The handheld landscape has exploded in the past few years, with dozens of companies like Retroid and Anbernic creating their own retro-inspired handhelds that can emulate your favorite games. First-party companies likeNintendohave been making handhelds forever, but it seems like the focus is shifting away from small devices that you can toss in your pocket.
As handhelds get bigger and bigger, the portability aspect becomes less important than the system’s power, battery, and screen size. That said, if you’re curious how handhelds rank up against one another based on their ability to be stored in a pocket, here’s what we’ve come up with.
Steam Deck
The Steam Deck is an impressive console, integrating with your entire Steam library to play thousands of different games on the go. Well, we say on the go, but it’s easily one of the biggest handheld devices ever created, and you’d have a hard time finding a pocket big enough to stash it in.
That said, the Steam Deck is still a great portable device, and the ability to take PC games with you wherever you want is simply incredible. Plus, the Steam Deck is a capable emulation machine, so you can add the entire library of almost every console that came before it, like GBA, PS2, and even the Switch.
Nintendo Switch 2
The Switch 2 is Nintendo’s latest home console/handheld hybrid, and boy, is it big. If you haven’t gotten your hands on one yet, you may expect the Switch 2 to be about the same size as its predecessor, but this isn’t the case. In fact, the Switch 2 is closer in size to the Steam Deck than it is to the original Switch.
And just like the Steam Deck, we’re not sure if there are pockets big enough to handle the Switch 2. It’s still a perfect handheld device, and it’s simple enough to put it in a carrying case in a backpack or bag, but taking it around in your pants pocket is out of the question.
Nintendo Switch
The original Switch revitalized the handheld market, proving that a console could exist as both a handheld and a home console, and that there was room for both types of players. The ability to seamlessly switch between its two modes is a feature we hope to see in future consoles, too.
However, in terms of pocketability, the original Switch just barely fails; it’s just slightly too big to fit in an average-sized pocket. However, the later-released Switch Lite, which can’t be docked to a monitor, is nearly the perfect size, containing all the power of the Switch but in a smaller form factor that is perfect for carrying around.
PSP
The PSP and Vita are roughly the same size, so we’ll include them both here. Sony’s first major handheld, the PSP, was advertised as essentially a portable version of its home consoles, as evidenced by the name PlayStation Portable.
Well, the PSP definitely delivered on that promise, with its extensive library and video and audio playback capabilities. The PSP was also the most powerful handheld at the time, and it was incredible that a device this small could do so much.
The Vita upgraded the PSP in several ways, like introducing a second analog stick (goodbye, Monster Hunter claw grip!) and a touch screen, but its impact on the handheld space was not as grand as the PSP.
Nintendo Game Boy
While the Game Boy was not the first handheld gaming device, it was the first to become universally popular. Again, the Game Boy and the revised Game Boy Color are just about the same size, with the Color being slightly smaller and lighter, so we’re counting their pocketability as the same.
The original Game Boy is pretty chunky, but it can still fit in most pockets, no problem. The Game Boy Color even further improved the device’s pocketability at no cost to features, and it could even play more games than the original Game Boy.
Nintendo DS
As with the previous two sets of handhelds, the DS and 3DS are about the same size, so they share the same amount of pocketability. These devices continued the clamshell design introduced by the GBA SP, which absolutely skyrockets a device’s portability.
Plus, with the built-in sleep mode that suspends your game when you close the screen, the DS and 3DS remain among the best devices to bring with you. Even considering the increased size of the DSi and 3DS XL models, you should have no problem fitting these devices in any pocket you own.
2Game Boy Advance SP
The SP or ‘Special’ version of the Game Boy Advance remains one of the best in terms of portability. Its clamshell design allows it to fold away neatly into a small square, making it one of the smallest handhelds out there.
Other than the form factor, the SP was also the first Game Boy to have a rechargeable battery and a backlight, further increasing the range of playability. Outside of the Micro, which we’ll take a look at next, the Game Boy Advance is one of the smallest (when closed) handhelds that you may play GB, GBC, and GBA games on, making it the definitive device for these games.
1Game Boy Micro
The Game Boy Micro might be one of the smallest handhelds out there. This revision of the GBA came out a year after the original DS, which could also play GBA games, so it was already a fairly niche choice, even among handheld enthusiasts.
The gimmick of playing GBA games on such a small device is almost the entire reason to own one, as the screen is often too small to actually enjoy the games on. Still, in terms of size and pocketability, nothing beats the Game Boy Micro.
