Games that can be played on a handheld but aren’t really meant for it (e.g. most stuff on the Steam Deck) doesn’t really count.
half minute hero. the section where you have the duel greaves has lived with me every day of my life.
I love Tearaway on Vita. Very creative use of all the handheld’s features (cameras, touch screen, rear touchpad, microphone, motion). The best bit is seeing your fingers bursting through the back and into the screen. The PS4 version of the game really shows how disappointing it is not to play on the Vita, even with vastly improved hardware.
Gonna go with Donkey Kong (1994). Made for a handheld (Game Boy) but also prominently features an enhanced mode enabled by running it on Nintendo’s Super Game Boy accessory for the SNES/Super Famicom (actually mine’s an SGB2–even better).
SMT4 on the 3DS. JRPG perfection imo. I love the SMT combination of monster collecting and Fallout type post apocalypse.
The first game I bought for the Nintendo DS was Trauma Center. It really sold me on the idea that new kinds of games were possible with the touch screen and stylus. It was also extremely challenging to get the highest rank on each stage. I spent hours playing the stages over and over trying to get the top ranks. The arcade style gameplay was pretty addictive, and it had a good storyline too.
Metroid Fusion was a banger. I didn’t even own a Gameboy, but my friend did, and I would trade him half my allowance every week to let me borrow it over the weekend. Many many nights were spent up late under the covers exploring BSL Station.
I recently played Metroid Fusion on an emulator as my first metroid game and it was so good. Legit might buy a switch to buy Metroid Dread with how good Fusion was.
Dread is fantastic but they really focused on the action elements of Metroid. This is fine since there are other games that focus on exploration but the stuff it does really well are things like boss fights. The last boss in particular is phenomenal.
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA). Being able to grind XP / gear to compensate for my bad platforming skills was amazing. Also this sparked my love for Metroidvania games.
As a member of the original Game Boy generation who had a much-loved stack of carts for the old brick, I feel a bit basic saying the packed-in Tetris was my favorite one but it really was the one I kept going back to for a quick fix.
I also really adored Final Fantasy Adventure (a.k.a. Seiken Densetsu or Mystic Quest) but that was never a quick fix, that was one for sitting down with for a properly long ARPG session.
BotW hands down, but Pokemon Emerald is always a great option for emulators. Or any Fire Emblem game.
Phantasy Star Portable on the PSP was really good, I think I wore out my thumbstick playing it.
Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Runner up: Pokemon gold/silver (GBC)You like seasons better than Ages?
I liked ages for the complexity of the changes (whole areas being different in past/future vs paths blocked/accessible in seasons) but the overall feel of OoS was more fun to me, especially the more vibrant color pallate changes between seasons
