Awesome Handhelds

MSI joins the growing handheld gaming PC market that Valve’s Steam Deck blew wide open. The Claw A1M is powered by an Intel Core Ultra laptop chip. It has a 7″ 120Hz 1080p IPS touchscreen, Hall Effect joysticks and triggers, and a Type-C Thunderbolt 4 port that supports up to 65W charging. It runs Windows 11, but it also lets you install Android apps.

After releasing its Atari Gamestation Pro retro console, My Arcade is now working on a handheld version of the 8-bit gaming system. In addition to coming with more than 200 classic Atari 2600 games, the Gamestation Portable will have a 7″ display, joystick, paddle, numeric, and mini-trackball controllers built right in. Drops Q4 2024 for $149.

Clockwork’s compact uConsole computer was created for indie game developers and programmers. Its mainboard has swappable cores, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-A, USB-C, Micro-HDMI, headphone, and MicroSD connectors, and the kit includes a 720p 5.0-inch IPS screen and a backlit QWERTY keyboard with game controls.

This arcade game is as small as they come. It runs on an Arduino-compatible 32-bit processor and has a tiny full-color OLED screen, a D-Pad, two pushbuttons, plus a built-in speaker. It comes pre-loaded with three homebrew games, and can be expanded with more games via a MicroSD card. Takes about 10 minutes to assemble.

This powerful Android gaming system is perfect for emulator fanatics. Its 8-core Dimensity 1200 chip is fast enough to run upscaled PS2 games at 60 fps. What really sets it apart is its magnetic controller modules, which provide separate FPS, MOBA, and Xbox-style layouts. ETA Prime has a great hands-on review.

We always figured if you were going to upgrade the plastic case on a handheld game system, you’d want to go for aluminum or maybe carbon fiber. But Peter Knetter is a bit of a contrarian, so he downgraded his GameBoy Advance SP by building it a case, buttons, and D-pad out of cardboard.

This new model of the Nintendo Switch offers the inky blacks, high contrast, and rich colors that OLED displays are known for. It has a slightly larger 7″ OLED screen, a wide adjustable stand, enhanced audio, and a dock with a wired Ethernet port and 64GB of storage. The $349 system drops 10.8.2021 just in time for the holidays.

That iPhone in your pocket is as powerful as many earlier Macintosh computers, but iOS still doesn’t have all of the capabilities of MacOS. Ike T. Sanglay Jr. built this custom Hackintosh portable that’s capable of running MacOS Big Sur. It was built using a Latte Panda Alpha single-board computer, and has 8GB RAM, and a 240GB M.2 SSD.

What you’re looking at here is an old digital pinball game that dates back nearly four decades. TysyTube found the yellowed and badly-scratched handheld system on an auction site, and painstakingly restored it to like-new condition. Using that ice cube tray as a screw sorter is a brilliant lifehack.

Unlike many other handheld retro systems, the Evercade plays licensed games, rather than pirated ROMs. Games play smoothly on its crisp 4.3″ widescreen, and come in collections on cartridges, another nice retro touch. The Premium Pack includes Atari, Data East, and Interplay carts packed with 8-bit and 16-bit games.

This DIY handheld gaming system offers gamers an opportunity to learn about electronics. The system features a 2.42″ monochrome widescreen and comes with 200 Arduboy games pre-loaded into its memory. Advanced users can even program their own games for it. Available with or without a tool kit.

My Arcade makes pocket-sized gaming systems that each play three classic arcade games. They feature accurate 8-bit graphics, arcade-inspired case designs, and a crisp 2.75″ color display. Available games include Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Dig Dug, Galaga, Galaxian, Xevious, Ms. Pac-Man, Sky Kid, Mappy, and more.

The Nintendo Switch is a great gaming system, but Nintendo’s dock isn’t exactly easy to travel with. The Switchblade Hub attaches directly to your Switch, adding Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless headphones, an HDMI output, and a kickstand that you can carry with you. It also adds extra USB-A and USB-C ports, and two hidden SD card slots.

This keychain-sized handheld system plays retro gaming emulators. It features a clamshell design that opens up to reveal a 1.54″ LCD screen, and a gamepad style controller. It runs an ARM Cortex-A7 CPU @ 1.2 GHz, and loads games via its SD card slot. It can run ROMs from NES, SNES, SEGA Master System, and even PS1 games.

Basic Fun, the guys behind the portable version of The Oregon Trail, comes another retro-inspired handheld game. This time, we get the educational mystery adventure Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, complete with authentic sounds, graphics, and gameplay, and a case that looks like a tiny computer from the 1980s.

A diminutive version of SEGA’s 8-bit Game Gear handheld. The system measures just 3.1″w x 1.7″h x 0.8″d, and will come in four colors, each with four games. Its 1.15″ screen is so tiny that they’re selling a magnifier called the “Big Window Micro.” Launching in Japan on 10.6.20 for about $45 each. Collect them all!

This ultracompact gaming PC is designed to play the latest AAA games. It runs Windows 10, and packs a 10th-gen Intel Core i5 CPU, an Intel Iris Plus G7 GPU, a 512GB SSD, and 16GB RAM into a mag-aluminum chassis. It has an 8″ 1280×800 display (189ppi), dual analog gamesticks, a D-pad, ABXY, and shoulder buttons.

Alienware turned up at CES 2020 with a prototype gaming system that’s basically a Nintendo Switch, but with all of the capability of a Windows 10 gaming PC. The portable device can run all of your favorite PC games on its 8″ screen, and has detachable controllers. There’s no word on specs or if it will go into production yet.

There are lots of handheld retro game systems, but the GameShell offers far more versatility than others. In addition to playing emulators for Atari, GB, GBA, NES, MAME, MD, PS1, and more, its modular construction and GNU/LINUX-based dev kit encourages you hack and modify to your liking. Some assembly required.

Folks who love the games on the Nintendo Switch, but who never play on their TV set will want to check out the new Switch Lite, which plays all the games that support handheld mode, but is strictly a portable. Its controls are built in, and the motion and camera abilities are gone. Drops 9/20/19.