Handheld game console
A
handheld game console is a lightweight, portable
electronic machine for playing
video games. Unlike
video game consoles, the controls, screen and speakers are all part of a single unit. Throughout the
1970s and
1980s, several companiesmade lightweight table-top or
handheld electronic game devices. Today, these machines are not considered strictly consoles, since they often would only play a single game. The first true handheld game console with interchangeable
cartridges was the Milton Bradley
Microvision in
1979.
Nintendo has dominated the handheld market since the release of the
Game Boy in
1989, and is often credited as popularizing the handheld console concept.
Origins
The first handheld game console to use interchangeable
game cartridges was the
Microvision, designed by
Smith Engineering, and distributed and sold by
Milton-Bradley in 1979. A small screen, a small selection of games (only thirteen) led to its demise only two years later. Today, working Microvisions are quite rare. The keypad could be easily damaged and the
LCD technology of the late 1970s was poor, leading to liquid crystal leaking and darkening. In
1984, Japanese company
Epoch released their
Game Pocket Computer. Despite decent reviews, the system failed.
Early 1990s
The early 1990s was the re-launch of the handheld game console pillar of the video game market after the demise of the Microvision. As backlit LCD game consoles with color graphics consume a lot of power, they were not battery friendly like the non-backlit original Game Boy with monochrome graphics which allowed more battery life. During this timeframe,
rechargeable battery technology was not yet mature thereby rendering the advanced game consoles of the time such as the
Game Gear and
Atari Lynx marketing flops in the handheld video game market.
Even though third-party rechargeable batteries were available for the battery-hostile alternatives to the Game Boy, they had to be discharged before being recharged since they were in
Nickel cadmium format.
NiMH batteries which don't require discharging before recharging would not be released until the late 90's when Game Gear, Atari Lynx, and the original Game Boy would then be discontinued. During the time when technologically superior handhelds had strict technical limitations, batteries had a very low
mAh rating since batteries with heavy power density were not yet available.
Now since game systems of today have rechargeable
Li-Ion batteries with proprietary shapes such as the
Nintendo DS and
Sony PSP, handheld video game consoles of today are doing better than the ones from the past. Unlike the aforementioned current-generation consoles, the
GP2X uses rechargeable
alkaline batteries. Since the mAh rating of batteries has gone up to a high quanity, some lower end handhelds of today like the aforementioned GP2X only needs a coupe of rechargeable AA batteries for powerup.
Nintendo Game Boy
 |
The original Game Boy's design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles. |
It was not until five years later that
Nintendo released the Game Boy. The design team headed by
Gumpei Yokoi had also been responsible for the
Game & Watch system, as well as the
Nintendo Entertainment System games
Metroid and
Kid Icarus. The Game Boy came under scrutiny by some industry critics, saying that the monochrome screen was too small, and the processing power was inadequate. The design team had felt that low initial cost and battery economy were more important concerns, and when compared to the Microvision, the Game Boy was a huge leap forward.
Yokoi recognized that the Game Boy needed a
killer app â€" at least one game that would define the console, and persuade customers to buy it. In June 1988,
Minoru Arakawa, CEO of Nintendo of America saw a demonstration of the game
Tetris at a trade show. Nintendo purchased the rights for the game, and packaged it with the Game Boy system. It was almost an immediate hit. By the end of the year more than a million units were sold, and 25 million were sold by 1992. The original Game Boy (along with the
Game Boy Pocket,
Game Boy Color, and
Game Boy Advance) is the best selling game console ever, having sold more than 190 million units
. Some say that the
Game Boy line had already reached more than 220 million units sold.
Although the Game Boy is by far the most successful handheld game system, there were a number of other systems made throughout the 1990s.
Atari Lynx
In 1987,
Epyx created the Handy; a device that would turn into the Atari Lynx in 1989. It was the first color portable ever made, as well as the first with a backlit screen. It featured a color LCD screen with backlight, networking support with up to 17 other players, and advanced hardware that allowed the zooming and scaling of sprites. The Lynx could also be turned upside down to accommodate
left-handed players. However, all these features came at a very high price point, which drove consumers to seek cheaper alternatives. The Lynx was also very unwieldy (due to
focus groups requesting the machine be bigger so it felt like they "got their money's worth"), consumed batteries very quickly and lacked the third-party support of the alternatives. Due to a high price, short battery life, production shortages, a dearth of compelling games, and Nintendo's aggressive marketing campaign, and despite a redesign in 1991, the Lynx became a
commercial failure.
Sega Game Gear
In response to the Game Boy's success, work began on several handhelds that aimed to capitalize on what was seen to be the Game Boy's main weakness: inadequate graphic quality. The
Sega Game Gear was released in 1991, and featured a backlit color display, like the Lynx's. The Game Gear's internal architecture was almost identical to the
Sega Master System console (the Game Gear had 4096 possible colors versus the Master System's 256), which allowed Sega to quickly release a large number of games that had originally been written for the older system. The Game Gear had the same drawbacks as the Lynx, however, and although it fared a bit better(aprox. 10 mil. units sold worldwide), it also failed to impact the Game Boy's dominance.
NEC TurboExpress
The
TurboExpress was a portable version of the TurboGrafx, released in 1990 for $249.99 (the price was briefly raised to $299.99, soon dropped back to $249.99, and by 1992 it was $199.99). Its Japanese equivalent was the
PC Engine GT.
|
TurboExpress handheld, TV tuner, and games |
It was the most advanced handheld of its time and could play all the
TurboGrafx-16's games(which were on a small, credit-card sized media called HuCards). It had a 66 mm (2.6 in.) screen, the same as the original
Game Boy, and could display 64
sprites at once, 16 per scanline, in 512 (some say only 482?) colors. It had 64 kilobytes of
RAM. The Turbo ran its two 6820
CPUs at 3.58
MHz in parallel.
The optional "TurboVision" TV tuner included RCA audio/video input, allowing you to use TurboExpress as a video monitor. The "TurboLink" allowed two-player play.
Falcon, a flight simulator, included a "head-to-head" dogfight mode that could only be accessed via TurboLink. However, very few TG-16 games offered co-op play modes especially designed with the TurboExpress in mind.
Neo-Geo Pocket
|
Neo Geo Pocket (Monochrome) |
The
Neo Geo Pocket was
SNK's original hand held system. It was released in
Japan in late 1998, and discontinued in 1999, with the advent of the
Neo Geo Pocket Color, due to lower than expected sales with the Monochrome Neo Geo Pocket.
The system was only released within the Japanese and Hong Kong market. Even though it had a short life, there were some significant games released on the system such as
Samurai Shodown, and
King of Fighters R-1.
The Neo Geo Pocket can play many of the newer color games. There are, however, notable exceptions such as
Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure or
SNK vs. Capcom: Match Of The Millennium. Since the newer
Neo Geo Pocket Color is fully backwards compatible, it does play all the Neo Geo Pocket cartridges.
Late 1990s
The Game Boy was nine years old before it got its first significant makeover. In 1998, the
Game Boy Color was released. It used the smaller and lighter form-factor of the
Game Boy Pocket, but featured a full color screen. It was also backwards-compatible, so that it could play not only games specifically made for the Game Boy Color, but standard Game Boy games as well. It did not have significantly more computing power than the Game Boy, however.
By this time, the lack of significant development in Nintendo's product line began allowing more advanced systems such as the
Neo Geo Pocket Color and the
Wonderswan Color to achieve moderate success.
Game Boy Color
|
The Game Boy Color was the first handheld by Nintendo featuring Colors. |
The
Game Boy Color (also referred to as
GBC) is
Nintendo's successor to the
Game Boy and was released on
October 21,
1998 in
Japan and in November of the same year in the
United States. It features a color screen, and is only slightly larger than the
Game Boy Pocket. The processor is twice as fast as a Game Boy's, and has twice as much memory. It also had an
infrared communications port for wireless linking which did not appear in later versions of the Game Boy, such as the
Game Boy Advance.
The Game Boy Color was a response to pressure from game developers for a new system, as they felt that the Game Boy, even in its latest incarnation, the Game Boy Pocket, was insufficient. The resultant product was backward compatible, a first for a handheld console system, and leveraged the large library of games and great installed base of the predecessor system. This became a major feature of the Game Boy line, since it allowed each new launch to begin with a significantly larger library than any of its competitors.
The console was capable of showing up to 56 different colors simultaneously on screen from its palette of 32,768, and could add basic four-color shading to games that had been developed for the original Game Boy. It could also give the sprites and backgrounds separate colors, for a total of more than four colors. However, this resulted in graphic anomalies in certain games where a sprite that was supposed to meld into the background was now colored separate, giving it away.
Neo-Geo Pocket Color
The
Neo Geo Pocket Color (or
NGPC) was released in 1998 in Japan. It was a 16-bit color
hand held game console designed by
SNK, the makers of the
Neo Geo home console and arcade machine. It came after SNK's original
Neo Geo Pocket monochrome handheld, which debuted in 1998 in Japan (and was released in the USA in 1999).
In 2000 following SNK's purchase by Japanese
Pachinko manufacturer Aruze, the Neo Geo Pocket Color was dropped from both the United States and European markets, purportedly due to commercial failure. Remaining stock was bought back by SNK for repackaging in Asia. Before SNK was bought out, the Neo Geo Pocket Color was being advertised on US television and units were being sold nationally in
Wal-Mart,
Best Buy,
Toys "R" Us, and other large retail chains. In June 2000 SNK of America (and Europe) tried recalling most of the backstock of systems and games to be flashed and re-sold in Asia where the system would continue to be sold and supported. Some of the backstock of US NGPC hardware and software started showing up back on the marketplace in the US and Asia in 2003. These units frequently appear bundled with six games, and are readily available online, and are sometimes available in video game stores. Neo Geo Pocket Colors have been seen in many Discovery Channel Stores as of the holiday season. They are retailing for $75 with 8 Games.
The system seemed well on its way to being a success in the US. Indeed, it enjoyed a greater success than any
Game Boy competitor since
Sega's
Game Gear. However, it was hurt by several factors, such as the Neo Geo heads' infamous lack of communication with third-party developers, and anticipation of the
Game Boy Advance. The decision to ship American games in cardboard boxes in a cost cutting move rather than the much loved hard plastic cases that Japanese and European releases were shipped in may have also hurt the American sales.
Wonderswan Color
The
WonderSwan Color is a handheld game console designed by
Bandai. It was released on
December 30,
2000 in
Japan, and was a moderate success.
The original
WonderSwan had only a black and white screen. Although the WonderSwan Color was slightly larger and heavier (7 mm and 2 g) compared to the original WonderSwan, the color version featured 512K of
RAM and a larger color
LCD screen. In addition, the WonderSwan Color is compatible with the original WonderSwan library of games.
Prior to WonderSwan's release,
Nintendo had virtually a monopoly in the Japanese video game handheld market. After the release of the WonderSwan Color, Bandai took approximately 8% of the market share in Japan partly due to its low price of 6800 yen (approximately $65
U.S. Dollars).
Another reason for the WonderSwan's success in Japan was the fact that Bandai managed to get a deal with
Squaresoft to port over the original
Famicom Final Fantasy games with improved graphics and controls. However, with the popularity of the
Game Boy Advance and the reconciliation between Squaresoft and Nintendo, the WonderSwan Color and its successor, the
Swan Crystal quickly lost its
competitive advantage.
2000s
Game Boy Advance
|
The Game Boy Advance was a major upgrade to the Game Boy line |
In
2001, Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance, which added two shoulder buttons, a larger screen, and more computing power to the Game Boy Color. If the Color could roughly be seen as a handheld NES, the GBA was akin to an SNES, with features like
Mode 7 effects and improved
sprite manipulation. The system even displayed crude 3D graphics in games like
Sonic Battle.
The design was revised two years later when the
Game Boy Advance SP, a more compact version, was released. The SP featured a "
clamshell" design (folding open and closed, like a briefcase), as well as a
frontlit color display and rechargeable battery. Despite the smaller form factor, the screen remained the same size as that of the original. Finally, in 2005, the
Game Boy Micro was released. This revision sacrificed screen size and backwards compatibility with previous Game Boys for a dramatic reduction in total size and a brighter
backlit screen. A backlit screen was added to the SP model at the same time.
Along with the
Nintendo GameCube, the GBA also introduced the concept of "connectivity": using a handheld system as a console controller. A handful of games use this feature, most notably
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles,
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle'' and
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
As of 2006, The GBA, GBASP, and the Game Boy Micro have sold more than 74 million units worldwide.
Game Park 32
The original GP32 was released in 2001 by the Korean company Game Park a few months after the launch of the Game Boy Advance. It featured a 32-bit CPU, 133 MHz processor, MP3 and Divx player, and e-book reader. The GP32 was redesigned in 2003. A front-lit screen was added and the new version was called GP32 FLU (Front Light Unit). In the summer of 2004 another redesign was made and this time a back-lit screen was added. It was called the GP32 BLU. This version of the handheld was planned for release outside Korea; in Europe, and it was released for example in Spain (VirginPlay was the distributor). While not a commercial success, it gained a cult following of developers and more
technically-adept users. It was superseded by the
GP2X.
Nokia N-Gage
In 2003, the
Nokia N-Gage was released. It was designed as a combination mp3 player, cellphone, PDA, radio, and gaming device. The system received a lot of criticism on its physical design and layout, including its vertically oriented screen and requirement of removing the battery to change game cartridges. The most well known of these was "
sidetalking", or the resultant effect of placing the phone speaker and receiver on an edge of the device instead of one of the flat sides, resulting in the user looking like he/she is talking into a taco.
The N-Gage QD was later released to revise the design. However, the usefulness in its design came at the cost certain features available in the N-Gage phone earlier as the MP3 playback, FM radio reception, and USB connectivity were removed from N-gage QD.
Tapwave Zodiac
In 2004, Tapwave released the Zodiac. It was designed to be a
PDA-handheld game console hybrid. It supported photos, movies, music,
Internet, and documents. It has the standard stuff any
PDA comes with. Palm OS 5 hardware is compatible with the Zodiac. Two versions are available, differing in memory and looks. The Tapwave Zodiac was killed off in July of 2005.
Nintendo DS
|
The Nintendo DS has two screens (one of which is a touchscreen), a microphone, and wireless networking. |
The Nintendo DS was released in November, 2004. Among its new features was the incorporation of two screens, as well as a
touch screen, wireless connectivity and a microphone port. As with the Game Boy SP, the DS features a clamshell design, with the two screens aligned vertically on either side of the hinge.
The DS's lower screen allows touch sensitivity via an included stylus, a user's finger or a special "thumb pad" (a small plastic pad attached to the console's wrist strap, which can be affixed to the thumb to simulate an analog stick). Other controls include four face buttons, a
D-pad and "start" and "select" buttons. The console also features online capabilities via the
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and ad-hoc Wireless networking which can support 16 players. The DS also features Picto-Chat, a chat and drawing program which allows for real-time communication with other DS users. The DS has a separate port for the loading of
Game Boy Advance games (though only single-player is supported). As of January 2006 the Nintendo DS has sold more than 14 million units in total
, and currently has more worldwide sales than any other competitor.
In January 2006,
Nintendo revealed an updated version of the DS: the
Nintendo DS Lite (released on
March 2,
2006 in Japan) with an updated, smaller form factor (42% smaller and 21% lighter than the original
Nintendo DS), a cleaner design, much brighter displays (with adjustable brightness). The DS Lite also comes with a cover for Slot 2 (also known as the
Game Boy Advance slot).
Sony PSP
|
The PlayStation Portable can play music, movies, games, view JPEG pictures and browse on the web wirelessly. |
Sony's PlayStation Portable was first revealed at
E³ 2004, and was released in Japan and North America in late
2004 and early
2005, respectively. Like previous competitors to the Game Boy, the PSP is considerably superior in both processing power and screen quality, but inferior in battery life and price. However, unlike previous competitors (except possibly a peripheral-laden
Game Gear), the PSP includes several features beyond gaming. With around 10 million units sold worldwide, it is the most successful handheld console not produced by Nintendo thus far.
The PSP's design is similar to the Game Boy Advance, in that it is generally horizontally-oriented and features a widescreen-aspect screen. The PSP's controls are similar to a
Super Nintendo's, in that it features four face buttons, a
directional pad (in the form of four independent buttons), two shoulder buttons and several hardware control buttons along the bottom of the console's face. Unlike the Nintendo DS, the PSP has a single analog control in the form of an "analog pad": a small plastic circle which can slide along the plane of the console's front panel. The PSP's screen is often considered one of its most obvious hardware advantages, as it is a great deal larger than most competitors' (at 4.3 inches long) and has an aspect ratio of 16:9, similar to many widescreen movies. PSP games are stored on
UMD discs, which are loaded via a pop-up back panel in a fashion similar to some
audio cassette or
VHS players. In terms of hardware connectivity, the PSP supports
WiFi, as well as a standard four-pin USB connector on the top edge of the console.
The PSP, as well as several other handhelds in this generation, is designed with an emphasis on
convergence, partially to help differentiate themselves from Nintendo's game-focused offerings as well as to help present increasingly high-tech handheld game consoles as closer to
PDAs or
smart-phones than "toys". Sony, for example, has emphasized the PSP's ability to play movies and music from the system's UMD disks, or stored on a
Memory Stick Duo (the PSP's form of writeable data storage). Some of the games for the PSP, such as
Wipeout Pure, can use the PSP's web features to download new content, and as of firmware version 2.0 the console has an integrated web browser. The PSP isn't the only "converged" game system;
Nokia's
N-Gage (and its redesigned successor, the
N-Gage QD), the
Tapwave Zodiac, and the Tiger Telematics
Gizmondo include such unusual features as
GSM cell phone functionality,
GPRS cellular data networking,
GPS receivers,
PDA functionality, built-in
digital cameras, and so on. To a lesser extent, the DS's unusual game-oriented features or the movie-playing
Play-Yan accessory for the DS and GBA SP could also be seen as part of this trend.
Tiger Telematics Gizmondo
Tiger's Gizmondo came out in the UK during March 2005 and it was released in the U.S. during October 2005. It is designed to play music, movies, and games, have a camera for taking and storing photos, and have GPS functions. It also has
Internet capabilities. It will have a phone for sending text, multimedia, and email and voice calls will come via a
Bluetooth headset.
Game Park Holdings GP2X
|
The GP2X plays games and homebrew apps and also suports a wide range of audio, video and picture formats. |
Released in November 2005, the GP2X is a handheld game console that uses the
Linux operating system and is designed to support videos, music, photos, and games in an open architecture allowing any user to develop software for the device. Expandability for future upgrades (new media formats, features, operating system, etc) has been made possible by flash upgradable firmware.
The GP2X natively supports codecs and formats such as
DivX,
XviD,
MP3 and
Ogg Vorbis, but because the player is based on the open-source media player named mplayer, it will be easily possible to add other codecs unsupported at the launch. It is also expected to be able to emulate games for many systems, including the
NES,
SMS,
PC Engine,
SNES, and
Mega Drive/Genesis. Since GP2X units were sent to some developers before the official commercial launch, there are projects of some emulators, like a
Neo Geo CD emulator ported to GP2X by a Korean developer.
Main articles: Comparison of handheld gaming consoles* Milton Bradley
Microvision (1979)
*
Epoch Game Pocket Computer - (1984) - Japanese only; not a success
* Nintendo
Game Boy (1989) - First international commercial success
*
Atari Lynx (1989) - First backlit/color screen, first hardware capable of accelerated 3d drawing
*
NEC TurboExpress (1990, Japan; 1991, North America) - Played
huCard (
PC Engine/
TurboGrafx-16) games, first console/handheld intercompatibility
*
Sega Game Gear (1991) - Architecturally similar to
Sega Master System, notable accessory firsts include a
TV tuner*
Watara Supervision (1992) - first handheld with TV-OUT support; although the
Super Game Boy was only a
compatibility layer for the preceding game boy.
*
Sega Mega Jet (1992) - no screen, made for
Japan Air Lines (first handheld without a screen)
*
Nintendo Virtual Boy (1994) - Monochromatic (red only) 3D goggle set, only semi-portable; first
3D portable
*
Sega Nomad (1995) - Played normal
Sega Genesis cartridges, albeit at lower resolution
* SNK
Neo Geo Pocket (1996) - Unrelated to
Neo Geo consoles or arcade systems save for name
* Nintendo
Game Boy Pocket (1996) - Slimmer redesign of Game Boy
* Nintendo Game Boy Pocket Light (1997) - Japanese only backlit version of the Game Boy Pocket
* Tiger
game.com (1997) - First touch screen, first internet support (with use of sold-separately
modem)
* Nintendo
Game Boy Color (1998)
*
Cybiko (Around 1998)
* SNK
Neo Geo Pocket Color (1999)
* Bandai
WonderSwan (1999) - Developed by
Gumpei Yokoi after leaving Nintendo
* Bandai
WonderSwan Color (2000)
* Game Park
GP32 (2001) - first with full homebrew support
* Nintendo
Game Boy Advance (2001) - First
32-bit handheld
*
Nintendo Pokémon Mini (2004) - Tiny interchangeable handheld with Pokémon themed games
* Bandai
Swan Crystal (2002) - Minor redesign of WonderSwan Color
*
Nokia N-Gage (2003) - Game system and
GSM cell phone (first combination of the two); first included
mp3 player and
FM radio; used
Bluetooth (first wireless multiplayer); first use of
GPRS for online play
* Nintendo
Game Boy Advance SP (2003) - Redesign of GBA: slimmer, clamshell form factor; frontlit screen
* Timetop
Gameking (2003) - first handheld developed by a
Chinese company.
*
Tapwave Zodiac (2004) - First PDA/game handheld hybrid;
Palm OS PDA with game-focused form factor and features
*
Nokia N-Gage QD (2004) - Redesign of N-Gage, removed
mp3 playback and radio
*
Nintendo DS (2004) - First inclusion of dual screens, built-in microphone, and
Wi-Fi for wireless multiplayer; touchscreen
*
Sony PSP (2004/2005) - First use of optical media; uses
Memory Sticks for saved data; plays movies and music and views
JPEG pictures.
* Tiger
Gizmondo (2005) - Uses
GPRS network; first inclusion of
GPS for location-based games, first built-in camera
*
Game Boy Micro (2005) - Redesign of GBA; smallest Game Boy form factor to date, first
transflective LCD screen in a handheld.
* Game Park
XGP (2005) and Game Park Holdings
GP2X (2005) - Successor units to the GP32 handheld, each being developed by the two companies that split off from Game Park.
*
V-Smile Pocket (2005) - handheld version of the
V-Smile console. Specifically designed for education purposes.
*
Ez MINI (2005) by
Shanda*
Nintendo DS Lite (2006) - Redesign of DS, including smaller size, brighter screen levels, and other subtle changes.
*
Video game console*
Console emulator*
Handheld electronic game*
Handheld video game*
Calculator gaming*
PDA - a similar concept
*
Handheld television*
Smartphone*
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*
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