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Non-Nintendo Handhelds That You Like

mαrkαsscoρ

Mr. SidleInYourDMs
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It goes w/o saying that Nintendo practically owned the handheld market for the longest of time, and they still do today w/ the you know what. Of course that doesn't mean other companies didn't try to take a crack at it. So if you have some experience w/ handheld games or devices that aren't from Nintendo, then feel free to share.

The PSP is one of my favorites for this. It was actually my first owned handheld since the Game Gear and GBA in my house belonged to my brother. I only really got to play a few games for it back then, namely GTA Liberty City Stories, before it went missing. I bought one again a few years ago, and while it admittedly hurts my hand to play after a bit, it has some really solid titles. It's impressive to have been able to play near PS2 quality games back when it came out. Heck, I prefer Liberty City Stories over GTA 3. And I can't say much on the Game Gear since Sonic 2 was the primary game I remember playing on it way back when, and I've been having access to that game on the Wii VC for a while now [Master System version]. I mean it's cool that Sega had enough sense to put a backlight on it unlike the Game Boy line.
 

Bowsette Plus-Ultra

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The Playstation Vita is the best damn handheld ever made.

People probably think I'm being ironic, but I'm not. I genuinely love this thing. Back when it was unveiled, mobile gaming hadn't yet reached a high level of graphical fidelity. The 3DS was the only meaningful handheld competition on the block, and its games were only comparable to the Gamecube.

But the Vita had graphics like these:



It was effectively a PS3 in your pocket. No, it's not as impressive as it was nine years ago, but in 2011 this thing was mindblowing. Games on par with the PS3 and Xbox 360 were suddenly in your pocket. It would receive its own versions of Injustice, Ninja Gaiden Black, Mortal Kombat 9, and Uncharted (to name but a few).

...and then Sony hung it out to dry.

Developers were hesitant to jump in on a handheld where the expectation was a console experience. Developing for stuff like the DS, 3DS, and PSP was historically a cheaper option for companies without as much money to throw around, and the Vita demanded otherwise. And with Sony unwilling to commit any major first party titles to the system, support gradually diminished.

In 2020, the Vita is still a thriving market for indie titles, visual novels, and JRPGs, but it's fallen from the mainstream view. Now it's just supported by crazy people like me with too much commitment.

And it has a touch back.

A touch back.
 
'Non-Nintendo handhelds' so the PSP or Vita then? Haha.

I never owned a Vita but I did own a PSP. I thought it was.... Fine. I had Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection on it which was okay. I had the Silent Hill Experience which was just a collection of music videos, visual novels, music and interviews. I was a big SH fan at the time so it took a lot of my attention.

I had The Third Birthday, too. Which was supposed to be Parasite Eve 3 but it was just it's own thing with superficial ties.

I vastly prefer the games Nintendo makes and their consoles. Having a PSP made me not want to buy a Vita and with the price of the Vita and the stupid memory card fiasco I'm glad I didn't.
 

mαrkαsscoρ

Mr. SidleInYourDMs
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American Wasteland
I honestly would like to try those out. I've never seen any of them in person, despite being alive when they were new.

Hell, I've never even seen a Sega Saturn in person.
the Game Gear did ok enough but yeah, Nintendo just had it w/ the game selection and price for the Game Boy, other companies hardly stood a chance
though in the case of the Saturn and Vita, those failures were in part of the companies' own doing, so that's pretty annoying
 

Quin

Disaster Master
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PSP was great, but moreso for emulation. It did have a few cool titles on it though.
I feel the same with the Vita. I love mine, and its way more comfy to play games on it than any DS or the Switch in Handheld mode, but it lacks the library to be any better than them.

However there are still quite the few titles that I enjoy on it. On top of emulation(which I missed out on sadly) and a lot of older PS1/PSP titles that you can download. There is Soul Sacrifice Delta and Freedom Wars, which are both probably the best MH clones I've played, for different reasons,
Gravity Rush and Tearaway, Both got ported to PS4 but they started on Vita, Muramasa Rebirth, the best version of this game, and Persona 4 Golden, stuck forever on the Vita.
And being able to play awesome games like Hotline Miami and Spelunky on the go was very nice.
 
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Actually none. Nintendo really have made the best dedeicated to gaming portable consoles.

As hardware goes the PSP/Vita in isolation were great. However with the PS3/PS4 existing also, the reason for owning or developing for the PSP or Vita starts to disappear.

It was effectively a PS3 in your pocket.
That's actually it's biggest flaw. Having to totally make games from the ground up for it that cost as much time and money as a PS3 game, yeah the install base didn't justify it. Also many of the smaller developers didn't have the funds or resources to develop for the Vita. The ones that did would rather have developed for the PS3.

It would receive its own versions of Injustice, Ninja Gaiden Black, Mortal Kombat 9, and Uncharted
That's the other flaw. Why would people play cut down versions of existing games? The Vita needed more Vita exclusive games. A reason for people to own the Vita.
The Vita needed an amazing exclusive day 1 to get people into it and then keep the exclusives flowing. Nintendo has Pokemon, and what did the Vita have?

The Vita was really a victim of it's own amazing (at the time) hardware.
 

Bowsette Plus-Ultra

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That's the other flaw. Why would people play cut down versions of existing games? The Vita needed more Vita exclusive games. A reason for people to own the Vita.
The Vita needed an amazing exclusive day 1 to get people into it and then keep the exclusives flowing. Nintendo has Pokemon, and what did the Vita have?

The Vita was really a victim of it's own amazing (at the time) hardware.

Those weren't cutdown versions of existing games. They were fully functional ports usually released in time with their home console brethren (excluding Uncharted, which as a Vita exclusive). I'd agree that the Vita never exactly saw a stellar level of support from Sony. It stumbled immediately out of the gate with a just-okay selection of launch titles and a high price, but those are the exact same issues that plagued the 3DS at launch. But while Nintendo doubled down, reduced the price, and starting pushing first party titles to the system, Sony just didn't.
 

mαrkαsscoρ

Mr. SidleInYourDMs
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I don't know if this is a good example, but I tried my friend's vita out around last year, one of the only games he had was sonic all stars racing transformed, and I honestly would say that's a cut down version of that game, while it's cool to see how a game like that can run on a portable, at the end of the day I would still much rather play the ps3 version
 

Bowsette Plus-Ultra

wah
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I don't know if this is a good example, but I tried my friend's vita out around last year, one of the only games he had was sonic all stars racing transformed, and I honestly would say that's a cut down version of that game, while it's cool to see how a game like that can run on a portable, at the end of the day I would still much rather play the ps3 version

I guess when I say cut down, I'm not referring to the graphics. Yes, it does take a slight graphical hit on the Vita, but all the content is still there (I can say that as someone who owns and plays Sonic All-Stars Racing on both the Vita and PC), but it's the same logic by which you'd buy a game for Switch over other platforms. No, it won't look as pretty, but it's in your pocket.
 
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