How did the Switch change handheld gaming?

I know that a lot of gamers dreamed of a system such as Switch, which allows them to take console games on the go. Now we have Steam Deck, a competent handheld PC that will play your Steam library with great results. With the release of Switch, Nintendo and Sony killed their handheld line of systems. Gamers now had console games to take on the go, so those systems were unnecessary.

But up until the Switch, handheld gaming provided unique experiences that felt like bitesized versions of the console games.

Games like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Super Mario Land, Super Mario 3D Land, Loco Roco, Wario Land 4, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Contra 4, and Daxter, among many others were handheld games that were shorter and in a strange sense felt retro due to their limitations on the host hardware.

Does anyone else miss the handheld days? To me, these games were not truncated versions of the big boy console and PC games but rather a spot between mobile games/handheld electronic games and console games if that makes sense. They occupied a special place in gaming for me that no longer exists. I wouldn't go back if it meant we couldn't have Switch or Steam Deck, though, as I play the devil out of them.

A successful handheld definitely did not kill handheld gaming. I don't think handheld gaming could go back, however. I think it will now be the precedent to have them "hybrid" between offering handheld and console experiences.

Huh? Seems to me that the Switch invigorated handheld gaming. It gave it the power and ability to play any kind of game on the go. The PSVita died from Sony’s doing before the Switch even came out.

@jaydan: I understand your point, but I'm more asking if the console experience that Switch brought killed the bitesized, retro, alternative feel that handheld gaming had in the past. Technically, handheld gaming is in the best spot its ever been in if you count mobile (yuck) among Switch.

Killing handhelds isn't the word. Just other handhelds gave up being good and stop releasing good games...looking at you PS Vita. The Switch just made things easier to play it as a console connecting to TV or take it with you. For me personally, I play it on handheld way more and rarely play it on TV.

Edit: Sony can make a good handheld and still releasing it today's marketing but in order for that to happen, they need to be very committed making a good product of a handheld and have killer app games for it at the right price. The Steam Deck proves it you can make a good handheld machine but Sony totally missed that opportunity.

@Archangel3371: Vita was technically discontinued two years after the Switch released. Sony might have neglected the handheld, but the Switch's entrance certainly didn't help, I'm sure. I think that Switch invigorated handheld gaming as well, but handheld gaming was not in its death throes or anything. DS, PSP, and 3DS all performed very well commercially. I would only call Vita a failure if comparing it to PSP sales, but I don't necessarily consider it a failure in its own right. I'm just saying that handheld gaming has transformed into "console/PC gaming on the go," which is a good thing, but I was wanting others to reflect on the idea that handheld gaming has changed and to give their opinions on if whether or not part of what made handheld gaming unique has gone with that change.

Indies are thriving and a big selling point for the Switch, and most of which contain the handheld philosophy of pick-up and play. Indies may very well be the new handheld games of today.

@The_Deepblue: The PSVita was for all intents and purposes “dead” well before the Switch ever came out. Sony struggled with the Vita right from the get go.

The Switch invigorated handheld gaming because you still can play those “bite sized” games that previous handhelds had but now you’re no longer limited to just those kind of games. Now you can also play the typical AAA games on the go as well.

No? If anything, it saved it. Mobile gaming is what nearly killed it. And sony giving up after Round 2.

Changed the title name. The new title is more appropriate for what I was asking and examining.

@The_Deepblue: Now that is certainly more appropriate. 👍

They brought AAA console gaming to the handheld space.

Streamlined their production and game development into one system along with the gamers not needing to buy both a home console and a separate handheld system. Most people probably owned both previously.

I was never a big fan of the whole "bitesized" thing in handheld gaming, always wanted the equivalent of a home console but in portable format. It's basically why I've loved handhelds more and more as they got more powerful.

When the Switch came out it was basically everything I've ever wanted (concept-wise); a handheld that plays home console-quality games and that you can plug to the TV.

The Steam Deck felt like the logical next step for me and is probably the best one yet since it's practically a PC. Can't wait for Valve to refine it and build upon it for the future.

The types of games that do well on handhelds are still being made. The vita just really showed that portable hardware can still do handheld games while also being very close to being able to deliver more console like games too. The switch managed to get it over the line.

There are a boat load of games on the PC that are very handheld friendly and that's one of the reasons the deck and similar devices are getting traction.

I was dreaming of the switch years before they announced it. I'm extremely happy Nintendo made it. It led to the steam deck and a healthier portable gaming ecosystem. Switch allowed us to finally play big optimized games on the go and it eliminated the practice of separate libraries and split development.

More games on less hardware is always a win.

Switch didn’t change the handheld gaming, mobile phones did

Honestly, it's too big for a handheld. Like, I can't take it out of my pocket right now as I'm waiting for my next world load to arrive.

Steam is full of indies that are the type of games you would only see on Gameboy back in the day. Lots of pixelart plaformers, metroidvanias, and strategy games. Even Nintendo still makes handheld style games like Link's Awakening, and Kirby Star Allies.

I'd say Switch reaffirmed a trend that was already in progress. Handheld games just come out on everything now.

It showed you could tell 15 year old games for full price.

@jaydan: I hadn’t thought about how indies do sort of have that retro-bite sized fee that handhelds used to have. Not a bad point.

Some of the games that stood out to me on handhelds in the past were games based on AAA titles but more simplistic versions. I think sometimes a AAA developer can have a great impact if they didn’t fill their games with so much pomp, cinema, and bloated gameplay elements. Something like a Daxter on PSP was a neat smaller version of the big gun platformers on console. I wouldn’t go back from Switch and Steam Deck, but it’s still nice to reminisce on the more humble days of handheld gaming.

@uninspiredcup: Bro, these clowns buying a 15 year old Dead Space at full price.

Yep... I agree. The industry is about shoving known experiences in our face and asking for more.... BTW the original dead space is still a gem and didn't need a reboot in any way. The remake is ten years too early.

If you think about it nothing really changed... Nintendo's handhelds always felt about 2 gens behind consoles. Like Gameboy games felt like NES while the N64 was out. GBA games felt like SNES while the Gamecube was out. And DS/3DS games felt like SNES/N64 games while the Wii and WiiU were out.

Fast forward and we've arrived at Switch which can do games graphically basically on a 360/PS3 level.

That was an amazing feeling to be at that point though- to be playing games at that graphical level on a handheld, especially when thinking about what Gameboy games played like when I was a kid and how far we've come.

I know everything I just said it's technically accurate, just approximating.

Yes.

Take Nintendo, for example. They always had one console and one handheld to make games for. When there wasn't much for the console to play, you could go to the handheld, and vice versa. Now though? You can't. You have Switch, and that's it. We just get less Nintendo games to play overall now. It sucks.

One could've thought that Nintendo only focusing on one console would result in us getting more games for that console than their previous consoles, where they also had to support a handheld. But no. We just get less games. I think it's scary how few there are who complain about that.

Well, it proved one thing for sure and it's that, convenience and accessibility are two important factors in making a gaming platform.