We really lost something when handhelds stopped being pocketable. (a rant)
Switch (and to a greater extent Switch 2) is brilliant hardware, don't get me wrong. I like it. It's well built, great screen, suspend works great, docking is awesome, etc.
But I don't like that it killed (or at least marked the end of) the old handheld gaming paradigm. Some of this is undoubtedly nostalgia, but I think there's things that were objectively better about the old way.
Around the time of 3DS launching smartphone gaming was taking off, and for a moment it looked promising which really hindered sales of handheld consoles. There were tons of innovative, fun experiences available at low prices. This pushed companies away from handhelds. It's a lot tougher sell when people have smartphones now.
But then smartphone gaming turned into a barren hellscape of ads and fremium mtx ridden slop. I don't know about you, but despite owning high end smartphones I have literally no games on my phone. Not to say that no good smartphone games exist... But they have such a huge uphill battle - nobody buys mobile games because they assume they're trash, and they don't have the necessary advertising budget to fight the big names in mobile gaming. So the selection is small and hard to find.
Then there's the ports like Minecraft and Fortnite/etc, which are also loaded with mtx nowadays. But smartphones seem like the absolute last choice platform for these titles. Nothing I hate more than playing a game designed for a controller on a touchscreen.
So say I go to pick a friend up from the airport and I have 20 minutes to wait because their flight was a bit late. What to do? I could play a game on my Switch. Totally a feasible option. Except, I almost certainly didn't bring it. Why would I? It's a fairly large device. And with the big exposed screen and analog sticks I'd have to case it up too. I'm not grabbing that thing "just in case". So I grab my phone and doomscrool. Not because I want to, but because... What else am I gonna do?
But let's say I had a 3DS.... Pocketable (or easily fitting into a modest sized purse). I can take it without thinking. No case needed, it's a clamshell. May as well keep it on me. Plus I can grab some Streetpass passes (when that was a thing) which basically gamifies the action of taking it everywhere. I'd probably spend those 20 minutes playing something on the 3DS.
That's the thing. Tablet sized portables like Switch/2, Steam Deck, etc are technically portable, but I have to plan it. If I'm going on a road trip yeah awesome those consoles are insanely good. But in my day to day life they never leave the house. The extent of portability really means I might play them in bed instead of the living room. The Switch Lite is definitely an improvement, but it's still not the size it would need to be to become effortless to bring around.
And the games. Switch/Switch 2 games are mostly just home console games that can be played on a handheld. We don't get nearly as many of those smaller games designed for 10-30 minute play sessions. The type of games that used to be developed for handhelds. This is 10x as true on PC handhelds. I mean, such games do exist no doubt they're just a lot smaller part of the market. We don't see big studios putting money into them like we'd see them do for dedicated handhelds of the past. That's not to say there weren't big epic stories meant for long sessions on old handhelds, but they weren't the main type of games on them.
I understand why things are the way they are. I get it. But I don't like it. Some might ask why I don't just carry an old handheld - I have been! With the modern modding scene the 3DS is insanely good. I've had a blast with it and have been playing a ton of games from the library I never got around to back in the day plus emulators for older consoles etc. You can even play online again with community servers. But it would be really sweet to have new games to look forward to, and an active community and support.
Then there's new like, boutique handhelds out there like the Ayn Thor etc. They look awesome and I'll probably pick one up one day, but honestly it has the same problem as my 3DS. No new exciting stuff coming. No big community.
I don't forsee things changing anytime soon... But I feel like if things were just a bit different they could. Like, graphics have kinda plateaued in the past 2 generations of consoles. Developers can't really say their games are held back by graphical limitations much anymore. Let's say the Switch 2 has an 8 year lifecycle - the Switch 3 could be a dockable handheld clamshell the size of a 3DS XL. Skip the 2 screen thing. With advances in processing/battery tech, I think in 8 years they could do that and still have graphics marginally better than S2 (but maybe not as big of a leap as S1 -> S2) and with a lot more RAM/vRAM assuming the RAMpocalypse ends by then. It could be a pocketable handheld that can still do 1080p gaming on TV while docked, keeping the single device benefit for development cost savings that the Switch brings.
I don't actually think that'll happen, but a person can dream eh?
Anyway thanks for reading my rant.
106 replies
I am late to this thread but I upgraded from my almost 20 year old DS Lite with an R4 card to an AYN Thor which I genuinely recommend since a good quality New 3DS may run you about the same money. Go for 3DS if you have friends who still use DS/3DS.
No need, AYN proved your entire idea with the Thor with both screens as AMOLED. The base model is going for $330, so its absolutely possible. I would even bet it could take a solid chunk of the Switch 2 library despite a weaker GPU, and it can definitely do Switch 1 games and lots of Steam games.
The one downside with Thor is that there is no DS/3DS wireless local multiplayer (yet) because of latency shenanigans which is something I actually want to work on but haven't had the time to do. The upside tradeoff is that you can play modern steam and switch games on it as well, both in Android and Linux (Rocknix). It is a very well made console despite the smaller audience of 3rd party consoles. And community is actually decently sized with lots of cutsom launchers, themes, addons, styluses, cases, etc.
Nintendo had some of the greatest technology in their hand with stuff like streetpass and download play, yet they threw it all away for the Switch era which effectively killed the handheld multiplayer scene. I think I only used my switch in local wireless multiplayer once ever. Everything else was either smash bros or split screen mariokart. As you said, it's just a home console that's portable.
This might sound dumb, but I don't want to see current Nintendo pursue a proper handheld again because I know they are not capable of doing so in the same manner that the DS and 3DS was successful. They have been making absolute bank on Switch and Switch 2 sales despite paywalling stuff that used to be included for free in the DS/Wii era and removing the core essentials of what made those consoles so good.
They could have easily repurposed those ideas for their mobile games, but they didn't. Instead we just got more paywalled slop despite having access to new tech like NFC, Bluetooth, WiFi Aware, gyro in every phone, etc. Even Pokemon GO was a 3rd party reskin, not a Nintendo original game.
A proper successor to the 3DS could absolutely shred the market, but I just don't see Nintendo doing it correctly.
I have a DS Lite with a flash cart and slot 2 module (for GBA games) and a modded New 3DS XL. Awesome consoles with great games that still hold up today. Nintendo really knows how to make excellent games on limited platforms. The modded 3DS especially is an amazing platform imo. Lots of emulators and homebrew besides the great catalog of original games. The DS Lite is the peak when it comes to form factor though. I can't recommend getting into the DS family of handhelds enough.
All of this could be so easily fixed if only we had linux phones. I'd like to just have my entire steam/gog/itchio libraries just on my phone as I've already bought those games and I should be able to just play them on the devices I already own.
https://commodore.net/callback/
That's cool and all, but but I don't get the relavence.
It's a pocketable Linux phone.
is it? I didn't see shit in the advertisement material that it was
This could be blamed on game developer brain drain. These are low-powered devices, and they need people writing game logic to have some idea of hardware-level efficiency, not let a 500-feature engine do the work for them.
There’s no way to remake these devices without them taking up oodles of power, thus burning a hole in your pocket. Phones come close (it’s damn impressive what visuals Gacha games can achieve on phones) but even they are losing efficiency with time.
I adore my RETROID Pocket Flip v2
For phones I recommend emulators. Games from 30 years ago were less likely to have microtransactions, DLC, and all that bullshit
You kids and your microtransactions and Deal-Cs.
When I was your age, we would go to the mall with a roll of quarters and feed them into into big TVs with plastic guns hanging off the side. You'd shoot at the screen and the screen would shoot back. Every game cost a quarter. So we'd say "3 lives for a quarter". They would sell you blue soda in these big cups called "Freezies". And you could get a pretzel the size of your arm for a dollar.
Can't do that anymore. On account of the woke.
In addition to that, I'd also add that modding a 3ds is exceptionally simple. It also helps give access to nonnative software and mods to make your current games more fun (i.e. randomizers). I still play my 3ds, since it has my all-time favorite game, and I can still play a lot of my backlog.
Others have covered various points with better words than I can, so I'm going to share a website that is covering mobile phone games releases. not affiliated in any way
https://minireview.io/
Is was developed and maintained by a youtuber covering mobile games. Although he haven't uploaded to youtube in a year. And I don't usually check the site so it could be outdated.
And I see mobile ports of pc games are taking more care in translating physical controls to touch screen controls. Still not the rule and definitely the exception, but it is out there. Latest one I remember off the top of my head is balatro and ballxpit.
Same for phones.
this is the real shame imo. I don't want another pocketable device, I just want decent games on the thing I already have.
I think the other problem is I'm not a fan of touchscreen as a primary gaming interface
There are pocket-sized controllers intended for mobile device use with varying degrees of tradeoff
sure but there is a wide variety of grips, clips, and controllers out there. You'd lose some of the portability advantage having to carry something like that around, but it would still be less expensive, redundant, and wasteful than a completely separate gaming device.
be the change you want to see, how much did you spend on portable games back in the day, why aren't you spending the same amount on devs that make ad free no micro transactions games? Don't shy away from that game because it's 10 bucks, that's a quarter the price you used to pay for gbc games.
get yourself a Bluetooth controller, or physical controller adapter for your phone, they have buttons you can stick on your phone, and then you'll appreciate how nice the screen interfaces are these days.
I can never find a good source for what those games are, and more often than not they're a game I already have on PC that just happens to have a mobile port. Like what am I going to do, buy Slay the Spire a third time since I already have it on PC and Switch?
Despite having a smartphone for over 15 years, I've found maybe a handful of games that are mobile games primarily that are also full fledged games that aren't slop. There's probably more out there but no good ways to find them. Mobile gaming is heavily overrepresented by freemium and gacha games and players, or people suggesting indie games that exist on other platforms.
Phone app stores don't gave good games. They just don't. Not free, not paid; they just don't.
Unless you get into Foss shit. Which you donate not pay for. Mindustry goes pretty hard.
Phones are never going to be as good an experience as a dedicated handheld gaming system.
This is my phone with my magnetic controller attached. I can detach the magnet and screen and set it on a kickstand to play at a table or hotel desk or such. I My phone is my main gaming device when I’m on the road; lots and lots to play.
When it’s closed up and the controller is still attached, it’s this big:
However, it’s still not pocketable, but that’s because I’m a woman and pockets aren’t easy to come by. Fits in my bag quite well though.
That controller looks awesome! Can I get a link or a name or something to identify it, please?
https://ohsnap.com/products/mcon-magnetic-controller
Here you go! $100 on sale from $150
While I admire the anti-advertising stance, there's a difference between obnoxious advertising and sharing something you like. Luckily, the fediverse is still niche enough that it doesn't have marketing agencies trying to blur the line yet.
I sent it to them in a PM as well, when I made the original comment.
I went out of my way to avoid doing that because I didn’t want to advertise in a federated space.
I mean, I’m eating well on my phone.
Is any of those a mobile first game? Besides, I totally get this complaint of op's
Of those games, I could see The Witness, Stardew, and maybe Transistor and Ball x Pit working well with a touchscreen considering their perspective, pacing, and simple controls. Seeing this, I’m tempted to get The Witness on my phone to try.
Oh! I’ve never cared to distinguish. I just have a controller, a setup that works for me, and I haven’t given it much thought besides.
I think that may actually be a bit crass of me, but I didn’t really consider other people when I was trying to figure this out.
Insofar as good mobile-first pay-money-and-get-game games, my favorites are A Ticket to Earth, SOULVARS, Slice and Dice, and others, but I can’t be sure because I don’t have an easy way to check release dates of iOS games against their Steam counterparts. I’m a 41 year old woman who’s on a photography expedition at the moment.
At the end of the day, does it matter though? Play what you want, on the device you want, and enjoy the remainder of the four thousand weeks you started with. :)
There are good mobile first games, but you definitely need to cut through the slop to find them. One thing that helps is just completely ignoring free games and looking at the actual paid ones. Then skip any games you are aware of that are on other consoles, because those are likely to be ports (which to be clear, are often great, but not if you are looking to avoid controller touch controls as you are).
Some of my favs in the past have been Card Thief, and every other game by the same dev; most of Kairosoft stuff, though they did a free to play period of releases so I'd avoid those; Monument Valley; Reign and its spin offs; Vampire Survivors, even though it's free; Professor Layton series even though they are ports; there's others, this is just off the top of my head.
There's still good ones. You just have to look hard and ask around. I wouldn't recommend it on smaller phones, but there's a port called "Dungeon Clawler" that's a blast. Then a great and super hard free game called "Shattered Pixel Dungeon". Another called "Earn to Die". "Merge Maestro" is also a lot of fun.
My Steam Deck lives in my backpack and yes, i would have taken it to the airport.
I'm pretty sure someone made pants to make the Steam Deck or similar pocketable...
Jokes aside, if they were pocketable, you couldn't run modern AAA games on them, then gamers would non-stop whine about it. You can still get some pocketable handhelds with Android OS (or a Chinese fork of it), and likely that will be my next portable device if Google will go through with closing down the Android ecosystem, and my S23 Ultra will go bad.
My kid is a Nintendo Game Boy Advanced SP connoisseur. I've looked into modern versions like the Miyoo, but after getting two broken in a row trying to get a Christmas present together I gave up. GBA-SP still works thpugh!
There’s a whole market of pocketable handhelds where you can carry around 40 years of retro gaming. Retroid, Miyoo, AYANEO.
There are others that run Android, giving you access newer mobile games on a dedicated device with physical buttons.
I’d argue that, in 2026, pocketable mobile gaming is better than it has ever been.
Yeah I address this.
They're like museums though. As cool as they are they'll never capture that "current, supported console" energy with a large community. No exciting big new releases. I'll never have a spontaneous local multiplayer session.
They do look super cool though and I'm sure I'll get one eventually.
Weird take, retro gaming communities are huge and new hacks/mods are released often.
Case in point, I've been playing Pokemon Lazarus, a free, fully featured, Pokemon ROM hack that's just as good as any mainline Pokemon game, on my Miyoo mini
Nothing will ever beat the feeling of having mario kart ds, then beaming the game over to other people who did not have their own copy of the game and playing quick multiplayer rounds with them. We didn’t realize how good we had it
Download Play was the shit. Nintendo added something similar back (GameShare) but it's just display streaming instead of sharing a binary. Can give a similar experience, though.
We really need to recreate the same thing. I wanted game devs to do local multiplayer on Android using WiFi Direct for over a decade and yet NOBODY HAS EVEN TOUCHED IT, at most a few does Bluetooth, it's just a handful of applications even using it at all and the single most notable program is a printer manager (Mopria) so not even something multi user oriented.
I agree with you completely on the phones. Ergonomic nightmares on top of all the mtx and game quality issues.
But i think the retro handheld community deserves a bit more consideration than dismissed as museums. They allow portable access to decades of games. Most of which are far more suited to the 20-30 minutes sessions you describe than any games of more recent days. The blast you have on a 3ds? You can build on that. Either by jailbreaking other platforms (PSP?) or get a newly built device of similar size which adds greater convenience (battery life, usb-C, etc) and add the ability to emulate most consoles. Up to say, Ps3 era and you have decades of options in any genre.
Not sure you are going to find any answers if that isnt going to scratch your itch.
Ive personally never had the multiplayer itch i think you ae referring to and havent played a fraction of the games that habe intrigued me over the years.
If you get one with a Snapdragon chip (Adreno GPU), you can run most Switch and Steam games, so you will be able to play new releases, within reason.
My bad lol, I ADHD’d my way in and out of reading your post and seems like I skipped the latter half
Good point
Yup. Retroid Pocket 6 is perfect for this. Can even run PC games with Steam save game sync. Plays all Switch emulated games.
But this is not for normies. The amount of setup and fiddling these consoles take make them a very very niche enthusiast device. But still a device I would strongly recommend for people who are willing and who want a budget device in this current hardware climate.
GameBoy SP was the perfect handheld. It fit easily in your pocket. It had color. It had a backlight. Everything after is just chasing screen size.
It weirded me out that it didn't have XY buttons.
I mean, the GB Color and Advanced didn’t have them. The Advanced just added L and R, and the SP was the same, but more compact with a backlight.
Oh yeah, I meant it bothered me that the Advanced series didn't have it, sorry, because they had so many SNES ports.
I agree, but I think it could be a biiit wider. Especially if we add some analog controls. Personally I think somewhere around DS lite size.
Not really for the screen size just for grip comfort
Basically that Thor Android gaming device with two screens. You don't even need to use the second one if you don't play that kind of games, but having the option to do stuff like put tutorials on it is amazing
My pockets are big enough to carry a Steam Deck 🤷♂️
Suggestion: Wear bigger pants. 😌
There's no way that's comfy lol
It's an inanimate object; I don't care if it's comfortable. 🤷♂️
Hah.
But also I've had a lot of shoulder buttons wear out because of pocket time.
JNCO Jeans enters the chat
Why bother with just a Steam Deck when you can fit a whole PC rig in there? 😂
Another big issue with smartphone gaming is platform decay. The stores require you to constantly update or your game gets kicked off. There are tons of great games that have no legit way to play them, and others are completely lost with no backups existing. I have some games on my phone I can't delete without risking losing access to them altogether.
Meanwhile I can go put rhythmn heaven in my gba and play it right now.
Even Android itself can be emulated. But that doesn't save games with online dependencies
There are a shit ton of handhelds ranging from a lot of budgets, wulffden made a great video about any that he could get his hands on.
Edit: Should have finished reading before I started talking, I see you already know about these emulation handhelds. I'll still leave the link up for anyone curious.
I recently bought a retroid pocket because I really wanted a pocketable handheld device for when I’m traveling for work.
It’s great. Emulates almost everything (including switch) and even plays a lot of PC games (if they’re not too power hungry). It’s like a steam deck lite.
Great for exactly the type of games that you can just pick up n play for a little bit.
how do you play steam games on it?
I use the app Gamenative. Works fairly well for steam, gog and epic and has a nice UI
Look up FEX and the wrappers that let you run Steam through it. There's github projects for it
Big time agree. I still have 3 N3DS XL's, a PSP (all jailbroken), and an Anbernic. I never take my Steam Deck or any of my Switches with me, but sometimes I just throw a 3DS in my pocket. Sucks that there are no more streetpass relays, but somebody at the japanese market near me keeps their 3DS at the register, and I like to think there's a subculture of people like me who bring their 3DS's to streetpass each other there.
I love the new crop of boutique handhelds, but I too will always miss being able to trade Pokémon with other kids on the bus and not having to worry about anything except who’s got a link cable. As well the ecosystem of magazines and parts and accessories that came with these things. It is the community and adoption level that made it special.
And to those who say this is nostalgia talking this was true back then as well, just look at things like the Supervision. Lack of support and community is part of why it failed and I fear that many of these new handhelds will meet a similar fate.
That supervision thing reminds me of the N64 / GameCube era of link cables to connect your Gameboy with its cartridge to the TV. Or why not Dreamcast cassette games which supported using the cassette as both a second screen and a portable game.
Nintendo DS did a lot of things right including supporting easy wireless multiplayer, but that roaming-to-couch playstyle started to fade a bit in a way the Switch isn't reviving.
I suppose what we really need is an offline complement to online matchmaking. People have more games in their library than ever but there's no discovery. You don't know who around you can join a session of which game.
But we could actually implement that these days much more easily, we can even do it with fancy cryptography to prevent tracking and privacy problems, just some means of pseudonymous Bluetooth advertisements, game library matching (look up PIR / differential privacy), then lobby creation when the players have accepted. And for friends you could have recognition of when friend are near. Federated game ID servers for fancier stuff like tracking achievements, or why not for scheduling gaming sessions in advance.
We can save [gaming], we have the technology
You’ve got small pockets
Yo they exist, android based handhelds that can run steam games and are more portable, I very much considered dropshipping them (never did it in my life, just seemed like a good pick) pretarrif because of how cheap they were for the performanxe.
some dude's collection
No SNK, WonderSwan or GamePark on sight. 🤷♂️
It's an impressive collection and that's neat but also...I just can't imagine having the time to enjoy all of those. It'd almost be stressfully overwhelming choosing which game to play on which of 20-odd systems lol.
sbcgaming reddit
I want to promote ![email protected] and ![email protected] because they need help with just being alive lol
I've thought of stealing some content from the sbcgaming sub and transpose it here with some of my thoughts but I don't have any of the boutique consoles so I don't think I can last
Have thought about doing something similar too in a few other comms that exists here in the threadiverse but far eclipsed by their counterpart in reddit. But I'm too lazy
Dang,most posts on ![email protected] are over a year old with no comments.
GUESS I BETTER CHANGE THAT.
Plenty of decent games on Android, but the experience of platforms like Google Play, Itchio and Humble Bundle is abysmal. Google Play pushes this slopfest iirc since Android 2 at least. Itchio has too much noise and too little browsing filters. Humble Bundle you'd be lucky to find a game with a notice that is too old and likely won't work on modern devices, the rest being kinda just there, forgotten.
For me at least, the best you can get out of a phone is emulation and source ports. But without a dedicated controller, experience can be rather cumbersome while playing too. In fact, a small tangent to show the point, the ebook reader I most prefer is a PS Vita homebrew simply because it is made to use physical controllers and works fantastic at that while not having to have the fingers cover parts of the page, even if the reader itself may take literal seconds to load the next page.
But besides that, I also miss the novelty of a portable console, or even from any consoles before they became somewhat standardized glorified boxes. The absolute unit that is the Saturn, the (truly) slim PS2 and the PSP whose loudness helps greatly at troubleshooting while their libraries do the most for their hardwares' quirkiness, the DS, 3DS and Wii having multiple screens for reasons, whatever Sony was going for with the PS Vita but that worked out fantastic (plus it was still relatively small)...
Meanwhile, the Switch and NS2 are rather basic, clinging to brand name, some exclusives, and barely having competition. But things like positioning them on a degree to play I can do with any no-brand screen, general library there are those portable Linux devices and stretching a bit the Raspberry Pi, and so on, and tinkering with these devices, not being as standard, brings some of the novelty back.
Besides, back at the initial point, I've seen console-like PCs a bit smaller than a Vita, like the R36S, making for a nice portable and pocketable experience. Though these are from my experience just powerful enough for retrogaming, which would lock you out past a certain point in time. So at least for now, I think those handheld PCs should do as replacement, but I would for sure gaming hardware to go back to that more novel and pocketable way.
Agreed and I’d make an argument that Nintendo could change this in a heart beat. Switch 2 lite mini would go a long way. Even the Switch 1 lite only half way does the job. Much smaller but you lose some game operability and still kind of to big. I’d love a clamshell NS 2 with an 6.7 inch screen.
I think the audience is far to small and likely the chipset changes from the existing structure might be to costly .. if possible at all ..
But this one particular idiot (me) on Lemmy can dream..
People are really sleeping on how good the Switch Lite is. It's cheap and built like a tank. It's perfect for chucking in a backpack because you dont have to care what happens to it.
I'm not doing that with my Analogue Pocket, nor my former Switch 2. I returned it because the build quality was a joke. The screen scratched at nothing and the device bent under its own weight if held in one hand. Terrifyingly cheap for the price point.
PC with Sunshine, and Moonlight on your phone?
You can even get a mini Bluetooth controller or use a full size controller with a holder that holds your phone.
What's mtx?
Micro-transactions
Micro transactions, sorry.
All good, thanks. I should have guessed based on context, but my brain just couldn't parse it 😅
My guess, money transactions (like dlc, cosmetics, tokens, shark cards, etc)
Yep, micro transactions
I think it was smart phones which killed the handheld market, but the switch matches your usecase well and there are plenty of handheld devices on aliexpress (usually emulators.) However you might be giving the games that worked on small screens a little too much credit. They were good for what they were at the time, but hand helds were mostly good for puzzle like games, and a lot of platformers did work in a severely cut down fashion.
TBH laptops becoming a dominate platform probably had a major impact too on handheld devices.
But I do strongly agree with the touched upon idea that graphics and 3d platformers/fps has been a major cause of the general decline of diversity in gaming, in a way that even impacts indie. It feels like make design itself has decided there isn't anything better than a FPSRPG.
Get bigger pockets
There are still plenty of pocketable handhelds out there.
Yeah I address this.
They're like museums though. As cool as they are they'll never capture that "current, supported console" energy with a large community. No no exciting big new releases. I'll never have a spontaneous local multiplayer session.
They do look super cool though and I'm sure I'll get one eventually.
Sounds like a you problem.
my steamdeck fits in one of the inside pockets of my punk vest lmao. it's nice
I addition to it not being pocketable, playing on a switch in handheld mode for any length of time causes me physical pain, so I only play it docked. Don't know of the switch 2 is any better but it looks similar enough I doubt it.
I hope a dedicated handheld console is made in the future. Honestly, with all the devices converging to being different form factors of PCs a dedicated handheld with some sort of gimmick might not be too farfetched at some point
The GBA Micro, best pocketable ever made! Wish I kept my NES edition.... Worth a small fortune now 😭
I had the red/gold Micro and I'm still kicking myself for not holding onto it.
The Vita rest mod is godly. Two weeks later, you’ve maybe lost a quarter of charge. Switch will have been dead for a while.
They didn't stop being pocketable, there's still plenty of (and i say this with much reservation) retro consoles out there in the second hand market for a decent price and the modding,/cfw/homebrew communities are thriving. I bought a 3ds not long ago and a psp a whole back to replace my stolen one, they fit in my purse or of I'm wearing the right skirt/pants they are pocketable.
I think you're simply nostalgic. Not in a bad way. In an understandable way.
Even though we have a switch, steam deck, bazzite machine, wife remote plays her steam cozy simulators on pocket flip 2 and she's fairly happy with it
Locally she installed gameNative (emulator of steam on android) and uses it for lighter visual novels
All is to say, maybe the day you finally get the old school style console, you'll change your mind.
!?
This is the first time i've heard of it, imma try that right away
I think the sooner thing that will happen is that handhelds like the Ayn Odin will come with Linux instead of Android, and then Proton will work, giving you all the Steam games (where there's a very active community.)
Some people have gotten it working, but I'm hoping this becomes the norm.
https://retrogamecorps.com/2025/03/03/linux-on-the-odin-2-rocknix-guide/
Gamenative with FEX + Wine already works on Android, and if you want to do direct Linux you can copy the work from the Steam Frame which also does all that plus offering Android app compatibility via containers
Using portmaster is possible but hit and miss and kind of a pain. Proton doesn't work out of the box because they are not x86 cpus, but I imagine when the steam frame is out out will make all that a smooth experience.
once you can run steam games on phone-level cpus, it's game over.
It's already happening. Check out gamenative and winlator. Russ also have covered this various times
And with Valve releasing the Steam Frame and their Lepton and FEX compatibility tools, I hope it's going to supercharge adoption
https://www.techspot.com/news/113337-valve-publicly-releases-lepton-fex-compatibility-tools-power.html
tight
The panic playdate is probably the best handheld out there right now imo.