The 25 Greatest Handheld Games of All Time

Image via Complex Original

We already talked about how good this baby was in our best anime related video games, but good Lord, is this game amazing. Behind all the butt rockets and weird Astro Boyisms, there’s a solid running, punching, and gunning platformer here. Contra, eat your heart out. And then replenish yourself with 30 lives. 

The answer to Tetris on the Game Boy? Maybe not. But this stellar puzzle game had some pretty amazing music and some really complex gameplay once you got the hang of swapping gems to make big combos. It took a little to get used to since so many of us were weaned on Tetris, but once we got the hang of it, we were making gems disappear like it was going out of style. Diagonal combo, y’all. 

Sure, it’s a pretty recent title, but we’ve had plenty of time with this game since it originally came out for the N64. And with this pretty much being a perfect port with some added (and unnecessary) 3D capabilities, we’ve fallen in love with it all over again. But Slippy still needs to go. Addition by subtraction, Nintendo. It would have made the game SO much better.

Yes, Batman for the original Game Boy looks super primitive today. But that gameplay. Man, we still love it. Instead of punching up his foes or going all detective on them, Batman shoots them. With a gun. And they die. We never said it was the most realistic (ha, realistic) Batman game out there. But it’s power-ups were divine, and that music, just classic. We’re still in love with the caped crusader on the GB.

Now, you KNOW Nintendo must have really believed in their first handheld device if they actually released the sequel to one of their most popular titles as a GB exclusive. Packed with all the atmospheric, eerie qualities of its 8-bit big brother, Metroid 2 was just as good, if not better, than the original and is considered series canon. And you want to know the best part? It’s not even the best Metroid game on a handheld system. That franchise can just do no wrong.

A scary ass game on a handheld? Yeah, right. We played the portable Resident Evil< and it was about as scary as waking up next to Christie Alley in the morning (Well, actually…). But Silent Hill Origins isn’t Resident Evil. And while the fog was a bit much and the camera could get a bit shifty at times, everything we once loved in the SH franchise was present and on the go for the PSP. We approve. 

Aladdin was just that movie that if you didn’t like it, we don’t want to associate with you. And what made things better was that it didn’t have a single bad video game for it. This title for the Game Gear is one of our favorites just because it was almost like a mixture of the SNES and the Genesis games in one, handheld package.

Run, jump, and attack all to the awesome, truncated sounds from the movie. Again, if you didn’t like it, well, we’re not going to say we don’t value you as a person, but come on, Aladdin? That movie was the shit. And so was this game.

You know one major problem with the Game Gear? The battery life sucked. You know one major factor that made us forget about how much the battery life sucked? Games like Shinobi 2: The Silent Fury. While the first game was good, the sequel was just balls to the walls better.

More of a platformer with tricky jumps and perilous leaps than anything else, this game had the great controls to back it up. And Joe Musashi never looked so good one a handheld. It was definitely one of the reasons we were Sega fanboys/fangirls back in the day. Why get a Game Boy when you could get THIS?

Can you say, “System seller”? The only reason this title isn’t higher on our list is because you can pretty much play it on anything now, cell phones included. Still, back in the day and still, it was simple to play, there were no gimmicky additions like bombs or disappearing blocks, and it was classic. It’s still probably our favorite version of the game, bar none.

Honestly, all RPGs should be on a handheld device. When else do you have time to sit down and strategize during battle than on the bus, train, or terlet? Thankfully, FF Tactics is one of the best in the genre.

While not a direct sequel from the PS original, the grid-based, battle scenarios and story share great similarities. And the music, well, it’s some of the best in the market. The job system was vintage and incredible and it provided hours of switching things up to win battles that could go on forever. It’s still highly addictive. In fact, we want to play it right now. And thus, it begins again. 

Speaking of RPGs, come on, just tell us you didn’t play this game back in the day. Well, you know what, it was awesome then and it still holds up today. Really, there are two kinds of Pokemon lovers out there. Those who remember Pikachu and the gang fondly when there were only about 120 of them, and then, those who love the millions of Pokemon that followed.

We’re actually a bit on the fence with what side we’re on, but this classic was simple, had enough Pokemon to capture that it didn’t seem daunting, and it had great gameplay. Just make sure nobody picked it up and saved after you. You’d lose EVERYTHING. Trust us, we know. We know.

Let’s get something out the way here. Is God of War: The Chains of Olympus a great PSP game? Yes. Is it a great game period? Well, not so much. As made evident by the recent God of War: Origins for the PS3, this game has NOT aged well. It was certainly a game for its time as it’s too short and the big battle sequences are few and far between.

Don’t get us wrong, we still love it and think it fits snuggly in the great GOW canon. But as it stands, it’s probably the worst game in the entire series. That said, the worst game in an amazing series is still pretty good. We love it, but it’s nowhere near as good as its follow-up. But we’ll get to that later. 

Super Mario Land 2 was basically Super Mario Bros. 3 before that game came to a handheld of its own. The power-ups were there, the gameplay was there, and the secrets were there. Was it as good as the original SML? Well, maybe, maybe not, but they were really two different games entirely. Seriously, play both of them again. They’re nothing alike in the slightest. 

Okay, say it with us: One of the best. Handheld. Fighting games. Evar. While it played nothing like its big brother versions on the consoles, it was still entirely fluid and fun and easy to play. The Neo Geo Pocket wasn’t a handheld that many people had, but those who did all had at least one game in their library in common—this one. In fact, we bought one just for this game ourselves. Now that’s a killer app. 

Ditching Max Thunder the wrestler from the Genesis game right on the cover, this title looked like the original SoR on the Genesis but had Skate, making it a fine update. The beating up of thugs with bare knuckles and weapons was handled perfectly on the Game Gear. It was pretty just as good as its big brother on the Genesis. SoR on the go, seriously, what the hell could be better?

Elite Beat Agents was the kind of game you COULDN’T play on other handhelds because you needed the stylus just to play it. Combining rhythm with visual cues, EBA always kept us on our toes, even if we were just tapping them. Games don’t get much more absurd than this. And that’s why we love it.

Okay, remember when we said games didn’t get much more absurd than Elite Beat Agents? Well, we lied, because this game is WAY more absurd. Using a gyro sensor to monitor moving the Game Boy, this game had you twisting and turning just to complete the microgames in this game, which ranged from shaving a man’s stubble to being a giant and knocking over houses. We still consider this the best in the Wario Ware series. 

Whoa, a GTA game that harkens back to its top down roots? Brilliant! While some complained about how it didn’t play like the more modern games in the series, we totally dug the storyline and gameplay of this Rockstar classic. Good stuff. 

The other Sonic games on the Game Gear were fun, but this one was actually the only unique game on the platform as it was exclusive to the system while the other two were pretty much ports of the Master System titles.

What was great about this one was that it felt just like the Genesis games and you actually had the option as playing as Sonic OR Tails, which both had their benefits. Best handheld Sonic game ever? Well, that’s debatable, but we’re going to end that debate right now by saying yes, yes it was. Best handheld Sonic game ever. 

Every handheld system should have a great puzzle game, and this was the PSP’s. We still pull this baby out and play it some time. Another rhythm game of sorts, a line would glide across the screen and you would have to start building blocks and trying to piece similar colors together so you could get massive combos when that line came back around. All while pretty dope music would play, signifying your progress. Gotta love that “Creepy silence.”

Looking like an old-school RPG and playing like nothing else, Half-Minute Hero looks like it wants to mock the pretentiousness of RPGs, when it’s really a loving tribute to them at the same time. You save the day, one minute at a time, slaying monsters, getting higher levels and then, killing a boss. Did we mention every quest is only a minute? Yeah…seriously, best game ever. 

A questionable launch title to be sure, but a great game nonetheless, SF4 for the 3DS is seriously the same game as the console games but on the go. And the console game was pretty damn good. Need we say more?

Later on in the Game Boy Advance’s life, it pretty much just became a dumping ground for old Super Nintendo games. Luckily, the Super Nintendo is, in our opinion (Which is right) the greatest system ever made. And Super Mario World is one of the greatest GAMES of all time. So, there you have it, SMW, on the go. But you can still only beat it with 96%. What the hell is up with that?

Best Game Gear game ever? We’re going to say so. While it may just be a simple, turn based JRPG with strategy elements on the Game Gear, we’re still madly in love with it. Shining Force doesn’t get much respect outside of the real RPG players, but as nerdy as it may sound, that’s what we are. Casting Freeze 3 now!

The first portable Legend of Zelda game, it’s also one of the best. The quest was epic (for its time), the storyline was bizarre but wonderful (and totally makes the already confusing canon even more so), and it played like none of the others (again, at the time).

If you’ll notice, this is the only LoZ game to make the list. But we did say this was part 1, didn’t we? Still, one of our favorite handheld games of all time.