So, I’ll start. I have 3 devices that I’d say are tied for best
First, my n3ds xl. Beautiful handheld, clamshell, just a nice piece of hardware. If the cstick didn’t suck itd be the sole winner. My 3ds has served me very well
I also like my rp4 pro, just a great all round emulation machine. And a functional second analog stick, its almost like analog sticks are meant to be sticks and not pencil top erasers
I also like my ambernic sp, got it recently. Looks cool. And clamshell so yippee
As for the worst, I have a few:
Mandatory jab at the switch. Not awful but cmon, the controls suck
The leapster explorer. Shitty dpad. Insane power consumption, it s afun gimmick, jut kinda useless.
Then I had this little system from lexibook, the “compact cyber arcade” or something. Was silver and white, appeared to be 16 bit. Really shit controls. Buttons weren’t even labeled. It also just randomly died after about a decade, but I can’t fault it for that I guess.
I also hate tiger handhelds with a passion. Like ignoring the awful game, the controls just SUCK I didn’t even pay for the one I do have and I still feel scammed
Am I the only one who loves the Switch? That the joycons come off and even have their own shoulder buttons is so cool. You can just set it on a table and play some multiplayer Mario Kart, heck yes. And they snap into the ring fit circle thingie! Neat! And the Pro controller is great all around.
Shout out to the DS Lite. Loved that thing. Gotta have the thumb strap to play that Metroid multiplayer FPS.
Worst: TI-84. How the hell they still charging over $100 for this thing, when it has less processing power than a Palm Pilot? Seriously the CPU is from 1976. Yeah Bubble Bobble and Block Dude are great, but the Zelda port runs awful.
Love the switch. The only reason I’m still a console gamer at all.
Switch is a good but underpowered home console. The joycons are just top flat.
All ds systems are cool.
Calculators are way overpriced, yet schools refuse to allow phones
I really like the switch. My only complaints are: I miss the 3DS like charm and customization.
I find it hurts to hold my switch in handheld for too long.
Otherwise, I think it’s a very neat machine
Dishonorable mention. One of those “99 in 1” things with the weird LCD. Really shit dpad, the thing didn’t even have tetris
Favorite: Nintendo 3DS XL. I never would have thought a resistive touchscreen would last that long. What an absolute beating that thing took.
Dogshit: Microsoft Sidewinder Game Pad Pro (1999 edition). Motherfucker didn’t know up from left.
Computer
Everything else is underpowered and gimmicky and overpriced with constant subscriptions to useless junk just to play a game.
Favourite: Steam Deck, hands down. It has totally revolutionised the way I play games. I very often choose to play games on my deck instead of on my far more powerful pc.
Least favourite: Smartphone. The closest I’ve come to having an enjoyable traditional gaming experience on a smartphone was Sky: Children of the Light but even then I was constantly getting frustrated with the touchscreen controls and dealing with my phone getting as hot as the surface of the sun. Its also just not a comfortable shape to hold while you game.
Yea, phone games have awful controls. But at leasts its not a shitty proper stick
Fortunately no stick drift
I really enjoy all of Valve’s hardware. Others are mentioning the Steam Deck, which is great, but I also love (and frequently use) the Steam Controller and Valve Index.
I don’t know if I have a clear least favorite, as I never owned the things which interest me the least.
People really seem to hate the steam controller. I love that thing.
A big part of it, I think: the Steam Controller is different in ways that are unpleasant if you approach it like a standard controller. For example, it is not designed to be gripped around the handles like an Xbox controller, but to rest in your fingers. If you attempt to grip it like a traditional controller, it is uncomfortable and the trackpads are hard to use.
I have a friend who grew to like his Steam Controller after using the trackpads on his Steam Deck. For him, it was realizing the potential of the hardware combined with Steam Input.
- SNES was the ultimate From childhood until the release of Nintendo 64
- In high school it was a PC with a mouse and keyboard.
- Now it’s a PC with an xbox controller. Using a mouse and keyboard reminds me too much of work.
There is a PS5, a Switch, and a Steamdeck, in the house plus several more devices in the garage. I’ll watch other people play but gaming on dedicated hardware just doesn’t grab me. I’ve never tried gaming on a phone.
Virtual boy fits in both best and worst 👍
O see the worst but how is it the best?
Going to stick with portable systems, because a box is a box is a box, even if some are cooler than others (PS2 slim with attached screen, and N64).
#3 Gameboy Advance SP
Loved the compactness of the clamshell design. So much more portable than other systems at the time.
#2 Steam Deck
Windows games on a Linux handheld, plus it runs old games that Win 10 can’t.
#1 PlayStation Portable
This was and will always remain my favorite gaming system. So many great games, movies, a cool disc/cartridge hybrid media format, SD card support for all sorts of stuff, custom firmwares… man, such an amazing system.
It physically hurts me to see so many other people loved the PSP as much as me, and we’ll never get to go back.
This made me sad so I went on AliExpress and got a usb to psp charger cable…
Least favorite has to be a tie between switch joycons in general and the circle pad on 3DS.
Joycons on their own are too small to be all too comfortable disconnected and connected they’re slightly better since I can position part of my hand on the back of the switch, so there’s at least that.
And with the 3DS circle pad, it’s just nowhere near sensitive enough. Movements feel too quick, with little to no control over how far the pad move, in my opinion.
As for favorite, I’ll say that in general I absolutely hate track pads and everything they stand for, but steam deck is the only exception. With most track pads I’ve used recently outside of the steam deck, I have trouble clicking since the mouse buttons are built into the track pad and half of the time feel like they don’t work. Though with the deck I find it real easy to just click pretty much anywhere on pad and it’ll click for me.
Only problem I’ve had with deck pads is that sometimes the click is a bit too sensitive for me, so I’ll sometimes accidentally click while on the onscreen keyboard by accident or click while playing a game like Gemcraft, making me deselect a gem or power up while dragging over.
The 3ds analog is good. Comfiest stick ever.
To each their own. I got a used 3DS less than a year ago, so maybe that’s why I find the analog bad. Wear and tear.
My old PSP3000 is one of my favorite pieces. It hasn’t seen any action in 5+ years now, but it will probably get some around september.
Mandatory jab at the switch. Not awful but cmon, the controls suck
cries in 3 left joycons with drift
Another of my least fave is my laptop’s monitor. It’s an ASUS ROG whose screen sucks major balls. If it ever gets over 40ºC, it starts showing some “scanlines” or something like that, with horizontal lines that don’t refresh correctly or something, kinda hard to describe. In any case, if I ever game straight on it without anything blowing cool air on the screen, games will become unplayable because it’ll reach a point where I literally can’t see shit, because the screen won’t be refreshing correctly, several lines will be “stuck” for 1 second or more. The keyboard is also a piece of shit.
Isn’t the rog a handheld?
ROG Ally is. ROG is just their “Republic of Gamers” gaming brand, with a bunch of products.
PSP! Bought when I was a literal child. Works like a fucking charm, even the ORIGINAL BATTERY!
All of my gaming is super retro or low tech. I do have an XBoxOne but i rarely use it. Computer is old so games on there are mostly old old stuff from the 90s and early 2000s.
Hardware wise i have an Anbernic 353V that I do a lot of retro gaming. Not a huge fan of the Gameboy style setup but its a good cheap machine.
My kids have Switches and thats what kicked me from supporting Nintendo after they go obsolete. The Joycons on one suck and I’ve replaced the connector hardware twice now. The best version is the Lite but you cant connect it to a TV which is dumb. Their family sharing is broken (wife has digital game, i havs DLC, we are SOL).
Yea, the switch is a bad console, was the start of Nintendo becoming as shitty as the competition
Is that 3DS jailbroken? If not, you totally should.
It is, but I don’t really play much on it
My favorite is honestly my PS5. The load times are fantastic and I love the feel of the controller and the rumble / adaptive triggers. I also fucking loved my PS Vita, to bad it had such a mediocre run games wise.
Worst is pretty harsh, as I have loved all my consoles. But there’s no denying that the PSP was a bit garbage with its single analog stick (which was also very hard to use).
Yea, single stick devices piss me off. I don’t really get the PlayStation hype nowadays. Isn’t it just a gaming PC?
Yeah basically a kneecaped PC with horrible data policy. Example, if you have a game with a 3rd party save/account like a lot of games do, Sony owns it and you can not migrate it to other platforms. I bought my nephew a gaming PC and he lost about 2000hrs of progress in Apex because Sony owns his account.
I’m not even a snob against consoles, just Sony sucks balls these days. I’d go with an Xbox but by then you’re basically buying a PC… Although you can prob get a cheaper price on an Xbox especially if you’re not building your own machine.
