What's So Great About Handheld Consoles?

A long, long time ago, my mother bought me copy of Pokemon Blue and a Gameboy Color. I spent countless hours catching monsters and battling gym leaders. I was even able to battle with friends through a cable link cord. Eventually, I began to build my library of games up with instant classics like the Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX and Super Mario Land 2. When the time came to upgrade, I bought myself a Gameboy Advance. Great games like Golden Sun and Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced were developed for this system and thrown into my giant library of videogames. Fast forward to today and now I own both a Nintendo 3DS XL and a Playstation Vita. I love playing on the both of them as well.

What made handheld consoles great and what makes them still great? For one, they are accessible no matter where you are located. When it comes to accessibility, that one is an easy answer. I can bring these bad boys with me and play. I don't care with what my friends playing on his Xbox? Fine, I can just reach for my 3DS and play Fire Emblem: Awakening or turn on my Vita and play some MLB: The Show '13. I am going from New York City to Washington, D.C. and staring out the window bores me. Not a problem with handheld games because I can play them right on that train for four hours. Yup, they are pretty awesome like that.

Believe it or not, handheld consoles have a pretty awesome game library. I mean, you get the Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog, Monster Hunter,...and you get the point. These games are some of the best you will play too! Take for example Pokemon. Yeah, that sums up the greatness of portable systems. Even Persona 4: Golden on Playstation Vita was one of the best games put out last year. I could continue to name games all night, but I think everyone gets the point.

Lastly, they are affordable. That's right, they are affordable (see my last blog post). One thing I have always found convenient is the fact that I don't need to pay $300.00 for a videogame system to get the same quality. I can pay much less. I also don't need to spend money for extra controllers, adapters, wotcha-ma-callits, and miscellaneous things. Also, game are far cheaper and they can be just as entertaining. So I hope that answers my own question.