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 53 entries in this list, 4 consoles were canceled. [note 1]
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 |
| 1984 [6] | [6] | ||
Digi Casse |
| 1984 | [7] | ||
Epoch Game Pocket Computer |
| 1984 | [8] | ||
Game Boy (Nintendo) |
| 1989 [1] | 118,690,000 [12] | [1] | |
Atari Lynx | 1989 [1] | 500,000 [14] | [1] | ||
Game Gear |
| 1990 [18] | 11,000,000 [15] | [1] | |
TurboExpress (NEC) |
| 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 |
| 1995 [14] | 1,000,000 [14] | [1] | |
Design Master Senshi Mangajukuu |
| 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 | 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 |
| 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) |
| 2005 [1] | 25,000 [14] | [1] | |
GP2X (GamePark Holdings) |
| 2005 [49] | >60,000 [50] | [51] | |
Dingoo A320 (Dingo Digital Technology) |
| 2009 [52] | [52] | ||
GP2X Wiz (GamePark Holdings) | 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) |
| 2011 [61] | 16,000,000 [61] | [61] | |
Neo Geo X (Tommo) |
| 2012 [64] | [63] | ||
Game Gadget |
| 2012 | ~20,000 [65] | ||
GCW Zero (Game Consoles Worldwide) |
| 2013 [67] | [67] | ||
Nvidia Shield Portable | 2012 [70] | [68] | |||
GPD XD (GamePad Digital) |
| 2015 | [71] | ||
Arduboy |
| 2016 | [72] | ||
GPD Win (GamePad Digital) |
| 2016 [74] | [74] | ||
Nintendo Switch |
| ||||
Evercade (Blaze Entertainment) |
| 2020 [81] | [79] | ||
Analogue Pocket (Analogue) |
| 2021 | [82] | ||
Ayaneo |
| 2021 | [83] [84] [85] | ||
Steam Deck (Valve Corporation) |
| 2022 [88] | ≈3,000,000 as of 2023 [89] | [90] [91] | |
Thumby (TinyCircuits) |
| 2022 | [92] | ||
Playdate (Panic) | 2022 | [93] | |||
Ayaneo 2 (Ayaneo) |
| 2022 | [95] [96] | ||
ROG Ally (Asus) | 2023 [97] | [97] | |||
TECNO Pocket Go (Tecno Mobile) |
| ||||
This is a list of notable canceled handheld game consoles.
Name | Image | Notes | Anticipated year of release | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
Red Jade |
| 2002 | [98] | |
MoMA Eve |
| ~2005 | [99] | |
XGP |
| ~2007 | [100] | |
Jungle (console) |
| 2011 | [101] |
The Game Boy Advance (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2001, and in mainland China as iQue Game Boy Advance on June 8, 2004.
A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the console, screen, speakers, and controls in one unit, allowing players to carry them and play them at any time or place.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit is a 2001 kart racing game for the Game Boy Advance (GBA). It is the third Mario Kart game and retains its predecessors' gameplay: as a Mario franchise character, the player races opponents around tracks based on locales from the Super Mario platform games. Tracks contain obstacles and power-ups that respectively hamper and aid the player's progress. Super Circuit includes various single-player and multiplayer game modes, including a Grand Prix racing mode and a last man standing battle mode.
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The history of video game consoles, both home and handheld, began in the 1970s. The first console that played games on a television set was the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey, first conceived by Ralph H. Baer in 1966. Handheld consoles originated from electro-mechanical games that used mechanical controls and light-emitting diodes (LED) as visual indicators. Handheld electronic games had replaced the mechanical controls with electronic and digital components, and with the introduction of Liquid-crystal display (LCD) to create video-like screens with programmable pixels, systems like the Microvision and the Game & Watch became the first handheld video game consoles.
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Ayaneo is a Chinese brand of handheld gaming computers and mini PCs using the Microsoft Windows operating system and AMD Ryzen processors.
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