Handheld gaming systems are having a moment. Yes, gaming on the go has been a thing since the Game Boy, but the runaway success of the Nintendo Switch and continued growth of mobile processors has brought an explosion of devices that let you play all sorts of games wherever you want. Figuring out the best gaming handheld for you, though, can be complicated. You already know that the Switch is worth buying, but depending on what you want to play, the right handheld could cost you less than $100 or close to $1,000. To help you narrow things down, we’ve extensively researched the best handheld gaming consoles and tested the major contenders, from beefy portable PCs to compact emulation machines.
- $399 at Steam
Steam Deck
- $149 at Retroid
Retroid Pocket 3+
- $239 at AYN
AYN Odin
- $300 at Amazon
Logitech G Cloud
- $220 at Analogue
Analogue Pocket
What to know about the gaming handheld market
Further down on the price spectrum are mobile handhelds like the Logitech G Cloud or Retroid Pocket. These often run Android or Linux and can range from under $50 to $400-ish. They aren’t equipped to play modern console or PC titles, but they’re usually more compact than a portable PC and can still be used for mobile games and cloud streaming. While most are marketed toward those ends, many gamers actually buy them to emulate video classic games through software like RetroArch. Getting emulators to work can be complicated, and accessing the BIOS and ROM files required to play games this way is legally murky. (Engadget does not condone piracy. Backing up files of games you already own for personal use only is considered more defensible, however, so for that a mobile handheld can be a more user- and wallet-friendly way to play the classics on the go.) Today, the ARM chips in top mobile handhelds can emulate games into the sixth generation of consoles.
We’ll call the last tier “handhelds that do their own thing.” This is a catch-all for things like the Switch or Playdate: portable devices that run heavily customized software and aim to provide a unique gaming experience. They aren’t necessarily ideal for emulation or playing the latest multiplatform titles; instead, they often have distinct game libraries. They might not have the widest appeal as a result (Switch excluded), but they’re often easier for less tech-literate folks to just pick up and use.
Best handheld gaming PC for most: Valve Steam Deck
It’s been well-documented over the past year but Valve’s Steam Deck still offers the best balance of price and functionality in the gaming handheld market. Specifically, we’re talking about the entry-level model, which costs $399 and comes with 64GB of eMMC storage (which is easily expandable with a microSD card). The $529 and $649 variants with faster SSDs and, with the highest-end model, a premium glass display are fantastic as well, but a few new Windows handheld gaming devices might put a dent in their value proposition, at least for some people. (We’ll dig into this more below.)
Nevertheless, the entry-level Steam Deck is still a remarkably capable device. While not every game in the Steam library has compatiblilty with the device’s Linux-based OS, thousands are and the list of officially verified and still-playable titles is growing all the time. It can play some games natively and stably that just aren’t possible on the Nintendo Switch, from Elden Ring to Final Fantasy VII Remake to the Resident Evil 4 remake. The process isn’t quite as plug-and-play as Nintendo’s console, as some games require tweaks to run optimally, and some newer AAA titles are starting to push the device’s limits. But SteamOS makes its settings relatively accessible, and in practice, this is essentially a last-gen console that plays in 720p but can be carried anywhere.
0 Comments