Ranking Every Nintendo Handheld

[Music] nintendo has certainly had a handful of handhelds so we're gonna go ahead and rank them all this is based off how practical the handhelds are hardware wise and if they were good products during their height of release i won't be including game watch because they don't have cartridges unlike all these other systems so with that said let's get her ranked 20. virtual boy is anybody really surprised the virtual boy is nintendo's worst handheld it's hard to even classify it as a handheld because of how awkward it is to use it's a big headset that you put on a stand that doesn't even have a head strap that's the equivalent of glasses without end pieces this design choice makes zero sense and to top it off the graphics are absolutely horrible the virtual boy is infamous for its games being in red and black and also giving everybody massive headaches all i can really say is that the virtual boy came out way before the technology was ready about 15 to 20 years later we have the 3ds which actually has 3d in their games and of course there's labo vr and countless other headsets 19. pokemon mini here we have a little device that came out around the time pokemon was blowing up and when tamagotchis were a big trend it's the smallest handheld nintendo has ever created and only has a d-pad with two buttons you'd probably expect this would come packaged with games but there's actually cartridges that you insert into the back but the library is smaller than the virtual boys and it's nothing but pokemon titles but at least it won't give you an eyestrain right the games are nothing too special it's basically just short mini games featuring your favorite pokemon what's cool to note is that it runs on just one aaa battery and some of these games are emulated for the gamecube game pokemon channel there's really nothing worthwhile about the pokemon mini but it's definitely a neat and charming piece of history 18. gameboy i know this is a treasured handheld and considered an absolute classic and it definitely earns that merit it was a huge step forward from the game to watch for the simple fact that its games came on cartridges and let's not forget that it debuted with tetris one of the biggest puzzle games to this day while it ran on four double a batteries they lasted for quite a while considering the colors are only greenish and black the game gear and atari lynx had better graphics but the batteries drained a lot faster and ended up being more of a downgrade to the gameboy its button selection replicates that of an nes controller and they still have a nice grip and are really easy to use however the screen is a bit on the small side and there's no backlight so you can only see the games if you're under a bunch of light 17. game boy pocket there's not too much to add that hasn't already been said since it's extremely similar to the original the main difference being that it's a bit smaller a bit lighter and uses one less battery the screen is a little bit bigger and removes the greenish display and replaces it with entirely black and white colors strangely the first model of the game boy pocket didn't have an led showing battery life but was added to future models after people complained about its absence nintendo's done the same thing to its revisions of the nes and snes 2. i'm not sure why this was such a trend for them 16. game boy light as the name implies it's the game boy but now with a backlit screen for some reason this only came out in japan but the fact that you can more easily see your screen makes this the best version of og game boys it also retains the sleek design from the game boy pocket but it's a touch bigger 15. game boy color this was actually my first nintendo system i remember getting this when i was about six and the games i got with it were super mario bros deluxe and pokemon blue that christmas i also got the worm light because for some reason nintendo went back to having no backlight on their screens so i needed this for playing at night when i wasn't supposed to dropping the backlight is just baffling but i find it's better than the game boy light regardless because it is backwards compatible with all game boy games the screen is also a bit bigger and the games are obviously now in color and looking a lot better there's no new buttons or anything but the outer shells are pretty interesting as you can get game boy colors in a lot of different colors and you can't forget about the game boy camera and printer taking pictures with the device like this was mind-boggling at the time 14. game boy micro i always ask myself why the micro has any reason to exist but i'm so glad that it does nintendo for some reason decided to make a game boy advance as tiny as humanly possible and then sell it after the ds came out tell me how that makes any sense at all but look at this little guy who could resist a gameboy micro nintendo even made the a and b buttons lowercase to emphasize its punyness the main reason i've put this as the worst game boy advance variant is it removes the gameboy's strongest future backwards compatibility that's right you can't play game boy or game boy color games on this and let's be honest it's just too small to play anything comfortably for long periods of time 13. game boy advance it was a close call putting this handheld above or below the micro because this system doesn't have a backlit screen but it can play game boy and game boy color games so that makes it slightly better for that reason and it's a bit more comfortable to hold too plus this was the first gameboy to include the rnl shoulder buttons the graphics were a lot crisper and the games were running even better despite the cartridge shrinking in size you could also use this thing called an e-reader which let you scan in cards to either play games or add content to other gba games there was also a wireless adapter used for tracking pokemon more seamlessly and you can't forget about the game boy advance video where you can watch the entirety of shrek 1 or shrek 2 on the go call me biased but it doesn't get better than that 12. game boy advance sp for a time this was the perfect gaming system it fixed nearly every flaw the original game boy advance had the biggest was reviving the backlight and keeping it for all future handhelds the console was also more compact than folded which helped keep the screen from getting damaged even with the smaller size you could still play all your game boy game boy color and of course game boy advance titles there was even an updated model that has an even brighter looking screen and better yet the system was rechargeable so you no longer needed to swap out batteries my only gripe with the sp is that it got rid of the headphone jack this is before apple was famous for removing that from their iphones but thankfully there is an adapter so you can easily fix that problem 11. nintendo ds with a slogan like touching is good you know we have ourselves a winner the ds looks like a game boy advance sp but on steroids it has two screens and two additional buttons and the bottom screen can be touched with a stylus which snugly fits into the back there's even a microphone on this handheld and it has wi-fi connectivity so you can play games online or send your friends messages with piktochat and on top of that it's even backwards compatible with gameboy advanced titles but nothing below that sadly it's truly a hallmark of a handheld to include this many new features and i haven't even brought up the games yet you could now play fully fledged 3d games like super mario 64 ds mario kart ds legend of zelda spirit tracks animal crossing wild world and the list just went on and on and on 10. nintendo ds lite so here we have another ds but it's quite a bit sleeker looking and not so bulky like the original it's also a bit lighter has a brighter screen the stylus is a bit meteor and it even came with a blank gba slot to prevent dust when you didn't have a gba game inside so it's really not too different it just looks a lot prettier 9. nintendo dsi and here's the next iteration of the ds family gone is the gba slot at the bottom but now we have an even bigger screen as well as two digital cameras and an sd card slot the system also had an eshop for dsi games and it was slightly more powerful than a dslight i think it's good to note that the cameras on the dsi aren't very good as it's only .3 megapixels but considering the resolution of the screens themselves i think it worked for what it needed to do 8. nintendo dsi xl the name speaks for itself and really the two handhelds could be interchanged on which you'd prefer the screens are much wider the speakers can get slightly louder and the battery life is slightly improved over the regular dsi which is funny considering there's more screen being displayed here the stylus is also longer and thicker making it easier to get a good grip with but the dsi excel is also a lot larger making it more clumsy to carry around on the go so really it's all about preference for which one you prefer 7. nintendo 2ds so this is one of those systems where you just kind of think why the 2ds has always perplexed me because of its decision to remove the ability to close the screens together they also removed the 3d effects and marketed this primarily towards kids which seems backwards because the screen is more likely to get scratched up not being able to protect it plus it has a lower sound quality and a stagnant battery life now despite all the dislikes i've kind of talked about it plays games perfectly fine and is still more powerful than any regular ds seeing this system in this slate shape though just kind of feels off 6. new nintendo 2ds xl yeah the name rolls right off the tongue doesn't it here is nintendo's final 3ds system it's the end of an era for the long lasting ds and 3ds family they finished it off with what's basically a new 3ds xl but without the 3d effects i'm not really sure why anybody would need to own this i guess if you don't care for the 3d but want to get the system for really cheap but here's the strangest part this came out in the summer of 2017 while this little console came out a couple months before but even with all that said this is still a fantastic system and has all the improvements besides the 3d aspect it's just weird that this exists at all it kind of reminds me of the whole game boy micro scenario 5. nintendo 3ds and now we're at the first iteration of the 3ds library while it looks a little clunky on the outside it has a lot happening on the inside the graphics have been improved even more there's a new home button to help you travel from a game or app back to the main screen and there's of course the 3d slider which adds a neat 3d effect to games like super mario 3d land or mario kart 7. along with a d-pad is the circle pad which makes it more possible to move around in 360 degrees and did i mention that you can play the entire ds catalog as well there is loads of new software too like the new and improved eshop street pass and spot pass virtual console for game boy games augmented reality and even a camera that can take 3d pictures 4. nintendo 3ds xl not only is this a larger 3ds with bigger screens but the outer design is a lot cleaner looking too it's actually the biggest screen of any nintendo handheld outside the switch but that's a hybrid console anyway this could be interchanged with the original 3ds but i've always found the xl to be a bit more comfortable to hold over long periods of time 3. new nintendo 3ds and here begins the absolutely horrible naming of the 3ds systems the main difference here is the additional buttons starting with this nubby c-stick and the zl and zr triggers on the back these extra buttons aren't really that intuitive for most games and don't feel the best to use but it's nice that they're still there regardless the new 3ds also has a better processor and allowed for games like xenoblade chronicles to be ported over and hey if you wanted to scan amiibo into your 3ds now you don't need that nfc reader because the bottom of the handheld has the reader built right in the only true downside is the placement of the microsd card it's in the rear cover and requires a screw to swap out or remove the cards but otherwise this thing rocks two new nintendo 3ds xl what more do i need to add it's a new nintendo 3ds but it's extra large the only thing i should mention is that it actually doesn't come with an ac adapter which is crazy considering the charging port is proprietary but by this point if you're buying a handheld with such a ridiculous name you've already got the ac adapter so it doesn't really matter that much 1. nintendo switch goodbye 3ds and hello nintendo switch while this is technically a hybrid console you can of course play this in handheld mode and that is an incredible feat for how powerful it is the screen on this tablet is in hd and plays triple a games like a charm and of course it has the joy cons with its endless features in the almighty pro controller but just the simple fact that the switch can play huge games like super mario odyssey or doom or smash bros ultimate is such a huge advantage to every handheld ever created and we're just getting started right now it has a virtual console library of nes games but in the future we'll probably get snes gameboy n64 and the list could really go on and on the switch has a pretty exciting life ahead of itself and i'm ready to see what else it's going to throw on the table and before wrapping up i just wanted to give a big thanks to nintendrew for letting me use all of his gameboy and nintendo systems for the video yeah no problem so there you have it i know people have their opinions in childhoods with all these handhelds so let me know which is your favorite in the comments down below but with that said thank you all so much for watching and i hope you have a wonderful day until next time [Music] no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

Channel: Nathaniel Bandy

Views: 5,968,222

Keywords: Nintendo Switch, New Nintendo 3DS xl, new nintendo 3ds, nintendo 2ds, nintendo 3ds, new nintendo 2ds xl, game boy, game boy color, game boy advance, game boy advance sp, nintendo gameboy, gameboy light, ranking nintendo, ranked nintendo, ranking every nintendo handheld, nintendo handhelds, nintendo, evolution of nintendo, evolution of nintendo handhelds, nathaniel bandy

Id: fTMQevTE-IA

Length: 13min 27sec (807 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 07 2019