Go beyond the Nintendo Switch with our favorite handhelds

The Nintendo Switch tops our list of best consoles, but it’s far from the only great handheld gaming console on the market. Although Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have largely exited the dedicated gaming handheld space, other companies have stepped in to fill the void.

Whether you’re buying for yourself or your favorite gaming buddy, there’s a handheld for every budget and demographic.

For the enthusiast

Valve steam deck

AMD-based gaming PC handhelds have been on the market since at least 2020, thanks to companies like Ayaneo, but Valve’s Steam deck has them all beat on comfort and cost. Powered by a custom Linux distribution and AMD APU, Steam Deck can run thousands of big-budget and indie games sold on Steam.

It’s relatively large at 11.7 x 4.6 x 1.93 inches, but its rounded palm corners and deep grips make hours of gaming comfortable. The 7-inch, 1280 x 800 pixel IPS display isn’t the biggest (it blooms and covers only 65% ​​of the sRGB color space), but strikes the right balance between size and resolution—native PC games never look stretched or squishy. The buttons, triggers, D-pad and thumbsticks are responsive and feel better in every way compared to the Nintendo Switch’s shallower counterparts.

Then there is the price. For just $399—or less if you have money in your Steam wallet—the base can pack 64GB of Steam. Easily upgradeable With a high capacity 2230 NVMe storage drive, all the way 1TB And for less than Valve’s $650 top-tier 512GB model.

The versatility of the deck is another major selling point; You can use it as a HTPC in the living room, emulate games up to Nintendo Switch on it and even install Windows 10 or 11.

If you buy a Steam deck, you’re also buying into a community of over one million owners and Valve’s excellent customer support. Expect fast shipping times, strong warranty support, quick troubleshooting turnaround times and the ability to find answers to any questions you have online.

Buy a steam deck

Logitech G Cloud

If you mostly game from your bed or couch and need a device with at least eight hours of battery life, check out the Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld. Don’t let the ‘cloud gaming’ part put you off either. If you have a strong and reliable internet connection, you won’t be able to tell the difference between gaming on the Logitech G and Steam Deck or other handheld consoles in this article.

Logitech G’s 7-inch, 1080p display not only produces vivid colors but its size and resolution make text in-game. Cyberpunk 2077 It is very easy to read without having to adjust the UI settings in the game. It’s also lighter (16.3 ounces) and more comfortable to hold than the Steam Deck (23.5 ounces). Small hands rejoice!

In terms of app compatibility, the Logitech G can run cloud gaming services such as GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming, indie game-focused Utomik and any other cloud-gaming apps available on Android. (Note that differences between each service, such as game availability and latency, are not controlled by Logitech.) You can also connect the Logitech G to your gaming PC via Steam Link and play that way, but your PC will need Turn on and log into Steam to do this.

A disadvantage compared to similar devices Razor’s Edge The Logitech G does not come with a cellular chip. So, if you want to cloud game over a 5G cellular connection, you need to have a hotspot-enabled cell phone to connect to it. This you can Work seamlessly, but if there are too many people nearby or if you are too far from a 5G tower, it won’t.

However, Logitech designed this device to be used at home or anywhere with a stable and fast Wi-Fi connection, and it passes our tests in that regard with flying colors. It’s not a direct competitor to the Steam Deck, Switch, and other gaming handhelds, but if you don’t want to be locked into a single ecosystem, the Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld lets you play both PC and console games from a single device. Without messing with heavy hardware.

Buy Logitech G Cloud

For the retro game fan

Retro Pocket 3+

If you’re not interested in the latest games and just want to catch up on decades-old titles, Retroid Pocket 3+ might be just the thing. For $150, you get a pocketable Android handheld that Nintendo Switch Lite But there is a more diverse library.

Everything from the build quality to the snappy feel of the buttons is uniformly excellent, except, unfortunately, for the placed down-firing speakers and the Start|Select rocker. The 4.7-inch, 1334 x 750-pixel IPS touchscreen pops and, although it’s not OLED, has fantastic contrast and black levels. It also gets a peak brightness of up to 450 nits, which is more than enough for daytime outdoor play. The tactile and responsive YXBA face buttons are accurate enough for platformers where you need pixel-perfect response times—the best our reviewer has ever tested.

The Retroid Pocket 3+’s Unisoc Tiger T618 processor is beefy enough to handle emulation of up to PlayStation 2 and GameCube games, and powerful enough for older console games too. The 16:9 screen means PSP games will run at their native resolution without letterboxing, and you can even install widescreen hacks to breathe new life into old 3D titles.

Retroid makes it easy to get up and running by loading each Pocket 3+ with an emulator before shipping it out. The included 128GB of internal storage should be enough to hold dozens, if not hundreds, depending on how old it is. You can also add up to 1TB of additional storage using the SD card slot.

If modern titles are more your thing, the Retroid Pocket 3+ can stream games from your home PC to SteamLink or Moonshine. Retroid also includes a mini-HDMI port so you can turn the Pocket 3+ into a home console, and you can even pair Bluetooth controllers with it for multiplayer.

The Pocket 3+ comes in some fun colorways that are throwbacks to consoles and handhelds of the past; When was the last time you bought anything in vivid purple from Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft?

Buy Retroid Pocket 3+

For the budget minded

Retro Pocket 2+

However, Retroid has stopped selling Pocket 2+ On its website, it’s a fantastic retro emulation handheld and is still available on Amazon. In our review, we noted that its size and affordability (when it retailed for $99 instead of $130) made it a no-brainer for gamers on the go.

The 3.5-inch, 640 x 480 screen isn’t as good as its successors, but for emulating Game Boy and Game Boy Advance or Nintendo 64 games, it’s more than adequate. The Pocket 2+ is not a direct competitor to the Pocket 3+; It’s a cheap option that’s perfect for throwing in your bag or pocket and playing on long journeys. It can also stream games from your PC, but you’re better off sticking to emulating older titles given the screen size. Retroid has also preloaded the Pocket 2+ with an emulator, so all buyers need to do is transfer their game to ROM.

The Pocket 2+’s older Unisoc Quad-core Tiger T310 processor can easily handle everything from the PlayStation 1, N64 and Dreamcast eras, putting thousands of titles at your fingertips. The buttons and D-pad aren’t quite up to par with the Pocket 3+, but again, it’s in the lower price range.

While it makes sense that Retroid wants to focus on its more expensive offerings and fill its growing backlog of Pocket 3+ orders, I can’t help but disagree with their decision to discontinue the Pocket 2+. For most, it’s a fantastic way to experience the games they grew up playing while dipping their toes into the simulation world in an accessible way.

Buy Retroid Pocket 2+ from Amazon

For the purist

Analog Pocket

This $220 Analog Pocket This is the only entry on the list that takes physical cartridges; Instead of imitating old games, he plays them as intended. These include the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance, but Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, and Atari Lynx games can be played with the appropriate adapter.

Anyone with a library of old cartridges and decades-old hardware without backlighting should be thrilled by the elegant combination of analog authenticity and upgrades. It plays everything you can throw at it easily and cheerfully—and there’s a delightful ridiculousness about hooking it up to the (optional) dock to play games originally made for a 3-inch screen on a 55-inch television.

The Analog Pocket’s screen is gorgeous (with a 3.5-inch, 1600 × 1440-pixel display for a ridiculous 615 pixels-per-inch density), and display options let you choose between “pixel perfect” reproduction or simulated desaturated colors. Original hardware. It’s a great addition because developers often used harsh colors in their games, as the Game Boy Advance screen would wash them out.

There is a whole world outside of games. The included Nanoloop synthesizer/music studio is fun, though you’ll definitely want to find out A tutorial to begin with. You can create and share your own GB Studio games, and there are many new possibilities. OpenFPGA firmware update.

You’re paying a premium to run a system that only uses native hardware rather than emulation for base functionality. It may not be worth it for everyone. But when you dock compatibility, composition software, GB studio games and now Open source cores While letting you copy and emulate other systems, you get enough out of this handheld that you don’t need to be a retro purist to enjoy it.

Pre-order Analog Pocket

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Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.