Handheld game console
Encyclopedia
A handheld game console is a lightweight, portable electronic device with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are run on machines of small size allowing people to carry them and play them at any time or place. Unlike video game console
s, the controls, screen and speakers are all part of a single unit.
In 1977, Mattel
introduced the first handheld electronic game
with the release of Auto Race
. Later, several companies—including Coleco
and Milton Bradley
—made their own single-game, lightweight table-top or handheld electronic game devices. The oldest true handheld game console with interchangeable cartridges
is the Milton Bradley Microvision
in 1979.
Nintendo
is credited with popularizing the handheld console concept with the release of the Game Boy
in 1989 and as of 2011 continues to dominate the handheld console market with their Nintendo DS
and DSi
systems. However, Nintendo'slatest handheld, the Nintendo 3DS
, has been their largest handheld or video game console
investment failure in 30 years.
, VFD
, or LCD
. In 1978, handheld electronic games were described by Popular Electronics
magazine as "nonvideo electronic games" and "non-TV games" as distinct from devices that required use of a television screen. Handheld electronic games, in turn, find their origins in the synthesis of previous handheld and tabletop electro-mechanical
devices such as Waco's Electronic Tic-Tac-Toe (1972) Cragstan's Periscope-Firing Range (1960s), and the emerging optoelectronic
-display-driven calculator market of the early 1970s. This synthesis happened in 1976, when "Mattel began work on a line of calculator-sized sports games that became the world's first handheld electronic games. The project began when Michael Katz, Mattel's new product category marketing director, told the engineers in the electronics group to design a game the size of a calculator, using LED (light-emitting diode) technology."
The result was the 1976 release of Auto Race. Followed by Football later the same year, the two games were so successful that according to Katz, "these simple electronic handheld games turned into a '$400 million category.'" Mattel would later win the honor of being recognized by the industry for innovation in handheld game device displays. Soon, other manufacturers including Coleco
, Parker Brothers
, Milton Bradley
, Entex
, and Bandai
began following up with their own tabletop and handheld electronic games.
In 1979 the LCD-based Microvision
, designed by Smith Engineering
and distributed by Milton-Bradley, became the first handheld game console and the first to use interchangeable game cartridges. The Microvision game Cosmic Hunter (1981) also introduced the concept of a directional pad
on handheld gaming devices, and is operated by using the thumb to manipulate the on-screen character in any of four directions.
In 1979, Gunpei Yokoi, traveling on a bullet train
, saw a bored businessman playing with an LCD calculator
by pressing the buttons. Yokoi then thought of an idea for a watch that doubled as a miniature game machine for killing time. Starting in 1980, Nintendo
began to release a series of electronic games designed by Yokoi called the Game & Watch
games. Taking advantage of the technology used in the credit-card-sized calculators that had appeared on the market, Yokoi designed the series of LCD-based games to include a digital time display in the corner of the screen. For later, more complicated Game & Watch games, Yokoi invented a cross shaped directional pad or "D-pad" for control of on-screen characters. Yokoi also included his directional pad on the NES
controllers, and the cross-shaped thumb controller soon became standard on game console controllers and ubiquitous across the video game industry as a replacement for the joystick. When Yokoi began designing Nintendo's first handheld game console, he came up with a device that married the elements of his Game & Watch devices and the Famicom console, including both items' D-pad controller. The result was the Nintendo Game Boy.
In 1982, the Bandai LCD Solarpower
was the first solar-powered gaming device. Some of its games, such as the horror-themed game Terror House, featured two LCD panels, one stacked on the other, for an early 3D effect
. In 1983, Takara Tomy
's Tomytronic 3D simulated 3D
by having two LED
panels that were lit by external light through a window on top of the device, making it the first dedicated home video 3D hardware.
technology had not yet matured and so the more advanced game consoles of the time such as the Sega Game Gear
and Atari Lynx did not have nearly as much success as the Game Boy.
Even though third-party rechargeable batteries were available for the battery-hungry alternatives to the Game Boy, these batteries employed a nickel-cadmium
process and had to be completely discharged before being recharged to ensure maximum efficiency; lead-acid batteries could be used with automobile circuit limiters (cigarette lighter plug devices); but the batteries had mediocre portability. The later NiMH batteries, which do not share this requirement for maximum efficiency, were not released until the late 1990s, years after the Game Gear, Atari Lynx, and original Game Boy had been discontinued. During the time when technologically superior handhelds had strict technical limitations, batteries had a very low mAh
rating since batteries with heavy power density were not yet available.
Modern game systems such as the Nintendo DS
and PlayStation Portable
have rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries with proprietary shapes. Other seventh-generation consoles such as the GP2X
use standard alkaline batteries
. Because the mAh rating of alkaline batteries has increased since the 1990s, the power needed for handhelds like the GP2X may be supplied by relatively few batteries.
released the Game Boy. The design team headed by the late Gunpei Yokoi had also been responsible for the Game & Watch
system, as well as the Nintendo Entertainment System
games Metroid
and Kid Icarus
. The Game Boy came under scrutiny by some industry critics, saying that the monochrome screen was too small, and the processing power was inadequate. The design team had felt that low initial cost and battery economy were more important concerns, and when compared to the Microvision, the Game Boy was a huge leap forward.
Yokoi recognized that the Game Boy needed a killer app
—at least one game that would define the console, and persuade customers to buy it. In June 1988, Minoru Arakawa
, then-CEO of Nintendo of America saw a demonstration of the game Tetris
at a trade show. Nintendo purchased the rights for the game, and packaged it with the Game Boy system. It was almost an immediate hit. By the end of the year more than a million units were sold in the US, and 25 million were sold by 1992. As of March 31, 2005, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color
combined to sell 118.69 million units worldwide.
created the Handy Game; a device that would turn into the Atari Lynx in 1989. It was the first color handheld console ever made, as well as the first with a backlit
screen. It also featured networking support with up to 17 other players, and advanced hardware that allowed the zooming and scaling of sprites. The Lynx could also be turned upside down to accommodate left-handed players. However, all these features came at a very high price point, which drove consumers to seek cheaper alternatives. The Lynx was also very unwieldy, consumed batteries very quickly, and lacked the third-party support enjoyed by its competitors. Due to its high price, short battery life, production shortages, a dearth of compelling games, and Nintendo's aggressive marketing campaign, and despite a redesign in 1991, the Lynx became a commercial failure. Despite this, companies like Telegames helped to keep the system alive long past its commercial relevance, and when new owner Hasbro released the rights to develop for the public domain, independent developers like Songbird have managed to release new commercial games for the system every year until 2004's Winter Games.
The TurboExpress was a portable version of the TurboGrafx, released in 1990 for $249.99 (the price was briefly raised to $299.99, soon dropped back to $249.99, and by 1992 it was $199.99). Its Japanese equivalent was the PC Engine GT
.
It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TurboGrafx-16
's games (which were on a small, credit-card sized media called HuCards). It had a 66 mm (2.6 in.) screen, the same as the original Game Boy, and could display 64 sprites
at once, 16 per scanline, in 512 (some say only 482?) colors. It had 64 kilobytes of RAM
. The Turbo ran its two 6820 CPUs
at 3.58 MHz
in parallel.
The optional "TurboVision" TV tuner included RCA audio/video input, allowing users to use TurboExpress as a video monitor. The "TurboLink" allowed two-player play. Falcon, a flight simulator, included a "head-to-head" dogfight mode that could only be accessed via TurboLink. However, very few TG-16 games offered co-op play modes especially designed with the TurboExpress in mind.
The Bitcorp Gamate was the one of the first handheld game systems created in response to the Nintendo Gameboy. It was released in Asia in 1990 and distributed worldwide by 1991.
Like the Sega Game Gear, it was horizontal in orientation and required 4 AA batteries. Unlike many later Gameboy clones, its internal components were professionally assembled (no "glop-top" chips). Unfortunately the system's fatal flaw was its screen. Even by the standards of the day, its screen was rather difficult to use, suffering from similar motion blur problems that were common complaints with the first generation Gameboys. Likely because of this fact sales were quite poor, and Bitcorp closed by 1992. However it has recently been discovered that new games continued to be published for the Asian market, possibly as late as 1994. The total number of games released for the system remains unknown.
Interestingly, Gamate games were designed for stereo sound, but the console was only equipped with a mono speaker. To appreciate the full sound pallet, a user must plug into the head phone jack. Doing so reveals very sophisticated music.
, which gave Sega the ability to quickly create Game Gear games from its large library of games for the Master System. While never reaching the level of success enjoyed by Nintendo, the Sega Game Gear proved to be a fairly durable competitor, lasting longer than any other Gameboy rivals.
While the Game Gear is most frequently seen in black or navy blue, it was also released in a variety of additional colors: red, light blue, yellow, clear, and violet. All of these variations were released in small quantities and frequently only in the Asian market.
Following Sega's success with the Game Gear, they began development on a successor during the early 1990s, which was intended to feature a touchscreen
interface, many years before the Nintendo DS
. However, such a technology was very expensive at the time, and the handheld itself was estimated to have cost around $289 were it to be released. Sega eventually chose to shelve the idea and instead release the Sega Nomad
, a handheld version of the Mega Drive (Genesis), as the successor.
The Watara Supervision was released in 1992 in an attempt to compete with the Nintendo Game Boy. The first model was designed very much like a Game Boy, but it was grey in color and had a slightly larger screen. The second model was made with a hinge across the center and could be bent slightly to provide greater comfort for the user. While the system did enjoy a modest degree of success, it never impacted the sales of Nintendo or Sega. The Supervision was redesigned a final time as "The Magnum". Released in limited quantities it was roughly equivalent to the Game Boy Pocket. It was available in three colors: yellow, green and grey. Watara designed many of the games themselves, but did receive some third party support, most notably from Sachen.
A TV adapter was available in both PAL and NTSC formats that could transfer the Supervision's black and white pallet to 4 colors, similar in some regards to the Super Game Boy from Nintendo.
The exact number of games released is not known, but is likely around 20. The system most frequently turns up in Europe and Australia.
was nine years old before it got its first successor. In 1998, the Game Boy Color
was released. It used the smaller and lighter form-factor of the Game Boy Light (released in Japan only), but featured a full color screen. It was also backwards-compatible, so that it could play not only games specifically made for the Game Boy Color, but standard Game Boy games as well. It did not have significantly more computing power than the Game Boy, however.
By this time, the lack of significant development in Nintendo
's product line began allowing more advanced systems such as the Neo Geo Pocket Color
and the WonderSwan Color to achieve moderate success.
in September 1997. It featured many new ideas for handheld consoles and was aimed at an older target audience, sporting PDA-style features and functions such as a touch screen and stylus. However, Tiger hoped it would also challenge Nintendo's Game Boy and gain a following among younger gamers too. Unlike other handheld game consoles, the first game.com consoles included two slots for game cartridges, which would not happen again until the DS and DS Lite, and could be connected to a 14.4 kbit/s modem. Later models had only a single cartridge slot.
communications port for wireless linking which did not appear in later versions of the Game Boy, such as the Game Boy Advance.
The Game Boy Color was a response to pressure from game developers for a new system, as they felt that the Game Boy, even in its latest incarnation, the Game Boy Pocket, was insufficient. The resulting product was backward compatible, a first for a handheld console system, and leveraged the large library of games and great installed base of the predecessor system. This became a major feature of the Game Boy line, since it allowed each new launch to begin with a significantly larger library than any of its competitors. As of March 31, 2005, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color
combined to sell 118.69 million units worldwide.
The console was capable of displaying up to 56 different colors simultaneously on screen from its palette of 32,768, and could add basic four-color shading to games that had been developed for the original Game Boy. It could also give the sprites and backgrounds separate colors, for a total of more than four colors.
, the maker of the Neo Geo
home console and arcade machine. It came after SNK's original Neo Geo Pocket
monochrome handheld, which debuted in 1998 in Japan.
In 2000 following SNK's purchase by Japanese Pachinko
manufacturer Aruze, the Neo Geo Pocket Color was dropped from both the US and European markets, purportedly due to commercial failure.
The system seemed well on its way to being a success in the U.S. It was more successful than any Game Boy competitor since Sega
's Game Gear
, but was hurt by several factors, such as SNK's infamous lack of communication with third-party developers, and anticipation of the Game Boy Advance. The decision to ship U.S. games in cardboard boxes in a cost-cutting move rather than hard plastic cases that Japanese and European releases were shipped in may have also hurt US sales.
The WonderSwan Color is a handheld game console designed by Bandai
. It was released on December 9, 2000 in Japan, and was a moderate success.
The original WonderSwan
had only a black and white screen. Although the WonderSwan Color was slightly larger and heavier (7 mm and 2 g) compared to the original WonderSwan, the color version featured 512 kB
of RAM
and a larger color LCD screen. In addition, the WonderSwan Color is compatible with the original WonderSwan library of games.
Prior to WonderSwan's release, Nintendo had virtually a monopoly in the Japanese video game handheld market. After the release of the WonderSwan Color, Bandai took approximately 8% of the market share in Japan partly due to its low price of 6800 yen (approximately US$
65).
Another reason for the WonderSwan's success in Japan was the fact that Bandai managed to get a deal with Square
to port over the original Famicom
Final Fantasy
games with improved graphics and controls. However, with the popularity of the Game Boy Advance and the reconciliation between Square and Nintendo, the WonderSwan Color and its successor, the SwanCrystal quickly lost its competitive advantage.
The design was revised two years later when the Game Boy Advance SP
(GBA SP), a more compact version, was released. The SP featured a "clamshell
" design (folding open and closed, like a laptop computer), as well as a frontlit
color display and rechargeable battery. Despite the smaller form factor, the screen remained the same size as that of the original. In 2005, the Game Boy Micro
was released. This revision sacrificed screen size and backwards compatibility with previous Game Boys for a dramatic reduction in total size and a brighter backlit
screen. A new SP model with a backlit screen was released in some regions around the same time.
Along with the Nintendo GameCube
, the GBA also introduced the concept of "connectivity": using a handheld system as a console controller. A handful of games use this feature, most notably Animal Crossing
, Pac-Man Vs.
, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
, Metroid Prime
, and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
As of December 31, 2007, the GBA, GBA SP, and the Game Boy Micro combined have sold 80.72 million units worldwide.
The original GP32 was released in 2001 by the South Korean company Game Park
a few months after the launch of the Game
Boy Advance. It featured a 32-bit CPU, 133 MHz processor, MP3 and Divx player, and e-book reader. SmartMedia
cards were used for storage, and could hold up to 128mb of anything downloaded through a USB cable from a PC. The GP32 was redesigned in 2003. A front-lit screen was added and the new version was called GP32 FLU (Front Light Unit). In summer 2004, another redesign, the GP32 BLU, was made, and added a backlit screen. This version of the handheld was planned for release outside South Korea; in Europe, and it was released for example in Spain (VirginPlay was the distributor). While not a commercial success on a level with mainstream handhelds (only 30,000 units were sold), it ended up being used mainly as a platform for user-made applications and emulators of other systems, being popular with developers and more technically-adept users.
Nokia
released the N-Gage in 2003. It was designed as a combination MP3 player, cellphone, PDA, radio, and gaming device. The system received much criticism alleging defects in its physical design and layout, including its vertically-oriented screen and requirement of removing the battery to change game cartridges. The most well known of these was "sidetalking
", or the act of placing the phone speaker and receiver on an edge of the device instead of one of the flat sides, causing the user to appear as if they are speaking into a taco
.
The N-Gage QD was later released to address the design flaws of the original. However, certain features available in the original N-Gage, including MP3 playback, FM radio reception, and USB connectivity were removed.
Second generation of N-Gage
launched on April 3, 2008 in the form of a service for selected Nokia
Smartphone
s.
-handheld game console hybrid. It supported photos, movies, music, Internet
, and documents. The Zodiac used a special version Palm OS 5, 5.2T, that supported the special gaming buttons and graphics chip. Two versions were available, Zodiac 1 and 2, differing in memory and looks. The Zodiac line ended in July 2005 when Tapwave declared bankruptcy.
, wireless connectivity, and a microphone port. As with the Game Boy Advance SP, the DS features a clamshell design, with the two screens aligned vertically on either side of the hinge.
The DS's lower screen is touch sensitive, designed to be pressed with a stylus, a user's finger or a special "thumb pad" (a small plastic pad attached to the console's wrist strap, which can be affixed to the thumb to simulate an analog stick). More traditional controls include four face buttons, two shoulder buttons, a D-pad
, and "Start" and "Select" buttons. The console also features online capabilities via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
and ad-hoc wireless networking for multiplayer games with up to sixteen players. It is backwards-compatible with all Game Boy Advance games, but not games designed for the Game Boy or Game Boy Color.
In January 2006, Nintendo revealed an updated version of the DS: the Nintendo DS Lite
(released on March 2, 2006 in Japan) with an updated, smaller form factor (42% smaller and 21% lighter than the original Nintendo DS), a cleaner design, longer battery life, and brighter, higher-quality displays, with adjustable brightness. It is also able to connect wirelessly with Nintendo's Wii console.
In October 2008, Nintendo announced the Nintendo DSi
, with larger, 3.25 inch screens and two integrated cameras. It will have an SD card
storage slot in place of the Game Boy Advance
slot, plus internal flash memory for storing downloaded games. It was released on November 1, 2008 in Japan, and was released in North America April 5, 2009, and April 3, 2009 in Europe.
As of December 31, 2009, the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS Lite and Nintendo DSi combined have sold 125.13 million units worldwide. In 2010 Nintendo released a larger version of the DSi, called the DSi XL.
The GameKing was a handheld game console released by the Chinese company TimeTop in 2004. The first model while original in design owes a large debt to Nintendo's Gameboy Advance. The second model, the GameKing 2, is a more direct rip-off, this time of Sony's PSP. This model also was upgraded with a backlit screen, with a distracting background transparency (which can be removed by opening up the console). A color model, the GameKing 3 apparently exists, but was only made for a brief time and was difficult to purchase outside of Asia. Whether intentionally or not, the GameKing has the most primitive graphics of any handheld released since the Game Boy of 1989.
As many of the games have an "old school" simplicity, the device has developed a small cult following. The Gameking's speaker is quite loud and the cartridges' sophisticated looping soundtracks (sampled from other sources) are seemingly at odds with its primitive graphics.
TimeTop made at least one additional device sometimes labeled as "GameKing", but while it seems to possess more advanced graphics, is essentially an emulator that plays a handful of multi-carts (like the GB Station Light II). Outside of Asia (especially China) however the Gameking remains relatively unheard of due to the enduring popularity of Japanese handhelds such as those manufactured by Nintendo and Sony.
. Development of the console was first announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America
on March 24, 2005, and in the PAL region
on September 1, 2005.
The PlayStation Portable is the first handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc
(UMD), memory stick pro duo(tm) as its primary storage medium. Other distinguishing features of the console include its large viewing screen, multi-media capabilities, and connectivity with the PlayStation 3
, other PSPs, and the Internet
.
', downfall in early 2006. Users obtained a second service pack, unreleased, hoping to find such functionality. However, Service Pack B did not activate the e-mail functionality.
A new version called the "F200" was released October 30, 2007 and features a touchscreen, among other changes. Followed by GP2X Wiz
(2009) and GP2X Caanoo
(2010).
The Dingoo A320 is a micro-sized gaming handheld that looks like a GameBoy micro and is open to game development. It also supports music, radio, emulators (8 bit and 16 bit) and video playing capabilities with its own interface much like the PSP. There is also an on board radio and recording program. There are currently two colors available—white and black. Dingo (also known as Geimi) A330 has also been released in market. The Dingoo A360 was also released and the latest version is A380 which is available in pink, white and black.
. It runs a full distribution of Linux, and in functionality is like a small PC with gaming controls. It is developed by OpenPandora, which is made up of former distributors and community members of the GP32 and GP2X handhelds.
OpenPandora began taking pre-orders for one batch of 4000 devices in November 2008 and after manufacturing delays, began shipping to customers on May 21, 2010.
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s, the controls, screen and speakers are all part of a single unit.
In 1977, Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
introduced the first handheld electronic game
Handheld electronic game
----Handheld electronic games are very small, portable devices for playing interactive electronic games, often miniaturized versions of video games. The controls, display and speakers are all part of a single unit. Rather than a general-purpose screen made up of a grid of small pixels, they...
with the release of Auto Race
Mattel Auto Race
Mattel Auto Race was the first in the line of many Mattel Electronics games, and is credited with being the first handheld game that was entirely digital, even predating the Milton Bradley Microvision, having no moving mechanisms except the controls and on/off switch...
. Later, several companies—including Coleco
Coleco
Coleco is an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as "Connecticut Leather Company". It became a highly successful toy company in the 1980s, known for its mass-produced version of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game consoles, the Coleco Telstar and...
and Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley , an American game pioneer, was credited by many with launching the board game industry in North America with Milton Bradley Company....
—made their own single-game, lightweight table-top or handheld electronic game devices. The oldest true handheld game console with interchangeable cartridges
ROM cartridge
A ROM cartridge, sometimes referred to as a cart, is a removable enclosure containing read-only memory devices designed to be connected to a computer or games console....
is the Milton Bradley Microvision
Microvision
The Microvision was the very first handheld game console that used interchangeable cartridges. It was released by the Milton Bradley Company in November . The Microvision was designed by Jay Smith, the engineer who would later design the Vectrex gaming console...
in 1979.
Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
is credited with popularizing the handheld console concept with the release of the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
in 1989 and as of 2011 continues to dominate the handheld console market with their Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
and DSi
DSI
DSI is an initialism for the following companies:* Dave Smith Instruments, an American synthesizer company* Delphi Schools, Inc.* Delphine Software International, a now bankrupt software company* Destination Software, Inc., a video game company...
systems. However, Nintendo'slatest handheld, the Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo 3DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...
, has been their largest handheld or video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
investment failure in 30 years.
Origins
The origins of handheld game consoles are found in handheld and tabletop electronic game devices of the 1970s and early 1980s. These electronic devices are capable of playing only a single game, they fit in the palm of the hand or on a tabletop, and they may make use of a variety of video displays such as LEDLight-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
, VFD
Vacuum fluorescent display
A vacuum fluorescent display is a display device used commonly on consumer-electronics equipment such as video cassette recorders, car radios, and microwave ovens. Invented in Japan in 1967, the displays became common on calculators and other consumer electronics devices...
, or LCD
Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display is a flat panel display, electronic visual display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals . LCs do not emit light directly....
. In 1978, handheld electronic games were described by Popular Electronics
Popular Electronics
Popular Electronics was an American magazine started by Ziff-Davis Publishing in October 1954 for electronics hobbyists and experimenters. It soon became the "World's Largest-Selling Electronics Magazine". The circulation was 240,151 in April 1957 and 400,000 by 1963. Ziff-Davis published Popular...
magazine as "nonvideo electronic games" and "non-TV games" as distinct from devices that required use of a television screen. Handheld electronic games, in turn, find their origins in the synthesis of previous handheld and tabletop electro-mechanical
Electromechanics
In engineering, electromechanics combines the sciences of electromagnetism, of electrical engineering and mechanics. Mechanical engineering in this context refers to the larger discipline which includes chemical engineering, and other related disciplines. Electrical engineering in this context...
devices such as Waco's Electronic Tic-Tac-Toe (1972) Cragstan's Periscope-Firing Range (1960s), and the emerging optoelectronic
Optoelectronics
Optoelectronics is the study and application of electronic devices that source, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, light often includes invisible forms of radiation such as gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet and infrared, in addition to visible light...
-display-driven calculator market of the early 1970s. This synthesis happened in 1976, when "Mattel began work on a line of calculator-sized sports games that became the world's first handheld electronic games. The project began when Michael Katz, Mattel's new product category marketing director, told the engineers in the electronics group to design a game the size of a calculator, using LED (light-emitting diode) technology."
Our big success was something that I conceptualized—the first handheld game. I asked the design group to see if they could come up with a game that was electronic that was the same size as a calculator.
—Michael Katz, former marketing director, Mattel Toys.
The result was the 1976 release of Auto Race. Followed by Football later the same year, the two games were so successful that according to Katz, "these simple electronic handheld games turned into a '$400 million category.'" Mattel would later win the honor of being recognized by the industry for innovation in handheld game device displays. Soon, other manufacturers including Coleco
Coleco
Coleco is an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as "Connecticut Leather Company". It became a highly successful toy company in the 1980s, known for its mass-produced version of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game consoles, the Coleco Telstar and...
, Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
, Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley Company
The Milton Bradley Company is an American game company established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production of McLoughlin Brothers, formerly the largest game manufacturer in the United States, and in 1987, it purchased Selchow and Righter,...
, Entex
Entex Industries
Entex Industries, Inc. was a toy and electronic game manufacturer based in Compton, California. The company was active during the 1970s and 1980s.-Background:...
, and Bandai
Bandai
is a Japanese toy making and video game company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It is the world's third-largest producer of toys . Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs...
began following up with their own tabletop and handheld electronic games.
In 1979 the LCD-based Microvision
Microvision
The Microvision was the very first handheld game console that used interchangeable cartridges. It was released by the Milton Bradley Company in November . The Microvision was designed by Jay Smith, the engineer who would later design the Vectrex gaming console...
, designed by Smith Engineering
Smith Engineering
Smith Engineering/Western Technologies was a videogame company started by Jay Smith, an engineer who was previously an employee at Mattel. The company proposed and developed the Vectrex gaming system for GCE, which was subsequently purchased by Milton Bradley...
and distributed by Milton-Bradley, became the first handheld game console and the first to use interchangeable game cartridges. The Microvision game Cosmic Hunter (1981) also introduced the concept of a directional pad
D-pad
A D-pad is a flat, usually thumb-operated directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern video game console gamepads, game controllers, on the remote control units of some television and DVD players, and smart phones...
on handheld gaming devices, and is operated by using the thumb to manipulate the on-screen character in any of four directions.
In 1979, Gunpei Yokoi, traveling on a bullet train
Shinkansen
The , also known as THE BULLET TRAIN, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of of lines with maximum speeds of , of Mini-shinkansen with a...
, saw a bored businessman playing with an LCD calculator
Calculator
An electronic calculator is a small, portable, usually inexpensive electronic device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic. Modern calculators are more portable than most computers, though most PDAs are comparable in size to handheld calculators.The first solid-state electronic...
by pressing the buttons. Yokoi then thought of an idea for a watch that doubled as a miniature game machine for killing time. Starting in 1980, Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
began to release a series of electronic games designed by Yokoi called the Game & Watch
Game & Watch
is a line of handheld electronic games produced by Nintendo from to . Created by game designer Gunpei Yokoi, each Game & Watch features a single game to be played on an LCD screen in addition to a clock and an alarm ....
games. Taking advantage of the technology used in the credit-card-sized calculators that had appeared on the market, Yokoi designed the series of LCD-based games to include a digital time display in the corner of the screen. For later, more complicated Game & Watch games, Yokoi invented a cross shaped directional pad or "D-pad" for control of on-screen characters. Yokoi also included his directional pad on the NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
controllers, and the cross-shaped thumb controller soon became standard on game console controllers and ubiquitous across the video game industry as a replacement for the joystick. When Yokoi began designing Nintendo's first handheld game console, he came up with a device that married the elements of his Game & Watch devices and the Famicom console, including both items' D-pad controller. The result was the Nintendo Game Boy.
In 1982, the Bandai LCD Solarpower
Bandai LCD Solarpower
The LCD Solarpower series were handheld electronic games powered by solar energy made by Bandai in 1982. Some of the games, such as Terror House, featured two LCD panels, one stacked on the other, for an early 3D effect. This was particularly prominent in the horror-themed game Terror...
was the first solar-powered gaming device. Some of its games, such as the horror-themed game Terror House, featured two LCD panels, one stacked on the other, for an early 3D effect
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
. In 1983, Takara Tomy
Takara Tomy
is a Japanese toy, children's merchandise and entertainment company created from the March 2006 merger of two companies: Tomy and long-time rival, Takara...
's Tomytronic 3D simulated 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
by having two LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
panels that were lit by external light through a window on top of the device, making it the first dedicated home video 3D hardware.
Late 1980s through early 1990s
The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the beginnings of the handheld game console industry as we know it, after the demise of the Microvision. As backlit LCD game consoles with color graphics consume a lot of power, they were not battery-friendly like the non-backlit original Game Boy whose monochrome graphics allowed longer battery life. By this point, rechargeable batteryRechargeable battery
A rechargeable battery or storage battery is a group of one or more electrochemical cells. They are known as secondary cells because their electrochemical reactions are electrically reversible. Rechargeable batteries come in many different shapes and sizes, ranging anything from a button cell to...
technology had not yet matured and so the more advanced game consoles of the time such as the Sega Game Gear
Sega Game Gear
The was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress....
and Atari Lynx did not have nearly as much success as the Game Boy.
Even though third-party rechargeable batteries were available for the battery-hungry alternatives to the Game Boy, these batteries employed a nickel-cadmium
Nickel-cadmium battery
The nickel–cadmium battery ' is a type of rechargeable battery using nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes....
process and had to be completely discharged before being recharged to ensure maximum efficiency; lead-acid batteries could be used with automobile circuit limiters (cigarette lighter plug devices); but the batteries had mediocre portability. The later NiMH batteries, which do not share this requirement for maximum efficiency, were not released until the late 1990s, years after the Game Gear, Atari Lynx, and original Game Boy had been discontinued. During the time when technologically superior handhelds had strict technical limitations, batteries had a very low mAh
Ampere-hour
An ampere-hour or amp-hour is a unit of electric charge, with sub-units milliampere-hour and milliampere second...
rating since batteries with heavy power density were not yet available.
Modern game systems such as the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
and PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
have rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries with proprietary shapes. Other seventh-generation consoles such as the GP2X
GP2X
The GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea only....
use standard alkaline batteries
Alkaline battery
Alkaline batteries are a type of primary batteries dependent upon the reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide . A rechargeable alkaline battery allows reuse of specially designed cells....
. Because the mAh rating of alkaline batteries has increased since the 1990s, the power needed for handhelds like the GP2X may be supplied by relatively few batteries.
Game Boy
It was not until five years later that NintendoNintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
released the Game Boy. The design team headed by the late Gunpei Yokoi had also been responsible for the Game & Watch
Game & Watch
is a line of handheld electronic games produced by Nintendo from to . Created by game designer Gunpei Yokoi, each Game & Watch features a single game to be played on an LCD screen in addition to a clock and an alarm ....
system, as well as the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
games Metroid
Metroid
is an action-adventure video game, and the first entry in the Metroid series. It was co-developed by Nintendo's Research and Development 1 division and Intelligent Systems, and was released in Japan in August 1986, in North America in August 1987, and in Europe in January 1988...
and Kid Icarus
Kid Icarus
Kid Icarus, known as in Japan, is an action platform video game for the Famicom Disk System in Japan and the Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe and North America. The first entry in Nintendo's Kid Icarus series, it was published in Japan in December 1986, and in Europe and North America in...
. The Game Boy came under scrutiny by some industry critics, saying that the monochrome screen was too small, and the processing power was inadequate. The design team had felt that low initial cost and battery economy were more important concerns, and when compared to the Microvision, the Game Boy was a huge leap forward.
Yokoi recognized that the Game Boy needed a killer app
Killer application
A killer application , in the jargon of marketing teams, has been used to refer to any computer program that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware, gaming console, software, or an operating system...
—at least one game that would define the console, and persuade customers to buy it. In June 1988, Minoru Arakawa
Minoru Arakawa
was the founder and first president of Nintendo of America from 1980 to 2002.Born in Kyoto, Japan, he attended Kyoto University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1972, he was hired by Japanese conglomerate Marubeni as part of their international staff, with the responsibility of...
, then-CEO of Nintendo of America saw a demonstration of the game Tetris
Tetris (Game Boy)
Tetris is a puzzle video game that was included as a pack-in title with the Game Boy at the handheld's release in 1989. It is a portable version of Alexey Pajitnov's Tetris. It was the first game compatible with the Game Boy Game Link Cable, a pack-in accessory that allowed two Game Boys to link...
at a trade show. Nintendo purchased the rights for the game, and packaged it with the Game Boy system. It was almost an immediate hit. By the end of the year more than a million units were sold in the US, and 25 million were sold by 1992. As of March 31, 2005, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
combined to sell 118.69 million units worldwide.
Atari Lynx
In 1987, EpyxEpyx
Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. The company was founded as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, originally using Epyx as a brand name for action-oriented games before renaming the company to match in 1983...
created the Handy Game; a device that would turn into the Atari Lynx in 1989. It was the first color handheld console ever made, as well as the first with a backlit
Backlight
A backlight is a form of illumination used in liquid crystal displays . As LCDs do not produce light themselves , they need illumination to produce a visible image...
screen. It also featured networking support with up to 17 other players, and advanced hardware that allowed the zooming and scaling of sprites. The Lynx could also be turned upside down to accommodate left-handed players. However, all these features came at a very high price point, which drove consumers to seek cheaper alternatives. The Lynx was also very unwieldy, consumed batteries very quickly, and lacked the third-party support enjoyed by its competitors. Due to its high price, short battery life, production shortages, a dearth of compelling games, and Nintendo's aggressive marketing campaign, and despite a redesign in 1991, the Lynx became a commercial failure. Despite this, companies like Telegames helped to keep the system alive long past its commercial relevance, and when new owner Hasbro released the rights to develop for the public domain, independent developers like Songbird have managed to release new commercial games for the system every year until 2004's Winter Games.
TurboExpress
TurboExpress
The TurboExpress or PC Engine GT in Japan was a portable version of the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine , released by NEC in 1990 for $249.99 .It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TurboGrafx-16's games The TurboExpress or PC Engine GT (Game Tank) in Japan was a portable...
.
It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
's games (which were on a small, credit-card sized media called HuCards). It had a 66 mm (2.6 in.) screen, the same as the original Game Boy, and could display 64 sprites
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
at once, 16 per scanline, in 512 (some say only 482?) colors. It had 64 kilobytes of RAM
Random-access memory
Random access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order with a worst case performance of constant time. Strictly speaking, modern types of DRAM are therefore not random access, as data is read in...
. The Turbo ran its two 6820 CPUs
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
at 3.58 MHz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
in parallel.
The optional "TurboVision" TV tuner included RCA audio/video input, allowing users to use TurboExpress as a video monitor. The "TurboLink" allowed two-player play. Falcon, a flight simulator, included a "head-to-head" dogfight mode that could only be accessed via TurboLink. However, very few TG-16 games offered co-op play modes especially designed with the TurboExpress in mind.
Bitcorp Gamate
Like the Sega Game Gear, it was horizontal in orientation and required 4 AA batteries. Unlike many later Gameboy clones, its internal components were professionally assembled (no "glop-top" chips). Unfortunately the system's fatal flaw was its screen. Even by the standards of the day, its screen was rather difficult to use, suffering from similar motion blur problems that were common complaints with the first generation Gameboys. Likely because of this fact sales were quite poor, and Bitcorp closed by 1992. However it has recently been discovered that new games continued to be published for the Asian market, possibly as late as 1994. The total number of games released for the system remains unknown.
Interestingly, Gamate games were designed for stereo sound, but the console was only equipped with a mono speaker. To appreciate the full sound pallet, a user must plug into the head phone jack. Doing so reveals very sophisticated music.
Sega Game Gear
The Sega Game Gear was the third color handheld console, after the Lynx and the TurboExpress. Released in Japan in 1990 and in North America and Europe in 1991, it was based on the Sega Master SystemSega Master System
The is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
, which gave Sega the ability to quickly create Game Gear games from its large library of games for the Master System. While never reaching the level of success enjoyed by Nintendo, the Sega Game Gear proved to be a fairly durable competitor, lasting longer than any other Gameboy rivals.
While the Game Gear is most frequently seen in black or navy blue, it was also released in a variety of additional colors: red, light blue, yellow, clear, and violet. All of these variations were released in small quantities and frequently only in the Asian market.
Following Sega's success with the Game Gear, they began development on a successor during the early 1990s, which was intended to feature a touchscreen
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...
interface, many years before the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
. However, such a technology was very expensive at the time, and the handheld itself was estimated to have cost around $289 were it to be released. Sega eventually chose to shelve the idea and instead release the Sega Nomad
Sega Nomad
The Sega Nomad was a handheld game console sold for the North American consumer market which played Mega Drive/Genesis game cartridges. The system was similar to the Japanese Sega Mega Jet, but featured a built-in color screen; the Mega Jet needed a separate monitor...
, a handheld version of the Mega Drive (Genesis), as the successor.
Watara Supervision
A TV adapter was available in both PAL and NTSC formats that could transfer the Supervision's black and white pallet to 4 colors, similar in some regards to the Super Game Boy from Nintendo.
Hartung Game Master
The Hartung Game Master was an obscure handheld released at an unknown point in the early 1990s. Its graphics were much lower than most of its contemporaries, similar in complexity to the Atari 2600. It was available in black, white, and purple, and was frequently rebranded by its distributors, such as Delplay, Videojet and Virella.The exact number of games released is not known, but is likely around 20. The system most frequently turns up in Europe and Australia.
Late 1990s
The Game BoyGame Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
was nine years old before it got its first successor. In 1998, the Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
was released. It used the smaller and lighter form-factor of the Game Boy Light (released in Japan only), but featured a full color screen. It was also backwards-compatible, so that it could play not only games specifically made for the Game Boy Color, but standard Game Boy games as well. It did not have significantly more computing power than the Game Boy, however.
By this time, the lack of significant development in Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's product line began allowing more advanced systems such as the Neo Geo Pocket Color
Neo Geo Pocket Color
The Neo Geo Pocket Color , is a 16-bit colour handheld game console by SNK. It was the last console they produced in the Neo Geo family...
and the WonderSwan Color to achieve moderate success.
Game.com
The Game.com was a handheld game console released by Tiger ElectronicsTiger Electronics
Tiger Electronics is an American toy manufacturer, best known for its handheld LCD games, the Furby, and Giga Pets. When Tiger was an independent company, Tiger Electronics Inc., its headquarters were in Vernon Hills, Illinois....
in September 1997. It featured many new ideas for handheld consoles and was aimed at an older target audience, sporting PDA-style features and functions such as a touch screen and stylus. However, Tiger hoped it would also challenge Nintendo's Game Boy and gain a following among younger gamers too. Unlike other handheld game consoles, the first game.com consoles included two slots for game cartridges, which would not happen again until the DS and DS Lite, and could be connected to a 14.4 kbit/s modem. Later models had only a single cartridge slot.
Game Boy Color
The Game Boy Color (also referred to as GBC or CGB) is Nintendo's successor to the Game Boy and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan and in November of the same year in the United States. It features a color screen, and is slightly bigger than the Game Boy Pocket. The processor is twice as fast as a Game Boy's and has twice as much memory. It also had an infraredInfrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
communications port for wireless linking which did not appear in later versions of the Game Boy, such as the Game Boy Advance.
The Game Boy Color was a response to pressure from game developers for a new system, as they felt that the Game Boy, even in its latest incarnation, the Game Boy Pocket, was insufficient. The resulting product was backward compatible, a first for a handheld console system, and leveraged the large library of games and great installed base of the predecessor system. This became a major feature of the Game Boy line, since it allowed each new launch to begin with a significantly larger library than any of its competitors. As of March 31, 2005, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
combined to sell 118.69 million units worldwide.
The console was capable of displaying up to 56 different colors simultaneously on screen from its palette of 32,768, and could add basic four-color shading to games that had been developed for the original Game Boy. It could also give the sprites and backgrounds separate colors, for a total of more than four colors.
Neo Geo Pocket Color
The Neo Geo Pocket Color (or NGPC) was released in 1999 in Japan, and later that year in the United States and Europe. It was a 16-bit color handheld game console designed by SNKSNK Playmore
SNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....
, the maker of the Neo Geo
Neo Geo (console)
The is a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released on July 1, 1991 by Japanese game company SNK. Being in the Fourth generation of Gaming, it was the first console in the former Neo Geo family, which only lived through the 1990s...
home console and arcade machine. It came after SNK's original Neo Geo Pocket
Neo Geo Pocket
The Neo Geo Pocket was SNK's first hand held video game system, released in Japan in late 1998; however, lower than expected sales resulted in its discontinuation in 1999, and was immediately succeeded by the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The system only had a retail release within the Japan and Hong Kong...
monochrome handheld, which debuted in 1998 in Japan.
In 2000 following SNK's purchase by Japanese Pachinko
Pachinko
is a type of game originating in Japan, and used as both a form of recreational arcade game and much more frequently as a gambling device, filling a niche in gambling in Japan comparable to that of the slot machine in Western gambling. A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but...
manufacturer Aruze, the Neo Geo Pocket Color was dropped from both the US and European markets, purportedly due to commercial failure.
The system seemed well on its way to being a success in the U.S. It was more successful than any Game Boy competitor since Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
's Game Gear
Sega Game Gear
The was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress....
, but was hurt by several factors, such as SNK's infamous lack of communication with third-party developers, and anticipation of the Game Boy Advance. The decision to ship U.S. games in cardboard boxes in a cost-cutting move rather than hard plastic cases that Japanese and European releases were shipped in may have also hurt US sales.
Wonderswan Color
Bandai
is a Japanese toy making and video game company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It is the world's third-largest producer of toys . Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs...
. It was released on December 9, 2000 in Japan, and was a moderate success.
The original WonderSwan
WonderSwan
was a line of handheld game consoles produced in Japan by Bandai between 1999 and 2003. It was developed by the late Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto and Bandai...
had only a black and white screen. Although the WonderSwan Color was slightly larger and heavier (7 mm and 2 g) compared to the original WonderSwan, the color version featured 512 kB
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
of RAM
Random-access memory
Random access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order with a worst case performance of constant time. Strictly speaking, modern types of DRAM are therefore not random access, as data is read in...
and a larger color LCD screen. In addition, the WonderSwan Color is compatible with the original WonderSwan library of games.
Prior to WonderSwan's release, Nintendo had virtually a monopoly in the Japanese video game handheld market. After the release of the WonderSwan Color, Bandai took approximately 8% of the market share in Japan partly due to its low price of 6800 yen (approximately US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
65).
Another reason for the WonderSwan's success in Japan was the fact that Bandai managed to get a deal with Square
Square (company)
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
to port over the original Famicom
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
games with improved graphics and controls. However, with the popularity of the Game Boy Advance and the reconciliation between Square and Nintendo, the WonderSwan Color and its successor, the SwanCrystal quickly lost its competitive advantage.
2000s
The 2000s saw a major leap in innovation, particularly in the second half with the release of the DS and PSP.Game Boy Advance
In 2001, Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance (GBA or AGB), which added two shoulder buttons, a larger screen, and more computing power than the Game Boy Color.The design was revised two years later when the Game Boy Advance SP
Game Boy Advance SP
The , released in February 2003, is an upgraded version of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. The "SP" in Game Boy Advance SP stands for Special. The SP was marketed at US$99.99 at launch. In September 2004, Nintendo lowered the price to US$79.99...
(GBA SP), a more compact version, was released. The SP featured a "clamshell
Bivalve shell
A bivalve shell is part of the body, the exoskeleton or shell, of a bivalve mollusk. In life, the shell of this class of mollusks is composed of two parts, two valves which are hinged together...
" design (folding open and closed, like a laptop computer), as well as a frontlit
Frontlight
A frontlight is a means of illuminating a display device, usually a liquid crystal display , which would otherwise be viewed in ambient light. This improves its performance in poor lighting conditions. Frontlights are inferior to backlights and are usually found as an auxiliary feature.An LCD...
color display and rechargeable battery. Despite the smaller form factor, the screen remained the same size as that of the original. In 2005, the Game Boy Micro
Game Boy Micro
is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in September 2005 in the market. The system is the last console of the Game Boy line...
was released. This revision sacrificed screen size and backwards compatibility with previous Game Boys for a dramatic reduction in total size and a brighter backlit
Backlight
A backlight is a form of illumination used in liquid crystal displays . As LCDs do not produce light themselves , they need illumination to produce a visible image...
screen. A new SP model with a backlit screen was released in some regions around the same time.
Along with the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
, the GBA also introduced the concept of "connectivity": using a handheld system as a console controller. A handful of games use this feature, most notably Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing
The Animal Crossing games have garnered positive response. The first three games are among the best-selling for their respective consoles. Animal Crossing has sold 2.321 million copies; Wild World 10.79 million; and City Folk 3.38 million...
, Pac-Man Vs.
Pac-Man Vs.
is a Pac-Man video game originally designed exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube that was included as an extra bonus disc with the Player's Choice edition of Pac-Man World 2...
, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
is a action role-playing game for the Nintendo GameCube. It was published by Nintendo and developed by The Game Designers Studio, a shell corporation for Square Enix's Product Development Division-2. A spin-off of the Final Fantasy series, the game spawned a metaseries of the same name...
, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, released as in Japan, is the eleventh installment of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series. It was released for the Nintendo GameCube in Japan on March 18, 2004; in North America on June 7, 2004; in Europe on January 7, 2005; and in Australia on April...
, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, released as in Japan, is an action-adventure game and the tenth installment in The Legend of Zelda series. It was released for the Nintendo GameCube in Japan on December 13, 2002, in North America on March 24, 2003, in Europe on May 2, 2003, and in Australia on...
, Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime is a video game developed by Retro Studios and Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube, released in North America on November 17, 2002...
, and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
As of December 31, 2007, the GBA, GBA SP, and the Game Boy Micro combined have sold 80.72 million units worldwide.
Game Park 32
Game Park
Game Park is a South Korean company that was founded in 1996 and went bankrupt in March 2007. It is responsible for creating the GP32 and the never-released XGP. Gamepark Holdings was founded by former employees of Game Park in 2005.-Foundation:...
a few months after the launch of the Game
Boy Advance. It featured a 32-bit CPU, 133 MHz processor, MP3 and Divx player, and e-book reader. SmartMedia
SmartMedia
SmartMedia is a flash memory card standard owned by Toshiba, with capacities ranging from 2 MB to 128 MB. SmartMedia memory cards are no longer manufactured.- History :...
cards were used for storage, and could hold up to 128mb of anything downloaded through a USB cable from a PC. The GP32 was redesigned in 2003. A front-lit screen was added and the new version was called GP32 FLU (Front Light Unit). In summer 2004, another redesign, the GP32 BLU, was made, and added a backlit screen. This version of the handheld was planned for release outside South Korea; in Europe, and it was released for example in Spain (VirginPlay was the distributor). While not a commercial success on a level with mainstream handhelds (only 30,000 units were sold), it ended up being used mainly as a platform for user-made applications and emulators of other systems, being popular with developers and more technically-adept users.
N-Gage
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
released the N-Gage in 2003. It was designed as a combination MP3 player, cellphone, PDA, radio, and gaming device. The system received much criticism alleging defects in its physical design and layout, including its vertically-oriented screen and requirement of removing the battery to change game cartridges. The most well known of these was "sidetalking
N-Gage
The N-Gage is a mobile telephone and handheld game system by Nokia, based on the Nokia Series 60 platform, released in October 2003. It began sales on October 7, 2003. The N-Gage QD replaced the original N-Gage in 2004....
", or the act of placing the phone speaker and receiver on an edge of the device instead of one of the flat sides, causing the user to appear as if they are speaking into a taco
Taco
A taco is a traditional Mexican dish composed of a corn or wheat tortilla folded or rolled around a filling. A taco can be made with a variety of fillings, including beef, chicken, seafood, vegetables and cheese, allowing for great versatility and variety...
.
The N-Gage QD was later released to address the design flaws of the original. However, certain features available in the original N-Gage, including MP3 playback, FM radio reception, and USB connectivity were removed.
Second generation of N-Gage
N-Gage (service)
The N-Gage service was Nokia's mobile gaming platform that is available for several Nokia S60 smartphones. It is a follow-up to the N-Gage handheld game console. N-Gage is a part of Nokia's Ovi initiative....
launched on April 3, 2008 in the form of a service for selected Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
Smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s.
Tapwave Zodiac
In 2004, Tapwave released the Zodiac. It was designed to be a PDAPersonal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
-handheld game console hybrid. It supported photos, movies, music, Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, and documents. The Zodiac used a special version Palm OS 5, 5.2T, that supported the special gaming buttons and graphics chip. Two versions were available, Zodiac 1 and 2, differing in memory and looks. The Zodiac line ended in July 2005 when Tapwave declared bankruptcy.
Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS was released in November 2004. Among its new features were the incorporation of two screens, a touchscreenTouchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...
, wireless connectivity, and a microphone port. As with the Game Boy Advance SP, the DS features a clamshell design, with the two screens aligned vertically on either side of the hinge.
The DS's lower screen is touch sensitive, designed to be pressed with a stylus, a user's finger or a special "thumb pad" (a small plastic pad attached to the console's wrist strap, which can be affixed to the thumb to simulate an analog stick). More traditional controls include four face buttons, two shoulder buttons, a D-pad
D-pad
A D-pad is a flat, usually thumb-operated directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern video game console gamepads, game controllers, on the remote control units of some television and DVD players, and smart phones...
, and "Start" and "Select" buttons. The console also features online capabilities via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
The is an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Wii games. The service includes the company's Wii Shop Channel, DSi Shop, and Nintendo eShop game download services...
and ad-hoc wireless networking for multiplayer games with up to sixteen players. It is backwards-compatible with all Game Boy Advance games, but not games designed for the Game Boy or Game Boy Color.
In January 2006, Nintendo revealed an updated version of the DS: the Nintendo DS Lite
Nintendo DS Lite
The is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It is a slimmer, brighter, and more lightweight redesign of the Nintendo DS, designed to be aesthetically sleeker, while taking styling cues from the Game Boy Advance SP, and to appeal to broader commercial audiences...
(released on March 2, 2006 in Japan) with an updated, smaller form factor (42% smaller and 21% lighter than the original Nintendo DS), a cleaner design, longer battery life, and brighter, higher-quality displays, with adjustable brightness. It is also able to connect wirelessly with Nintendo's Wii console.
In October 2008, Nintendo announced the Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DSi
The is a handheld game system created by Nintendo and launched in 2008 and 2009 in Japan, North America, PAL territories, and other regions. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony's PlayStation Portable...
, with larger, 3.25 inch screens and two integrated cameras. It will have an SD card
Secure Digital
Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...
storage slot in place of the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
slot, plus internal flash memory for storing downloaded games. It was released on November 1, 2008 in Japan, and was released in North America April 5, 2009, and April 3, 2009 in Europe.
As of December 31, 2009, the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS Lite and Nintendo DSi combined have sold 125.13 million units worldwide. In 2010 Nintendo released a larger version of the DSi, called the DSi XL.
Game King
As many of the games have an "old school" simplicity, the device has developed a small cult following. The Gameking's speaker is quite loud and the cartridges' sophisticated looping soundtracks (sampled from other sources) are seemingly at odds with its primitive graphics.
TimeTop made at least one additional device sometimes labeled as "GameKing", but while it seems to possess more advanced graphics, is essentially an emulator that plays a handful of multi-carts (like the GB Station Light II). Outside of Asia (especially China) however the Gameking remains relatively unheard of due to the enduring popularity of Japanese handhelds such as those manufactured by Nintendo and Sony.
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (officially abbreviated PSP) is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer EntertainmentSony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
. Development of the console was first announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on March 24, 2005, and in the PAL region
PAL region
The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...
on September 1, 2005.
The PlayStation Portable is the first handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc
Universal Media Disc
The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform...
(UMD), memory stick pro duo(tm) as its primary storage medium. Other distinguishing features of the console include its large viewing screen, multi-media capabilities, and connectivity with the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, other PSPs, and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Gizmondo
Tiger's Gizmondo came out in the UK during March 2005 and it was released in the U.S. during October 2005. It is designed to play music, movies, and games, have a camera for taking and storing photos, and have GPS functions. It also has Internet capabilities. It has a phone for sending text and multimedia messages. Email was promised at launch, but was never released before Gizmondo, and ultimately Tiger TelematicsTiger Telematics
Tiger Telematics or Tiger, was a Swedish electronics company, best known for the failed Gizmondo handheld game console.-History:In 2000, Carl Freer formed Eagle Eye Scandinavian, a small electronics distribution business in Sweden...
', downfall in early 2006. Users obtained a second service pack, unreleased, hoping to find such functionality. However, Service Pack B did not activate the e-mail functionality.
Game Park Holdings GP2X
The GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and media player created by GamePark Holdings of South Korea, designed for homebrew developers as well as commercial developers. It is commonly used to run emulators for game consoles such as Neo Geo, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, MAME and others.A new version called the "F200" was released October 30, 2007 and features a touchscreen, among other changes. Followed by GP2X Wiz
GP2X Wiz
The GP2X Wiz is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on May 12, 2009, and was also the first console from both Game Park and Game Park Holdings to be also released outside South Korea...
(2009) and GP2X Caanoo
GP2X Caanoo
The GP2X Caanoo, branded as CAANOO, is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by the South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on August 16, 2010 in South Korea, United States and Canada, and were also sold throughout Europe...
(2010).
Dingoo
Pandora
The Pandora is a handheld game console/UMPC/PDA hybrid designed to take advantage of existing open source software and to be a target for home-brew developmentHomebrew (video games)
Homebrew is a term frequently applied to video games or other software produced by consumers to target proprietary hardware platforms not typically user-programmable or that use proprietary storage methods...
. It runs a full distribution of Linux, and in functionality is like a small PC with gaming controls. It is developed by OpenPandora, which is made up of former distributors and community members of the GP32 and GP2X handhelds.
OpenPandora began taking pre-orders for one batch of 4000 devices in November 2008 and after manufacturing delays, began shipping to customers on May 21, 2010.
Nintendo 3DS
The Nintendo 3DS (abbreviated to 3DS) is Nintendo DS's successor unit produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic three-dimensional effects without requirement of additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS was released in Japan on February 26, 2011; in Europe on March 25, 2011; in North America on March 27, 2011 and in Australia on March 31, 2011. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software. As of right now, the 3DS has been struggling to make a large dent in the Japanese marketplace, as the PSP has been outselling 3DS except for a few things in Japan. In the U.S., the 3DS has sold wellUpcoming handheld consoles
Upcoming handhelds include the PlayStation Vita, successor to the PSP series. Vita means life in Latin. The Vita is the first handheld to have a touch pad on the back of the device.List of notable handheld game consoles
- Milton Bradley MicrovisionMicrovisionThe Microvision was the very first handheld game console that used interchangeable cartridges. It was released by the Milton Bradley Company in November . The Microvision was designed by Jay Smith, the engineer who would later design the Vectrex gaming console...
(1979)
- Epoch Game Pocket ComputerEpoch Game Pocket ComputerThe Epoch Game Pocket Computer is a handheld game console released by Epoch in Japan in 1984. It was one of the very few truly handheld systems to be released in the early 1980s, preceding the Game Boy by 5 years. The Game Pocket Computer used an LCD screen with a 75 × 64 resolution, and could...
- (1984) - Japanese only; not a success - Nintendo Game BoyGame BoyThe , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
(1989) - First internationally successful handheld game console - Atari Lynx (1989) - First backlit/color screen, first hardware capable of accelerated 3d drawing
- TurboExpressTurboExpressThe TurboExpress or PC Engine GT in Japan was a portable version of the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine , released by NEC in 1990 for $249.99 .It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the TurboGrafx-16's games The TurboExpress or PC Engine GT (Game Tank) in Japan was a portable...
(1990, Japan; 1991, North America) - Played huCardHuCardA HuCard is a memory card developed by Hudson Soft. It is the size of a credit card and is used with the NEC PC Engine and SuperGrafx video game consoles. HuCards contain an integrated circuit that is placed close to the connectors and protected by a thin plastic shield...
(TurboGrafx-16/PC EngineTurboGrafx-16TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
) games, first console/handheld intercompatibility - Sega Game GearSega Game GearThe was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress....
(1991) - Architecturally similar to Sega Master SystemSega Master SystemThe is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
, notable accessory firsts include a TV tunerTV tuner cardA TV tuner card is a kind of television tuner that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk much like the Tivo digital video recorder does.-Variants: The interfaces for... - Watara SupervisionWatara SupervisionThe Watara Supervision is a monochrome handheld game console, originating from Asia, and introduced in 1992 as a cut-price competitor for Nintendo's Game Boy. It came packaged with a game called Crystball, which is similar to Breakout...
(1992) - first handheld with TV-OUT support: the Super Game BoySuper Game BoyThe is a 16-bit adapter cartridge for Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as the Super Famicom in Japan. The Super Game Boy allows game cartridges designed for use on the Game Boy to be played on a TV display using the SNES/Super Famicom controllers. When it was released in...
was only a compatibility layerCompatibility layerA compatibility layer is a term that refers to components that allow for non-native support of components.In software engineering, a compatibility layer allows binaries for a legacy or foreign system to run on a host system. This translates system calls for the foreign system into native system...
for the preceding Game BoyGame BoyThe , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
. - Sega Mega Jet (1992) - no screen, made for Japan AirlinesJapan Airlinesis an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...
(first handheld without a screen) - Mega Duck/Cougar Boy (1993) - 4 level grayscale 2,7" LCD - stereo sound - rare, sold in Europe and Brazil
- Sega NomadSega NomadThe Sega Nomad was a handheld game console sold for the North American consumer market which played Mega Drive/Genesis game cartridges. The system was similar to the Japanese Sega Mega Jet, but featured a built-in color screen; the Mega Jet needed a separate monitor...
(1995) - Played normal Sega Genesis cartridges, albeit at lower resolution - Neo Geo PocketNeo Geo PocketThe Neo Geo Pocket was SNK's first hand held video game system, released in Japan in late 1998; however, lower than expected sales resulted in its discontinuation in 1999, and was immediately succeeded by the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The system only had a retail release within the Japan and Hong Kong...
(1996) - Unrelated to Neo GeoNeo Geo (console)The is a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released on July 1, 1991 by Japanese game company SNK. Being in the Fourth generation of Gaming, it was the first console in the former Neo Geo family, which only lived through the 1990s...
consoles or arcade systems save for name - Game Boy Pocket (1996) - Slimmer redesign of Game Boy
- Game Boy Pocket Light (1997) - Japanese only backlit version of the Game Boy Pocket
- Tiger game.comGame.comThe Game.com is a handheld game console released by Tiger Electronics in September 1997. It featured many new ideas for handheld consoles and was aimed at an older target audience, sporting PDA-style features and functions such as a touch screen and stylus...
(1997) - First touch screen, first Internet support (with use of sold-separately modemModemA modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
) - Game Boy ColorGame Boy ColorThe is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
(1998) - CybikoCybikoThe Cybiko was a hand-held computer introduced in May 2000 designed for teens, featuring its own two-way radio text messaging system. It has over 430 "official" freeware games and applications. Because of the text messaging system, it features a QWERTY Keyboard that was used with a stylus. An MP3...
(around 1998) - Sony PocketStationPocketStationThe is a peripheral by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation home video game console. Categorized by Sony as a miniature personal digital assistant, the device features a monochrome liquid crystal display , infrared communication capability, a real-time clock, built-in flash memory, and...
(1998) - Japanese only PS1 memory card/portable mini console in one. - Sega Visual Memory Unit (1998) - Dreamcast memory card/portable mini console in one.
- SNK Neo Geo Pocket ColorNeo Geo Pocket ColorThe Neo Geo Pocket Color , is a 16-bit colour handheld game console by SNK. It was the last console they produced in the Neo Geo family...
(1999) - Bandai WonderSwanWonderSwanwas a line of handheld game consoles produced in Japan by Bandai between 1999 and 2003. It was developed by the late Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto and Bandai...
(1999) - Developed by Gumpei Yokoi after leaving Nintendo - Bandai WonderSwan Color (2000)
- Game Park GP32GP32The GP32 is a handheld game console developed by the Korean company Game Park. It was released on November 23, 2001, in South Korea only.- Overview :The GP32 is based on a 133 MHz ARM CPU and 8 MB of RAM...
(2001) - first with full homebrew support - Game Boy AdvanceGame Boy AdvanceThe is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
(2001) - First 32-bit32-bitThe range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
handheld - Pokémon miniPokémon miniThe is a handheld game console designed and manufactured by Nintendo and themed around the Pokémon media franchise. It is the smallest game system with interchangeable cartridges ever produced by Nintendo, weighing just under two and a half ounces...
(2001) - The smallest cartridge-based system that includes a black-and-white LCD screen, and the smallest integrated gamepad ever created. - Bandai SwanCrystal (2002) - Minor redesign of WonderSwan Color
- N-GageN-GageThe N-Gage is a mobile telephone and handheld game system by Nokia, based on the Nokia Series 60 platform, released in October 2003. It began sales on October 7, 2003. The N-Gage QD replaced the original N-Gage in 2004....
(2003) - Game system and GSM cell phoneMobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
(first combination of the two); first included MP3 player and FM radioFM broadcastingFM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
; used BluetoothBluetoothBluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
(first wireless multiplayer); first use of GPRSGeneral Packet Radio ServiceGeneral packet radio service is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication system's global system for mobile communications . GPRS was originally standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute in response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode...
for online play - Game Boy Advance SPGame Boy Advance SPThe , released in February 2003, is an upgraded version of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. The "SP" in Game Boy Advance SP stands for Special. The SP was marketed at US$99.99 at launch. In September 2004, Nintendo lowered the price to US$79.99...
(2003) - Redesign of GBA: slimmer, clamshell form factor; frontlit screen - GameKingGameKingGameKing is a brand of handheld game consoles, designed and developed by TimeTop in 2003, for the Hong Kong consumer market. The brand has three consoles, the GameKing I, the GameKing II and the GameKing III...
(2003) - first handheld developed by a Chinese company. - Tapwave ZodiacTapwave ZodiacThe Zodiac is a mobile entertainment console, launched on 5 May 2003, and released in October 2003 by Tapwave, a former private company that was based in Mountain View, California....
(2004) - First PDA/game handheld hybrid; Palm OSPalm OSPalm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
PDAPersonal digital assistantA personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
with game-focused form factor and features - NokiaNokiaNokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
N-Gage QDN-Gage QDThe N-Gage QD is a handheld game console and mobile phone by Nokia, and the successor to the N-Gage. It was unveiled on April 14, 2004.It revised the device's physical design, being smaller and rounder. It corrected the flaw of the cartridge slot with a more convenient one on the bottom of the device...
(2004) - Redesign of N-Gage, removed MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
playback and radio - Nintendo DSNintendo DSThe is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
(2004) - First inclusion of dual screens, built-in microphone, and Wi-FiWi-FiWi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
for wireless multiplayer; touchscreen - PlayStation PortablePlayStation PortableThe is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
(2004/2005) - First use of optical media; uses Memory StickMemory StickMemory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, launched by Sony in October 1998, and is also used in general to describe the whole family of Memory Sticks...
s for saved data; plays movies and music and views JPEGJPEGIn computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
pictures. - GizmondoGizmondoThe Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console which was released by Tiger Telematics in March 2005. The electronics design was undertaken by Plextek Limited and the industrial design by Rick Dickinson....
(2005) - Uses GPRSGeneral Packet Radio ServiceGeneral packet radio service is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication system's global system for mobile communications . GPRS was originally standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute in response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode...
network; first inclusion of GPSGlobal Positioning SystemThe Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
for location-based games, first built-in camera - Game Boy MicroGame Boy Microis a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in September 2005 in the market. The system is the last console of the Game Boy line...
(2005) - Redesign of GBA; smallest Game Boy form factor to date, first transflective LCD screen in a handheld. - Game Boy Advance SP (Backlit) - A low key re-release of the GBA SP with a backlit screen.
- XGPXGPThe XGP was a concept portable video game system created by the Korean company GamePark as the follow-up to its GP32 handheld. Initially announced in 2005, the XGP was finally announced in March 2006 along with the release of the similar XGP Mini and the XGP Kids...
(2005) and Game Park Holdings GP2XGP2XThe GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea only....
(2005) - Successor units to the GP32 handheld, each being developed by the two companies that split off from Game Park. - Nintendo DS LiteNintendo DS LiteThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It is a slimmer, brighter, and more lightweight redesign of the Nintendo DS, designed to be aesthetically sleeker, while taking styling cues from the Game Boy Advance SP, and to appeal to broader commercial audiences...
(2006) - Redesign of DS, including smaller size, brighter screen levels, and other subtle changes. - PlayStation Portable Slim & LitePlayStation Portable Slim & Lite seriesPSP Slim & Lite is a name used in the PAL territories to refer to the redesigns of the PlayStation Portable handheld game console released and manufactured by Sony Computer Entertainment. The same models were called simply PlayStation Portable in Japan and North America.At E3 2007, Sony released...
(2007) - Redesign of PlayStation Portable (PSP), including smaller size, lighter weight, video out capability, USB charge, and other changes. - PlayStation Portable-3000PlayStation Portable Slim & Lite seriesPSP Slim & Lite is a name used in the PAL territories to refer to the redesigns of the PlayStation Portable handheld game console released and manufactured by Sony Computer Entertainment. The same models were called simply PlayStation Portable in Japan and North America.At E3 2007, Sony released...
(2008) - Minor redesign of the current PSP Slim & Lite, including brighter screen, built in mic, and a PS button replacing the Home Button - iPod TouchIPod TouchThe iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
1G (2007) The first iPod Touch - Nintendo DSiNintendo DSiThe is a handheld game system created by Nintendo and launched in 2008 and 2009 in Japan, North America, PAL territories, and other regions. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony's PlayStation Portable...
(2008) - Small redesign of the Nintendo DS Lite. Some changes include built in internet, camera, use of SD card, this model however does not have backward compatibility with Game Boy AdvanceGame Boy AdvanceThe is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
games - PSP GoPSP GoThe PSP Go is a version of the PlayStation Portable handheld game console manufactured by Sony. It was released on October 1, 2009 in American and European territories, and on November 1 in Japan. It was revealed prior to E3 2009 through Sony's Qore VOD service...
(2009) - A brand new PSP including no UMD, Internal Memory, Bluetooth, and a sliding screen - iPod TouchIPod TouchThe iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
2G (2008) Second iPod Touch, in this generation the iPod started to be considered a Handheld game device. - Nintendo DSi LL/XL (2009) - The fourth iteration of the Nintendo DS handheld game console technically identical to the DSi with its distinguishing feature being its large form factor which will be almost an inch larger than the DSi and slightly thicker. It will boast two 4.25" LCD screens 93% larger than the current DS Lite.
- iPod TouchIPod TouchThe iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
3G (2009) Third iPod Touch - Mi2Mi2 (console)The Mi2, also branded as PDC Touch, is a handheld game device developed and created by Dutch company Planet Interactive in Benelux and branded as Mi2. The Chinese manufacturer Conny Technology and the French manufacturer Videojet branded it as PDC Touch Media in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal...
(2009) - The Mi2 is a small handheld game device created by Planet Interactive in cooperation with the Chinese manufacturer Conny, it contains 100 built in games. - Dingoo a320DingooThe Dingoo A320 is a gaming handheld that supports music and video playback and open game development. The system features an on-board radio and recording program. It is available in two colors—white and black—with a third color, pink, announced for future release. It was released in February 2009...
(2010) - a new version of the a320 which will have emulation for 11 consoles including the NES, SNES, Genesis and Master System - PandoraPandora (console)The Pandora is a handheld game console designed to take advantage of existing open source software and to be a target for homebrew development...
(2010) - Open Source handheld developed by former distributors and community members of the GP32GP32The GP32 is a handheld game console developed by the Korean company Game Park. It was released on November 23, 2001, in South Korea only.- Overview :The GP32 is based on a 133 MHz ARM CPU and 8 MB of RAM...
and GP2XGP2XThe GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea only....
. - iPod touchIPod touchThe iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
4G (2010) Fourth iPod Touch, this generation has a Retina display and gyroscopic controls. - Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DSThe is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...
(2011) - The first portable console to use the autostereoscopy technology, which creates the illusion of 3D.
See also
- Video game console emulatorVideo game console emulatorA video game console emulator is a program that allows a computer or modern console to emulate a different video game console's behavior. Emulators are most often used to play older video games on personal computers and modern video game consoles, but they are also used to play games translated...
- Handheld video game
- Mobile gameMobile gameA mobile game is a video game played on a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, tablet computer or portable media player. This does not include games played on handheld video game systems such as Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable....
- Calculator gamingCalculator gamingCalculator gaming is the phenomenon of programming and playing games on programmable calculators, especially graphing calculators. It is largely a pastime of high school and college students, who generally are required to use such powerful calculators in advanced mathematics classes; as a result,...
- Handheld televisionHandheld televisionA Handheld television is a portable device that usually uses a TFT LCD or Organic light-emitting diode color display. Many of these devices resemble handheld transistor radios.-Hardware:...
External links
- Electronic Handheld Games - 70s, 80s, 90s Classics!