What is the greatest handheld game system of all time?

Handheld gaming has been such an important fixture of the gaming landscape for almost forty years now- before consoles even took off, Nintendo was experimenting in the handheld space with their Game and Watch series of games and systems.

Today, handheld gaming continues to exist alongside console and PC gaming to provide players with an alternative way of playing; in fact, for many markets, such as Japan, handheld gaming has supplanted console gaming as the primary form of playing games. Some of the greatest, most popular games of all time are handheld games, or started out as handheld games- titles such as Pokemon, Kirby, or handheld spin offs in established franchises, such as The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening or Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

There have been so many great handhelds over the years, but one question we don't ask often enough is, which one of them was the best? We fixate on the console side of the equation a lot- but handhelds don't often get people arguing for them. Maybe it's because of the fact that the sector has been dominated by one company entirely ever since its inception, which leads to most discussions being moot, or maybe it's because a lot of people tend to underestimate just how cool handhelds can be, but it's not something we've considered often enough.

So now, we'll try to answer this question: what was the greatest handheld system of all time?

To answer this, we use the old System Wars Votes format, but with some modifications:

• List your three favorite handhelds of all time in your post; make sure your list is in order of preference.
• The handheld you list first will get 30 points; the handheld listed in second place gets 20 points. The handheld in third place gets 10 points.
• Any officially released handheld game system qualifies- what this means is, please don't go on listing all those Chinese knock offs or clone systems in these lists. In general, exercise some common sense as to what systems you decide to list- we don't want you going all TigerSuperman on us.
• iOS and Android technically qualify. However, you must name a device for votes to count. So if you want iOS on there, name either the iPhone, or the iPad, or the iPod Touch to count- simply listing iOS will not count. Similar rules apply for Android devices.
• Refrain from disruptive posting. This is really not something I need to say anymore, since the new rules make it clear, but if all you have to post is just lolVita or lolHandheldGaming, or something to that effect- don't. You're gonna go ahead and get yourself a strike and a suspension, and we'd rather not have you in this thread in that case.
  Now if you want to list the Vita as lolVita as part of your three votes, on the other hand, by all means, go nuts.

Voting is open till February 5, 2016. Have at it.

DS

GBA

GBC

1. 3DS

2. DS

3. GBA

Really conflicted about the third spot. Could have easily gone with the PSP, but the GBA gave me ALttP, Final Fantasy IV and Pokemon FIreRed/LeafGreen (to name just a few), so I'm gonna go with that.

I'm really confused about this, since I like pretty much all of the ones I played a whole lot.

But let's see, I think I'd vote as follows:

1. Nintendo DS
2. Gameboy Advance
3. Nintendo 3DS

I'll probably change these once a day until the day voting ends lol, I can't make up my mind about the placements at all, though I at least have decided that these are the three I want to go with.

I only played on PSP and loved it, but i'll vote here as:

1. 3DS

2. DS

3. GBA

Well, one thing is for sure, VITA isn´t the greatest handheld of all time.

• DS
• PSP
• 3DS XL

It's either DS or 3DS.

DS could play GBA games which 3DS can't, but 3DS has its own library. The real question is which library you think is better: GBA + DS or DS + 3DS.

For power! lol Vita!

I go with 3DS, DS, GBA.

Guys- vote for three systems, please, so your votes can be counted.

1.GBA

2.psp

3.D.S

1 Lol Vita ( because of cross play and Tecmo Deception )

2 DS ( Most games! )

3 PSP ( Lots of Great games and GTA! )

1. PSP
2. GBA / SP
3. DS

1. Vita

2. GBA

3. DS

3DS

DS

GBA

1. PSP
2. DS
3. GBA

1. 3DS

2. DS

3. GBA

Vita

3DS

DS

• Vita
• PSP
• Gameboy

1) DS

2) GBA

3) Vita

4) PSP

5) GBC

6) Testicular cancer

7) 3DS

1. DS

2. GBA

3. 3DS

Funny how 3DS and DS are at opposite ends :P

The 2 systems I've spent the most time with are Gameboy Advance (SP model) & PSP.

1. DS

2. GBA

3. 3DS

1. Nintendo DS
2. Gameboy Advance
3. Gameboy Color

1. Gameboy Advance SP with the better back-lit screen.

2. TurboExpress

3. 3DS

1. GBA (SP if that matters).
2. Gameboy.
3. DS.

You know I'm not much of a handheld gamer, I basically just went with the ones I spent the most time with. I actually played the GBA a **** load, especially so if we count the Gamecube functionality. Played the Gameboy a decent bit. Barely played the DS.

1. GBA

2. Nintendo DS

3. GBC

Probably the 3DS with GBA in a close second.

3DS

Gba

psp (for gta games)

In history, I go for the GBA for the best library. Then the PSP for a sweet PS2-isk library. Currently I'm obsessed with the PS VITA and it's my go-to for all games Anime, PSP and PS1 but that's just my personal preference. Can't really say the VITA itself is a success especially in America but it did open my eyes to JRPG games again. That's a victory in itself.....and shows how desperate I got to keep playing the VITA.

1. DS
2. GBA
3. GBC

It's a coin flip between the DS and GBA based on their own libraries, but the DS being backwards compatible gives it the edge to me.

Does BC count? If so that would change my vote drastically.

GBA

DS

Gameboy

1. DS

2. GBA

3. 3DS

1. PSP (This is the only handheld, in my opinion, that has ever had both good hardware and a good game library. Plus, it could run emulators too. Definitely #1 to me by far.)

2. 3DS

3. DS

@charizard1605: I own one, and love it. It was so unique at that time... I remember when I used to rent it from Blockbuster and it came in that awesome briefcase.

1) DS

2)GBA

3)3DS

1. Gameboy Color (I can still remember my first Pokemon and Zelda games)

2. Nintendo 3DS (I am a huge fan of the 3D aspect, I loved the DS but this just made it even better)

3. Nintendo DS (first handheld I was old enough to buy on my own and accrue my own game library)

1.GBA

2.DS

3.GBC

DS
3DS
GBA

1. 3DS
2. DS
3. PSP

The original PSP was dope for emulation so I'd go with that.

1. PSP

2. GBA

3. DS

1. Vita
2. GBA
3. Neo Geo Pocket Color

@charizard1605: Probably the DS/3DS Don't think any other handheld gaming device comes close unless you go to tablets and mobile devices. I still have my GameGear and a Lynx, and they were good for their time, but didn't have the software support. Nintendo has dominated the handheld gaming market for years.

I'd seesaw between Gameboy Advance and the original Nintendo DS.

Not 'handhelds' but as far are portables go, these.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=mattel+electronic+football&FORM=HDRSC2

Nothing was more competitive or made a young boy attempt to slug it out with older siblings like it.

1. GBA(All Castlevania got 100 %, by means beating all difficulty + modus + best gear + full map etc, and got like 10 more games with 100 % complete all without guide day 1 release play)

2. Vita(Phantasy Star Nova finally got the right difficulty on SH and beyond where encouring proper teamwork, where half baked this time not getting away. Yoru no Nai Kuni being like almost GBA/DS Castlevania. I have to use both game wiki and translator as I can't read Japanese text and there is a difficult jump on PSNova where I need get better gear).

3.DS(Castlevania series again except for Portrait of Ruin. That game is very predictable and not enjoyable. it made me almost stopped hitting 100 % but didn't).

My kids started out with a GBA and added a GBA SP, NDS, NDS Lite, 3DS, 3DS XL. Plus Android smartphones and iPads.

Me? I started out with a Sega Game Gear (with TV Tuner) PSP 1000, and currently with Android tablets.

Greatest..... Legacy? the GBA. Current and future? The legions of mobile (both Android and iOS).

Picked up my kid from her first day of the (spring) semester at a campus. So many zombies playing games on their mobile devices, waiting to be picked up.

The best hands down in turns of hardware is Vita. Content is subjective but for me I think DS. Gameboy is an all time classic and had some great games for its time and some that still hold up. So:

1. Vita

2. Nintendo DS

3. Game Boy