Since the turn of the decade, handheld collecting has grown significantly with people adding more official hardware and any and every emulator handheld going. Companies like Anbernic, Retroid, and AYN have flooded the market with different form factors, chipsets, and screens to entice people to spend more but how many of us are actually playing games on all of them vs. picking them up because they look nice on Reddit?
I used to think people were ridiculous for buying so many until I found myself with so many and I get it. I’m probably overindulged on them and I’ve even been called out by my own son recently which led me to justifying the purchases. This was not on my bingo card when I decided to have a child but you gotta roll with the emotional punches.
So I’m writing this to keep myself accountable and to inspire other handheld owners to take stock of what they have and downsize their collections if any handhelds are gathering dust. I’ll be listing the handhelds I’ve owned or used since 2022, what I’ve played on them, and the last time I used them. I won’t include my old Game Boys as those are more collection pieces since it’s not always practical to bring them with me to play (but know that I have about 6 of them).
New Nintendo 2DS XL Poké Ball Edition (2022–)
Funny story: when I first saw this in 2017, I thought “looks cool but I have no use for this when I have a New Nintendo 3DS XL” and then 5 years later, here I am. I immediately installed CFW but it wasn’t my main driver for DS/3DS games but this year, I started Bravely Default and for about 4–6 weeks, I went hard with the first two games of the series and had a blast.
I’m giving it a break for now as I left it sleeping overnight almost every night to build up my villages so I figured the battery could do with a rest. I’ll certainly be coming back to this handheld when I want to play a 3DS game that I don’t otherwise own *ahem*
- Bravely Default
- Bravely Second
PowKiddy RGB30 (2023–)
Another console I gave a Kombucha Girl look and honestly, the quirkiness really charmed me. Having a square device with 720p resolution was a revelation, especially with DS games which I hadn’t played in this kind of clarity before. And that’s when I finally got into Generation 5 and loved it (I previously hated it). It was also the console that I did my first successful Nuzlocke in LeafGreen.
It’s a little great console and while it’s not ergonomically the best, it’s unique and plays all the usual consoles up to the PS1/N64 era perfectly.
- Pokémon LeafGreen
- Pokémon White
Anbernic RG 35XX Plus (2024–)
Honestly, I kept seeing the Miyoo Mini Plus on Instagram but opted for Anbernic’s “version” because it was slightly bigger. I enjoyed it for a time until Anbernic released the RG 40XXV. Now it sadly sits in a hard case I bought for it and I barely touch it. That means I’ll likely sell it but I liked what they did with the device and don’t regret the purchase.
- TBD
Anbernic RG 40XXV (2024–)
This device was good enough to get a review on Distant Arcade and it still remains one of my all-time favourite handhelds. It has Game Boy DMG vibes mixed in with the Analogue Pocket and at a fraction of the price (for both consoles!) It isn’t a powerful device but similar to the RGB30, it plays everything up to PS1/N64/Dreamcast and it’s honestly the perfect GB/GBC device and that’s why I’ve played and completed so many games on it as you can see below.
Sadly, disaster struck a few weeks ago when I dropped it and the screen developed vertical lines. I bought a replacement but that didn’t work either (I suspect a faulty board) so I’m left with my functioning but barely-usable 40XXV. I will get a replacement someday. It’s calling out to me.
- Final Fantasy I
- Final Fantasy III
- Final Fantasy IV
- Final Fantasy V
- Final Fantasy VI
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Kirby’s Dream Land 3
- Breath of Fire IV
- Color a Dinosaur
- James Bond 007
- Kirby’s Dream Land 2
- Mario Tennis: Power Tour
- Mr. Driller
- Neo Turf Masters
- R4: Ridge Racer Type 4
- Super Mario Land
- Super R.C. Pro-Am
- Virtua Tennis 2
- X-Men: Wolverine’s Rage
- Yoshi
- Yoshi’s Cookie
TrimUI Smart Pro (2025–)
I was in a CEX when I spotted one for £50. The PSP vibes were off the charts (although it’s honestly closer to a PS Vita in terms of size; more on that later). I took a punt on it and after many iterations of OS and games, I opted to make it as a dedicated PSP emulation device. I got deep into a few PSP games such as Ridge Racer and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II and had a lot of fun with both of them.
But as you’ll see eventually, I got a PS Vita and now I’m wondering how useful this device will be since the Vita plays PSP games natively. Time will tell on that one.
- Ridge Racer
- BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II
- Pokémon Black 2/White 2
Lenovo Legion Go (2025–)
Ah, my beloved Legion Go. This was purely handheld PC FOMO and a year later, I have zero regrets. It has allowed me to play a lot of awesome games—old and new—and even when I’ve taken time away from it, I always come back because it can play pretty much anything I could ever want.
Yes, it’s big. Yes, it’s heavy. Yes, Windows royally sucks but Bazzite saved the day and continues to be great. I have Steam OS, a bunch of games on a 512GB card and a new 2TB SSD (before the techbros ruined that market) and I couldn’t be happier.
- Final Fantasy X
- Final Fantasy XIII
- Word Play
- Championship Manager 01/02
- Final Fantasy VII
- Final Fantasy IX
- R4: Ridge Racer Type 4
- Spirit Swap: Lo-Fi Beats To Match-3 To
- Football Manager 2024
- Cassette Beasts
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders
- Poppy Playtime
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown
TRIMUI Brick (2025–)
The purple colorway called out to me having owned a grape purple Game Boy Color as a kid. But ultimately, this is way to small for lengthy use and even though I’ve tried to play Game Boy games on it, the TRIMUI Brick has suffered the same fate as its form factor age mate, the RG 35XX Plus. Another great looking device from TRIMUI though.
- Dragon Quest I+II
Anbernic RG 476H (2025–)
This one appealed to me for a reason that a few reviewers suggested not to get it for: PS2 games. I was playing Final Fantasy X at the time (on my Legion Go) but I didn’t want to lug a large console around everywhere and wanted a small more affordable handheld to take on those kinds of games when I wasn’t at home. It was TechDweeb’s review of it that stood out as he jokingly called it “one of the consoles of all time”. I liked that it looked nice but didn’t offer any weird and wonderful gimmicks and it was a good price for what I needed (even if people thought it was overpriced).
It’s been great so far and I’ve played quite a few games on it, including Golden Sun: Dark Dawn and Pokémon FireRed at the moment. It truly is up there with the consoles of all time.
- Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
- Pokémon Heart & Soul
- Pokémon FireRed
- Pokémon Lazarus
- Magical Tetris Challenge
- Magical Drop III
- Virtua Tennis 2
PS Vita (2026–)
I’d wanted an aqua blue PS Vita for years and when an opportunity came up to get one (via a previous eBay mix up), I jumped on it. I’ve had it for about a week or so and even though the CFW route was more difficult than anticipated, I got it up and running and the games I’ve played on it have been awesome. I know there’s a lot of shovelware in the Vita catalogue but there are also some hidden gems and that access to the PSP library makes it a real powerhouse for Sony handheld games.
- HotShot Golf
- Rayman Legends
Anbernic RG DS (2026–)
Truly an ugly duckling of handhelds saved by CFW. The RG DS was called a “half-baked mess” by Russ from Retro Game Corps due to another terrible stock OS but in the last few months, two contenders came in to save the console:
- ROCKNIX, a Linux-based distro for handhelds that was a fork of an old OS called JELOS
- GammaOSNext, a debloated Android-based distro for lower-end devices
ROCKNIX isn’t officially supported yet but you can still use the nightly builds as normal with a single config change (Russ did a video on how to do this and that’s what made me give this a second look and eventually Buy It Now on eBay). As it works out of the box, you just load up the ROMs and play. With GammaOSNext, you’ll either need to be a Patreon subscriber to get the latest version or wait until they make the password publicly available.
Where it sucked before, it’s now an interesting proposition for DS games (don’t bother with 3DS!) since it’s dual screen and any kind of lag is vastly reduced by either OS. What’s more, if you choose GammaOS, you can do the AYN Thor thing where you play a game at the top and watch a video or read a strategy guide at the bottom (your mileage may vary in terms of quality).
I just got the RG DS at the time of writing but so far it’s been great for DS games and will likely be great for everything up to PS1 as that’s as powerful as this thing is. I’m using ROCKNIX and will try GammaOS on a separate DS card when it’s made public.
- Golden Sun: Dark Dawn