These are the 5 Best Portable Gaming Consoles

The Switch 2 is finally out, and it’s making waves this summer. It’s been one of the fastest selling consoles of all time, already eclipsing five million units sold since its launch on June 5. All Nintendo needed to do was upgrade to 4K and put out a new Mario Kart. Thankfully, the Switch 2 is a little more feature-packed than just that.

With a bigger screen, magnetic joy-con controllers, and a durable kickstand, Nintendo has clearly taken some lessons from the responsive to its original piece of hit hardware. The Switch has always come with the dock for easy switching between TV and handheld mode Pretty much all of the (more expensive) PC handhelds still charge separately for these.

In terms of new games, Donkey Kong: Bananza is the best, most polished version of a Nintendo game you can get. But the Switch 2 is also the best place to play Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom at smoother frame rates and higher resolution than ever.

The Switch has one of the greatest console libraries of all time. That much is indisputable. Over the past eight years, we’ve had Mario Odyssey, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe—not to mention the Zelda games we highlighted above. We adore the Switch for access to all the major indie games of the past 15 years, more or less, with plenty of remakes and ports of old JRPGs to keep you satisfied for days on end and long trips.

2021’s release of the OLED Switch is still an excellent portable console if you have one. It’s certainly the best value of any of the ones on this list. The original combination portable/home console has thoroughly stamped out any suspicions of being yet another Nintendo gimmick (sorry, Wii U). It’s got all the issues we’ve been ragging on Nintendo about for years (drifting Joy-Cons, no more Virtual Console, aging tech) but we still can’t help but recommend it to the average gamer.

Here’s my dirty secret. I love holding the Steam Deck OLED. I often hear on podcasts that some gamers find it too big or hard to hold for hours, but hear me out. If you find the Switch Joy-Cons too tiny (even on Switch 2), the Steam Deck will feel amazing in your hands. Aside from being the most ergonomic of the PC-forward gaming handhelds, it’s also the most user-friendly. All thanks to SteamOS, which makes playing your PC library, and discovering new favorites, a breeze.

Compared to the alternatives, which run on Windows, the Steam Deck feels like a console from the moment you boot it up. From there, navigation is intuitive and tweaking settings is made easy by bringing the big picture options to the forefront, leaving the tinkerers to have to dig a little. But if they do, there’s a lot there—even the ability to play non-Steam games. It may be an investment, but at least it comes with a better carrying case than anything I’ve ever bought for my Switch, free of charge.

If you don’t want to feel limited to Steam, this is the Windows handheld of choice. The ROG Ally X can admittedly be a little hard to shop for, especially with the ROG Xbox Ally slated for later this year, but if you can find one for the $800 MSRP, it’s as worthy as a Steam Deck. Specs-wise, it even edges the Deck out a bit, making it a top dog when it comes to performance. Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong are just two of many high fidelity games I’ve seen it run smoothly with my own eyes.

That performance boost comes with a bit of a downside. The ROG UI makes it a chore to navigate Windows, and while improved, Armory Crate still suffers as a way to organize your game library. It’s also just not as comfortable to hold as the Steam Deck OLED, with buttons that feel chunkier and sticks that aren’t as smooth. Finding the right balance for longer play sessions can be tricky, but if you’re looking for a way to continue your PC games saves on your commute this is it.

You don’t have to be into piracy, or even emulation, to understand the appeal of this retro handheld. If you’ve hung on to any of your old Game Boy, Game Boy Color, or Advance cartridges (or, and this makes me feel so old, if your parents have), this machine will be able to play them. With crisper visuals and audio than the original hardware to boot.

The best way to get your money’s worth out of the Analogue Pocket is to go to your shady friend’s shadier online friend and buy a cartridge loaded up with dozens of Game Boy games. But you can also totally just download any ROMS you have (of games you legally own, of course) onto it as well and play plenty of 8- and 16-bit titles that weren’t native to the Game Boy or GBA. Analogue also sells cartridge adapters for Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket, TurboGrafx-16, and Atari Lynx.

MSI Claw: The MSI Claw handhelds are most similar to the ROG Ally consoles, in that they are Windows OS devices. I’ve reviewed the Claw 8AI+, and while the 8-inch screen was impressive I prefer the ROG Ally X for its ergonomics and its UI, which could use improvement but shines compared to what MSI is doing.

Lenovo Legion GO: We’ve been hearing a lot of good things about this handheld, but have yet to try one out ourselves. The latest Legion GO S is even equipped with SteamOS in some models—a tempting alternative to the Steam Deck.

PlayStation Portal: This isn’t really a handheld, it’s a remote play device. That’s why it didn’t make the list. It’s more or less a way to play your PS5 games in handheld mode via WI-Fi streaming, acquiescing to those who have adopted the Switch lifestyle. I do love mine, and a new router fixed the streaming delay issues I was once having with it, but it’s not a necessary purchase by any means.

Retroid Pocket: Another retro machine. But if you are focused on emulation, Retroid be the more appropriate route to go. Hard to recommend to the average person, but amazing for the one who knows what they’re doing.

Playdate: I dunno man, I still think the Playdate was a cool idea. We don’t really live in a world of novelty handhelds and that’s exactly what this crank-based portable is. Crank-based gameplay isn’t the future, but it’s fun. Shouldn’t that be enough?

Size: A big size is nice, but not what everyone needs. Personally, I love a 7.4-inch screen on a handheld (the size of the Steam Deck OLED and Switch 2), but by necessity that breeds a handheld too big for some people. Others like me, can’t stand how the original Switch Joy-Con buttons feel. Ultimately it ends up being less about wanting a sick large OLED, and more about what you can comfortably hold and travel with. It’s not worth discounting the role the weight of the device plays either.

Power: The Switch OLED, Switch 2, and Steam Deck are all operating on different levels of power. What types of games you want to play on the go will determine what type of console you should buy. If you want the best 3D graphics possible with the most options at your disposal, a Windows handheld is the way to go. If you’re more casual or indie-focused in your interests, a less powerful unit like a Switch may make sense.

Game Library: The games available on a platform determine whether that platform is worth buying at all. It’s also worth considering where you already own games and if those will be playable on the device you choose.

Storage: It’s important to check the on board storage for these devices. The original Switch’s abysmal 64 gigabytes means you’ll be buying an SD card day one, but a terabyte, now that can fit a decent number of games.

It’s pretty simple, really. We use every product we recommend. From routers to smartwatches to any other piece of tech you could think of, it is our job to be the experts and never lead the reader astray. We like to say that we wouldn’t recommend anything we didn’t feel comfortable buying for ourself, our best friend, or a family member. We mean that.