Comparing The 4 Current Video Game Handheld Options

By Matthew Nemeth

With all of the different handheld video game options out there, i thought i’d compare them, from Xbox‘s Play Anywhere on a Windows 10 Laptop, Nintendo‘s brand new Nintendo Switch and of course their Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation‘s PS VITA.

Let’s Start with Microsoft’s Play Anywhere solution

This required a few things, A Windows 10 Laptop, An Xbox Play Anywhere title that has been purchased digitally and of course an Xbox One Controller that has either a USB lead or a Windows 10 wireless adaptor. It’s a really good choice for you if you have all of those, however, a laptop isn’t exactly the most “handheld” of options and this is where it fails for me, There’s also the option to stream to your PC from the Xbox One, BUT, this really only works well if your laptop and Xbox are both connected to a really good internet connection, otherwise, trust me, it doesn’t work. But in terms of the Play Anywhere feature it’s a great idea as long as you have a good enough laptop and don’t mind using one for the situation, BUT, i’ll have to put this at the bottom of the list.

The PS VITA

Oh Sony, you really had something here. From the library choices of PS1 Classics, PSP Classics and of course VITA Games themselves Sony had something here, It just never had enough support. The VITA still holds a great library of games and is worth it, but there are 2 problems. The rear touchpad, why was this even an idea? Yes, you can buy a £30 grip thing from Amazon that has buttons to touch the pad but you should absolutely not have to pay for it. So the touchpad, it’s really bad, it’s really uncomfortable and really awkward to use and i can’t think of a reason why L2 and R2 were simply not just buttons, you know, like every single other PlayStation controller ever made? Sure the Original PSP didn’t have them but nor did it need them, the PS VITA is still a great console but just had these mentioned flaws. Lastly, there is, of course, the Remote Play option to stream to your PS4 to your PS VITA, again, your going to need a good enough internet connection for both the PS4 and the VITA

The Nintendo 3DS

Why is this better than the PS VITA? 2 simple reasons, Libary and support from Nintendo (still going on today) and it has all of the damn buttons you need, yes i have heard how the L and R buttons can be hard to press when the DS is fully folded out, BUT, at least it has the buttons in the 1st place. There’s not much i have to say about the 3DS but i put it higher on the list for these simple 2 reasons, nice one Nintendo.

The Nintendo Switch

What a great year it has been for the Switch with now reaching 10 million unit sales and one of the games launch titles Zelda Breath Of The Wild winning game of the year at The Game Awards this year. The Switch is clearly the most portable, the most comfortable and has more of a recent library and hopefully soon with the Virtual Console coming it could become the ultimate Nintendo console. This helps as well with the fact that you can use it as a home and portable console, with simple 2 player methods as well as a great mix of recent, adult and family-friendly games so it appeals to a wide variety of people you can check out my review of Nintendo’s 2017 which includes the Switch and you can see the 1st demonstration video for the Switch below