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.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP was pretty great.
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.
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
Jeanne D’arc on PSP has to be the best tactical rpg I’ve played for pure fun value amazingly polished game if not that well known.
PSP has an amazing catalog I still keep a ton of them on my phone and attach a bluetooth controller.
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.
Dude playing MHFU on PSP with friends was literally peak gaming!
BotW hands down, but Pokemon Emerald is always a great option for emulators. Or any Fire Emblem game.
Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks were pretty cool. I played both with the stylus because the DS control pad is tiny as fuck, literally painful to use for more than a few minutes.
Same with the Layton games.
half minute hero. the section where you have the duel greaves has lived with me every day of my life.
Removed by mod
I just got a handheld emulation machine that runs pretty much anything up to Dreamcast, and having a huge chunk of the history of gaming in my pocket has been rad as hell.
Rediscovering a lot of GBA games has been a lot of fun. Wario Land 4 is so fucking good, and I feel like it’s been completely forgotten.
Do mobile games count?
Dragon Crystal for the GG. Also Columns for GG.
Nice pick! Was my first experience playing a Rogue-like game, though I wouldn’t know that term for at least two decades.
You mean like fully intended to make use of a handheld? Maybe Pokemon Platinum or spectrobes. I haven’t played very many mobile first games, most games I’ve played on switch or even the ds would work perfectly fine on another system.
If we’re talking games that are just on the switch first, then probably neon white. The gyroscope is surprisingly good for shooting, i thought it’d get annoying but it didn’t.
But of course i think Catherine is one of the switch’s biggest must plays.
