. I think its crazy how handhelds are making a comeback. Haven't seen this much variety in a long time.
I love the switch and use it portably quite a bit but I will say lately I've just been using my phone with retroarch to emulate retro games. I got that tiny 8bitdo controller that I carry around and it works really well especially playing vertical shmups. I do really miss having a 3ds though I think its the perfect handheld.
I would happily pick steam deck and a PC for my gaming solution.
Steamdeck can emulate almost everything and can also play almost all the steam lib 🙂
Kurt making another great video. Can't wait for the next episode. Keep up the great work Kurt.
I've had Switch Lite for couple of months now and I do enjoy it a lot! But just the last week I had a weird thought that my Switch experience feels very different from DS or 3DS. That's when I really felt that god damn I miss those games that were specially developed for an unusual piece of hardware with it's own unique features. I even spent some time thinking what could be my own portable gaming device if I were to develop one. Glad I still got my 2DS with me and the R4 cartridge🤤
This has been an amazing series. To say this was my favorite episode speaks even more about the quality of the writing and editing. Great work!
Why oh why did everyone hate the 3d on the 3ds it was so awesome and now well never get anything like that again !!! Imagine what they could do now with stereoscopic 3d handhelds
Photography and gaming! My new love and my old one.
Thank you for this video.
I agree. I rebought my 3DS a few months ago for preservation. Homebrew allowed me to have a little time capsule of a transitional period of my life.
Agree with everything you said. What I think, we also lost with all those devices now available: a lack of focus. I got several retro emulation handhelds, a Vita, 3DS, GBA SP, Steam Deck and Switch and a Series X. Back in the days, I only had one device at a time and played just one or two games usually. These days it's difficult to even decide which game to start with or which is "worthy" of my time to be played until the end. It's kinda sad because there's good games that don't get the time they deserve because of so many "better" games or just other options. Is it my fault? Yes, definitely 😅 But it's also a problem of the whole gaming landscape. Just my thoughts.
I think it's equally a byproduct of an over saturated market! It's the same with every medium. We are simply paralyzed with options. It's a "good" problem to have, but ultimately, I think we need to be more comfortable with simply accepting that we can't experience all of those great things. Trust me, it's a pill I'm constantly trying to swallow. It's tough.
@@KurtIndovina It really is. And I do want to actively reduce my options again step by step to reduce this option paralysis. So as a first step, I actually just sold my PS5 a few minutes ago 😁(forgot to mention that I also owned that one, too)
you really opened my eyes with your video about 6/10 games thank you
I guess the answer to what I'm going to say is mobile, and sure, it's great that soon I'll be able to play Batman: Arkham Asylum on Switch, but I miss the DS era and things designed for bite sized moments of playtime. Things like Elite Beat Agents or Rock Bank Unplugged. I just got a Vita in May, and it was hard to carve out 15 minutes on my break at work to say, play LEGO Batman 2.
If gamespot ever loses this guy, gamespot will have lost one of the most unique video game content voices in the space
He is the only reason I watch this channel. He's a gem!
Handheld games always seemed to respect your time more. They were for rides in the car, time between classes, or a bit before bed. So every minute had to be enjoyable.
I have to agree I feel like something has been lost with the end of the 3DS and Vita both feel like the last traditional handhelds that had stuff tailor made for them. I enjoyed the hell out of both machines but at the same time I usually reach for my Deck before I do either one of those two. I'm just too fond of it's all around nature and the sheer ability of being able to play nearly any thing I want. Sure it's not the most portable thing out there but then again I'll take that trade off for the power.
the dsi and the wii still have a lot of value. DS games look waaaaay better on ds than they do on 3ds.
Kurt is my favorite Gamespot presenter
Which is why i still love my 3ds and 2ds
Switch lite is the only true handheld left in the market
I do think a lot of Nintendo's 1st party games (not counting ports) still have that handheld design philosophy. Mario Odyssey and Zelda Botw/TotK are full of little objectives so it is still possible to make tangible progress in small sessions. Fire Emblem and Advance Wars have long stages but have always let players suspend a session until the game is booted up again. Then again, it might be just because Nintendo doesn't often make games that with huge stories that require a lot of cinematic setpieces or certain pacing to fully enjoy.
Having said that, the fact that the 3DS and PSP had good ports for older console games does tell me that handheld gaming peaked with those two.
The way he placed his handhelds on the table like that gave me anxiety
Etrian Odyssey series is an excellent example of games designed for dual screen handheld of DS. The remastered version on switch is great and all but the map drawing is exactly should be on a separate screen.
I wanted that turbographix handheld so bad!
I'd argue that the Sega Nomad was the Switch before the Switch. You could play the Nomad on its screen or connect it to a TV to play, you couldn't do that with a Turbo Express without modding the hardware.
Some of the more modern retro handhelds run Android, this means they aren't just for emulation. You can play native Android games on them or use them to stream games via Game Pass.
But I do agree that we now have games that can be played on handhelds but we don't have handheld games.
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say..... PLEASE MAKE MORE VIDEOS ABOUT HANDHELDS!❤🔥🐮
shout out to that Mizzurna Falls introjection in there!!
YESSSSSS
such a beautiful video! you have a new subscriber
Who is this guy? He’s amazing! GameSpot keep him on!