- Joined
- Aug 23, 2018
Kind of a sister thread to the ultimate Switch collection thread.
As I said in that thread, I like handheld and have a bunch like the 3DS and Vita. Problem is that those consoles are now too precious to take anywhere. They rarely come up for sale, and when they do they fetch high prices for a decent one. I can't take them anywhere as I'm afraid to drop them, sit on them, or generally damage them in some way, even though my 3DS lived in my pocket throughout my 20s. I fell down that rabbit hole again recently and the response was the same, but also different.
This time the recommendation was to buy a $40 handheld from China that plays retro systems up to and including the PS1. But you shouldn't waste your money on Chinese crap, instead you should invest in an Miyo Mini Plus. But they sell out fast so now are scalped, so you should get an Abernic instead. Though really, you're just a stones throw away from an Analogue Pocket or a Retroid Pocket. The real retro handhelds. Which in the UK, are about the price of Nintendo Switch.
And then we're back to buying a Switch vs buying a Steam Deck. The Steam Deck does little for me and again falls into the trap of being too valuable to throw in a bag or pocket and not have to worry if it breaks, while the Switch is mostly for first party Nintendo and the only Nintendo games I care about are the Mario Xcom games and Bayonetta, and all but the cheapest model are a bit pricey.
But what I find interesting is that these are options. After the Steam Deck, most handhelds like the ROG and Ayaneo were basically more expensive Steam Decks with marginal changes in power, ram, etc. But now we have something that fills the cheap "throw it in your pocket and whip it out whenever" aspect of the GBA, DS, and 3DS.
The main problem is they just play emulation, no exclusives, and no cool features like Street Pass. Being able to play Pico8 games might count since that system doesn't have real hardware and the kind of games on Pico8 don't really suit using a keyboard.
This video is really helpful for listing a bunch of these consoles.
As I said in that thread, I like handheld and have a bunch like the 3DS and Vita. Problem is that those consoles are now too precious to take anywhere. They rarely come up for sale, and when they do they fetch high prices for a decent one. I can't take them anywhere as I'm afraid to drop them, sit on them, or generally damage them in some way, even though my 3DS lived in my pocket throughout my 20s. I fell down that rabbit hole again recently and the response was the same, but also different.
This time the recommendation was to buy a $40 handheld from China that plays retro systems up to and including the PS1. But you shouldn't waste your money on Chinese crap, instead you should invest in an Miyo Mini Plus. But they sell out fast so now are scalped, so you should get an Abernic instead. Though really, you're just a stones throw away from an Analogue Pocket or a Retroid Pocket. The real retro handhelds. Which in the UK, are about the price of Nintendo Switch.
And then we're back to buying a Switch vs buying a Steam Deck. The Steam Deck does little for me and again falls into the trap of being too valuable to throw in a bag or pocket and not have to worry if it breaks, while the Switch is mostly for first party Nintendo and the only Nintendo games I care about are the Mario Xcom games and Bayonetta, and all but the cheapest model are a bit pricey.
But what I find interesting is that these are options. After the Steam Deck, most handhelds like the ROG and Ayaneo were basically more expensive Steam Decks with marginal changes in power, ram, etc. But now we have something that fills the cheap "throw it in your pocket and whip it out whenever" aspect of the GBA, DS, and 3DS.
The main problem is they just play emulation, no exclusives, and no cool features like Street Pass. Being able to play Pico8 games might count since that system doesn't have real hardware and the kind of games on Pico8 don't really suit using a keyboard.
This video is really helpful for listing a bunch of these consoles.
