Whatever Happened to the Handheld Gamer?

I remember a time when portable gaming was just as viable as console gaming, at least in my own experience. When I was younger, I’d be just as excited getting a new title for my Game Boy Color (and later Advance) as I would for my console systems. For my birthday, there could be a game coming for the GBA that I was more excited for than something new for the PS2 that would obviously have superior graphics and more advanced technology and innovation. Yes, there are still plenty of gamers out there loyal to portable systems, but recent inventions have drawn a border between the devoted and casual world of gaming.

Today we have the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation Vita competing for attention like the Game Boy and Sega Game Gear 22 years ago. The difference between today and now goes beyond just graphics. With the institution of smartphones and devices such as the iPad, portable gaming to the casual consumer is cheap and harmless. Why pay $40 for the latest 3DS title when you can get Angry Birds for $0.99 on your Android or iPhone, the same device where all your apps and other instances of convenience call their home. With today’s smartphones acting as on-the-go, miniature computers, the instant accessibility and price range is quite appealing to the general public.

On April 21^st, 1989, Nintendo had released the revolutionary handheld gem known as the Game Boy. Back then, it wasn’t too far away from the capabilities of a Nintendo Entertainment System if you look at it from a modern perspective, titles for this system were not unlike what’s offered in the library of apps and digital stores today, such as Dr. Mario and Tetris, which are both (particularly the latter) popular to this day. Nintendo kept the momentum going nine years later with the Game Boy Color, which not only offered what the system provided in its own title, but was also a more powerful device, not by leaps and bounds, but just enough to keep the old and new generation satisfied. I feel it’s important that the original Game Boy had lasted almost a decade before a successor, as systems nowadays would never last that long. You’re lucky if you get to a half-decade. Sure, the Game Boy had redesigns prior to Color like the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Light, but those we’re purely cosmetic.

Other than the Sega Game Gear, Nintendo never had any competition in this particular market until the PlayStation Portable hit Japanese shelves in 2004. By then, the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance had already become a staple, and the Nintendo DS had been released a month prior to the PSP. Smartphones were around by this time, but not nearly as accessible or embedded into popular culture as they are now. The PlayStation Portable, while boasting far more powerful graphics and machinery, did not live up to much critical finesse nor did it sell as well as the DS due to Nintendo’s broader demographic and the PSP’s lack of stellar installments that we’re neither ports nor spin-offs of already established console franchises.

At the time of this post, I do not own either a 3DS or a PlayStation Vita, but I can tell you that I am more interested in the 3DS, the Vita may be the more powerful machine, but fancy graphics do not account for superior entertainment or art the same way special effects relate to filmmaking. Also, I do own a smartphone of my own, and have played some of the popular titles, such as Angry Birds and the admittedly addicting Bejeweled 3 and Plants vs. Zombies, which I both originally played on a PC. But this goes back to my point that a smartphone as well as other devices such as an iPod Touch are practically handheld computers. “I can play this on my phone, you say? Well, my phone is always in my pocket. The game’s always available to me, then? Well, that’s awesome.”

The fact of the matter is these innovations are leaving a hole into the handheld market. Yes, there will always be longtime fans (like myself) who rush out to buy the latest Pokémon version and shamelessly buy port after port of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (and yes, I do plan on getting the 3DS remake). However, with parents letting their toddlers fiddle with an iPad (which I roll my eyes at and sigh and I’m not even twenty years old yet), and the wider appeal of simpler, more run-of-the-mill entertainment for a buck or two is sadly a little more welcoming to the uninitiated. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying handheld gaming is a dying effort; I’m just worried of its increasingly plummeting significance. And so at the end of this all, I ask fellow gamers, will you keep the fire burning?