List of handheld game consoles

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The list of handheld game consoles documents notable

handheld game consoles released as commercial products. Handheld game consoles are portable video game consoles with a built-in screen and game controls and the ability to play multiple and separate video games. It does not include PDAs, smartphones, or tablet computers; while those devices are often capable of playing games, they are not generally classified as video game consoles. This is not a complete list; it only lists handheld game consoles with its own Wikipedia article and a source verifying its classification as a handheld console. Currently there are 52 entries in this list, 4 consoles were canceled.[note 1]

List

Name Image Notes Release year Units Sold Ref
Microvision (Milton Bradley Company) 1979[2] [1]
Entex Select-A-Game 1981[3] [3]
Entex Adventure Vision 1982[5] 50,000[5] [4]
Palmtex Portable Videogame System
  • Only 3 games released.[6]
  • Plays cartridges containing a colored sprite overlay, using a
    monochrome LCD on top of the overlay to cover/uncover each sprite during gameplay[6]
 1984[6] [6]
Digi Casse
  • Game cartridges contained an LCD
 1984 [7]
Epoch Game Pocket Computer Epoch Game Pocket Computer from the front left.
  • Cartridge based handheld, with additional software built in.
  • Monochrome display
  • Battery life of approximately 60+ hours on 4 AA batteries.
 1984 [8]
Game Boy (Nintendo) 1989[1] 118,690,000[12] [1]
Atari Lynx
  • First handheld electronic game with a color LCD,[3] 3.5 inch screen.[1]
  • Plays ROM cartridges[13]
  • Hardware revision smaller Atari Lynx II released in 1991.[3]
  • Less than 100 games released.[13]
  • Considered a commercial failure.[3]
 1989[1] 500,000[14] [1]
Game Gear 1990[18] 11,000,000[15] [1]
TurboExpress (NEC)
  • Internally similar to NEC's TurboGrafx-16 home console, directly able to play its games.[3]
  • Plays ROM cartridges[1]
  • Technologically advanced for its time, but high price and short battery life plagued its commercial appeal.[1][3]
 1990[19] 1,500,000[14] [1]
Gamate (Bit Corporation) 1990[20] [20]
Game Master (Hartung) 1990[17] [17]
Watara Supervision 1992[17] [17]
Mega Duck (Welback Holdings) 1993[17] [17]
Sega Nomad
  • Sega's second and last traditional handheld.
  • Played entire Sega Genesis library and its exact ROM cartridges.[1]
  • No games specifically made for it, no compatibility for any other Sega platforms.[3]
  • Suffered from fast battery consumption and launching at a time when Sega trying to support many other platforms concurrently.[17][3]
  • Considered technical marvel but a commercial failure.[17][1]
 1995[14] 1,000,000[14] [1]
Design Master Senshi Mangajukuu
  • Bandai's touchscreen handheld game console
 1995 [22]
Game.com (Tiger Electronics) 1997[3] 300,000[14] [3]
Neo Geo Pocket 1998[24] 2,000,000[14] [1]
WonderSwan (Bandai) 1999[1] 3,500,000[26][27] [1]
Cybiko
  • Combination PDA and handheld game console.[28]
  • Plays digital games via internet download from PC.[28]
  • More than 430 games and applications produced, all free.[29]
  • Hardware revision
    Cybiko Xtreme released in September 2001.[28]
 2000[28] 500,000[30] [31]
Game Boy Advance (Nintendo) 2001[33] 81,500,000[34] [1]
GP32 (Game Park) 2001[3] 32,000[35] [1]
P/ECE (AQUAPLUS)
2001[36]
N-Gage (Nokia) 2003[40][3] 3,000,000[14] [1]
GameKing
  • Series of low end handhelds
 2003 [41]
Tapwave Zodiac 2003[1] 200,000[14] [1]
Nintendo DS 2004[1] 154,000,000[44] [1]
PlayStation Portable (Sony) 2004 80,000,000[46] [1]
Gizmondo (Tiger Telematics)
  • Plays
    SD cards.[47]
  • Features camera, GPS, text messaging, and Bluetooth wireless connectivity.[48]
  • Despite features, technologically well behind main competitors of the time of PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS.[47]
  • Had an alternative "Smart Ads" model released concurrently which sold at almost half the price, but required daily streaming advertisements to be watched on the handheld, well before smartphone games popularized the concept.[48]
  • Considered a severe commercial failure, propelled by a juxtaposition low sales and particularly high promotional spending and investments.[48][1]
 2005[1] 25,000[14] [1]
GP2X (GamePark Holdings) 2005[49] >60,000[50] [51]
Dingoo A320
(Dingo Digital Technology)
  • Open source hardware handheld game console with music and video playback functions.[52]
  • Plays digital distribution games via internet download and mini-SD cards.[52]
  • Sold with connection accessories to playing on a television.[52]
  • Limited retail software.[52]
 2009[52] [52]
GP2X Wiz (GamePark Holdings)
  • Open source hardware handheld game console.[53]
  • Successor to the GP2X.[53]
  • Possesses upgrades in screen and button quality, but only minor upgrade in processing power.[53]
  • Plays digital games via internet download, few retail games.[53]
 2009[53] [53]
Pandora
(OpenPandora) 		2010[54] [54]
CAANOO (GamePark Holdings
) 		2010[48] [48]
Nintendo 3DS 2011[59] 75,000,000[57][60] [1]
PlayStation Vita (Sony)
  • Sony's second handheld console, successor to the PlayStation Portable.[61]
  • Two models launched; a regular one, and one with 3G internet capabilities that was quickly phased out.[61]
  • Minor hardware revisions model "PCH-2000" released in 2013
  • Mixed legacy; was a commercial failure, but retained a cult following, and is cited as influential in the successful PlayStation 4 home console released after it.[61]
 2011[61] 16,000,000[61] [61]
Neo Geo X (Tommo) 2012[64] [63]
Game Gadget
  • Plays a number of licensed Sega games
  • Linux based handheld
 2012 ~20,000[65]
GCW Zero (Game Consoles Worldwide) 2013[67] [67]
Nvidia Shield Portable
  • Has a physical appearance of an Xbox 360 controller with a 5-inch screen grafted on top of it.[68]
  • Based on Android operating system.[69]
  • Supports HDMI connection to television or wireless game streaming from PC.[69]
  • Launched at a high price point in a time where handheld gaming market was on the decline.[70]
 2012[70] [68]
GPD XD (GamePad Digital) 2015 [71]
Arduboy
  • Open source hardware based on the Arduino hardware platform
  • The original version was 1.6mm thick, with the height and width of a credit card
  • Games published on Arduboy Arcade are free, open source and available to be edited
  • 'Arduboy FX', an upgraded version, includes a flash memory chip that stores over 250 games on the device itself
 2016 [72]
GPD Win (GamePad Digital) 2016[74] [74]
Nintendo Switch
Evercade (Blaze Entertainment)
  • Plays officially licensed collections of emulated retro video games.[79]
  • Design similar to original Game Boy Advance, has ability to connect to television with additional HDMI accessory.[80]
  • Games released through curated collections of games compiled onto a game cartridge.[79]
  • Supported by companies such as Atari, Namco, and Interplay.[79][80]
 2020[81] [79]
Analogue Pocket (Analogue)
  • Plays original game cartridge for Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo Pocket Color and Atari Lynx games.
  • Has a 3.5" 1600x1440, 615ppi Display.
  • Designed with Analogue OS, an database based operating system
  • Features Save States with original game cartridges.
 2021 [82]
Ayaneo
  • Handheld Windows gaming PC using
    AMD Ryzen
    processors
  • Various models include Aya Neo (2021), Ayaneo Next (2022) and Ayaneo Air/Ayaneo Air Pro (2022).
 2021 [83][84][85]
Steam Deck (Valve Corporation) Steam Deck console. 2022[88] ≈3,000,000 as of 2023[89] [90][91]
Thumby
(TinyCircuits) 		Thumby
  • Very small formfactor handheld measuring 1.2 by 0.7 by 0.3 inches (30.5 mm × 17.8 mm × 7.6 mm).
  • Has a 0.38 by 0.27 inches (9.7 mm × 6.9 mm) black and white OLED display.
  • Can be mounted on a keychain.
  • Can play multiplayer games with a link cable.
 2022 [92]
Playdate (Panic)
  • Has physical appearance of the original Game Boy with a crank (used as controller input) attached to right side.[93]
  • Has a 2.7 inch black and white display.[93]
  • New games released once per week.[94]
  • Initial purchase of unit give user access to the first "season" of games (24 total.)[94]
 2022 [93]
Ayaneo 2

(Ayaneo)

2022 [95][96]
ROG Ally (Asus) ROG Ally console 2023[97] [97]

Canceled

This is a list of notable canceled handheld game consoles.

Name Image Notes Anticipated year of release Ref
Red Jade
  • GBA competitor
  • 3D capable
 2002 [98]
MoMA Eve Steam Deck console.
  • X86 based handheld
  • Capable of hybrid operation
  • Used two hot swappable Lithium Ion batteries.
 ~2005 [99]
XGP Steam Deck console.
  • Successor to the GP32
  • 3D capable
 ~2007 [100]
Jungle (console) Steam Deck console.
  • MMO oriented handheld
  • Clamshell design
 2011 [101]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ This number is always up to date by this script.

References

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