Do you remember the N-Gage? We certainly do. The cell phone meets handheld device belonged to all the wealthy nerds in schools around the world, but we could never quite convince our parents that letting us merge our communication device with that damn Gaming was a great idea Boy we spent all our time on. Joke is about you, parents: now everybody has a phone that plays games.
We feel a bit justified in finding out that the N-Gage is only 17th on The Guardian’s list of the top 20 handheld consoles of all time, well below the Nintendo Switch (which we all own, of course), the DS (which we … probably all of them?) and the 3DS (which we should all own because it is the best).
The ranking, written by former Guardian Games editor Keith Stuart (well-known Dreamcast fan), puts the Nintendo Switch on pole position, despite being only the fourth best-selling handheld of all time, after the PSP, the DS and the Game Boy. Advance. .
The DS comes in just behind the Switch and the 3DS comes in third, with the Game Boy Advance and SP in fourth and the Game Boy in fifth. Only in 6th place does a non-Nintendo handheld get a look: the PlayStation Vita.
The Guardian’s reasoning for putting the Nintendo Switch first is simple: the fusion of handheld and home console combines most of all of its previous consoles into one.
“The Switch is essentially the culmination of everything Nintendo has tried to do with gaming since 1989. […] The Switch is more than a piece of technology – it felt like a friend at times. “
Do you agree, or do you think the 3DS has been robbed? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.