In the beginning of the pandemic, when I was stuck alone at home with not much to do, I picked up a couple original DS Lite consoles for cheap and a "New Nintendo 3DS XL" (confusing name for a console :p) for a good price as well. My intention was originally to try to make homebrew for the consoles. In the end I didn't get around to the homebrew stuff but I did play quite a few different games. Thanks in part due to the fact that in a nearby city someone had listed a bunch of DS and a few 3DS cartridges that they were straight up giving away. So with those along with the ones that I got with the consoles, I had like 15 to 20 different games for the consoles or thereabouts.
The majority of the play time for me was with the New 3DS XL, as it fit my hands and vision better than the small DS consoles.
There were several games that I enjoyed quite a lot.
And to me, I still think mobile phones don't quite live up to it for a few reasons.
I mean, yeah playing GTA III on the iPhone 14 Pro is a nice experience. I've completed GTA III start to finish both on iPhone 14 Pro, as well as on previous iPhone models in the past.
But in general I don't like playing games with touch screen controls as much as playing with physical buttons. And even though there exists bluetooth controllers you can pair with an iPhone, I had a terrible unusable experience with a tried that.
There are some other mobile games that are super nice, like for example Monument Valley.
But there is also a lot of ad-ridden garbage on mobile.
So my preference would for the most part still be to play more games on the New 3DS XL, rather than to play more games on mobile.
But ideally I want to buy something like one of these, and play emulated games:
- https://anbernic.com/products/rg353v-rg353vs?variant=4335654...
- https://store.ayaneo.com/goods/7849577742581
But I am still a bit undecided on which one of these to actually buy.
All I know is that I want something that
1. Runs linux (which one of them does, one of them does not mention, and one of them has in the works)
2. Emulates a bunch of different consoles
3. Comfortable to hold and use
4. Not too heavy
5. Has acceptable battery life between charging