What is the best hand held/portable system?

[silverpoodleman]

I am lookng to buy a portable gaming system and games for my nine-year old daughter for the holidays (I hope I am using the correct terminology - I had a Gameboy years ago so that is the type system to which I am referring). She loves the 2600 (Circus Atari, Frogger, H.e.r.o., Solar Fox, Jawbreaker) and Genesis (Sonic 1,2,3, S&Knuckles, Ristar).

 

What are my best options if I were to buy a NEW system?

What are my best options if I were to buy a USED/OLDER system?

 

I am very grateful for your feedback.

[Atarifever]

Current: for ease of purchase and library, the DS is a great idea. I love the N-Gage personally, but you'll be hard pressed to find games in any stores near you. The DS will give you the ability to playGBA (Game boy advance) and DS games. Also, it's a lot cheaper than the PSP.

Older: Gameboy Pocket. It's great and has a lot of fun games. A Gameboy colour allows you to play the same games plus gameboy colour games, but I find it hard on my eyes for some reason.

[maibock]

I am lookng to buy a portable gaming system and games for my nine-year old daughter for the holidays (I hope I am using the correct terminology - I had a Gameboy years ago so that is the type system to which I am referring). She loves the 2600 (Circus Atari, Frogger, H.e.r.o., Solar Fox, Jawbreaker) and Genesis (Sonic 1,2,3, S&Knuckles, Ristar).

 

What are my best options if I were to buy a NEW system?

What are my best options if I were to buy a USED/OLDER system?

 

I am very grateful for your feedback.

970875[/snapback]

 

 

9 year old daughter? Definitely get her a GBA SP

 

- Not that expensive ( since it isn't an arm and a leg, you can let her take responsibility for it and not worry it'll get destroyed)

 

- quite durable for a kid

 

- excellent game selections, old and new

 

- some pretty cheap games out there

 

- enough games for dear old dad to play too, if given the chance..

 

Only thing I would stress, is establish how she will keep the carts stored. those little buggers are small and can get misplaced pretty easily, if you had something like a bag of some sort, it'll be a big help..

Edited November 25, 2005 by maibock

[heavy-sixer]

My 9 year old son has a DS and SP and he's always begging to play my PSP. I would recommend the DS or SP. In fact, I got my 7 year old daughter the pink DS Nintendogs Bundle for Christmas. She has an old GBC and always wants to use my son's SP. This way she can play the GBA games we have in addition to the DS ones. Both my son and daughter really like the Nintendogs game, so I got my son Nintendogs for Christmas too. The way I figure it, virtual pets are the way to go. Once the kids get tired of them, I won't be stuck with all the mess and fuss. If you are brave, you can hit the Walmart Black Friday sale and get an SP for $48!!!

[SwedenLynxer]

I would say Atari Lynx still is the king of hand held systems.

[bergbros2]

I love the Lynx, but the king of portables? I am not too much of a fanboy to realize the GBA SP with better backlight is the way to go for a nine year old kid. Not only you get to play Activision Anthology, which is perfect for your 2600 loving kid, you get great GB Color games like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe and Links Awakening Dx and Tetris. The Lynx just doesn't have the library or the games your kid would get into. The price is excellent, I love the elegant flip screen design and the games are plentiful and cheap. Battery life is also excellent. The Lynx's battery life is just pitiful.

[J.Max]

Yup, get a GBA SP, but don't let her play any Pokemon games! She'll never stop, and then you all bee in trouble!

[A2600]

I would say ORIGINAL GB (but I wont!!) I had one of those back in 1990 not the best of ideas my hands where small and my sight was bad, but hey I had fun with Tetris and Super Mario Land!!

 

I my opinion a SP will do the trick the DS has that touch screen which seems too complicated for me let alone a 9 y/o

[n8littlefield]

An SP would do the trick, but I have to say I LOVE my DS and my 1st grade neice likes it too. She likes to play the mini games in Mario and to play with the Nintendogs. If the kid's responsible enough, I'd do the DS, if it's questionable, the SP.

[sega saturn x]

I like the DS better but now that you can get an sp for 40 dollars go for the sp.

[Gregory DG]

Even though I will probably never buy one for myself, I'd say the DS is probably your best bet. It can play GBA games, has the dual screen, and can (obviously) play DS games that the GBA can't.

[Avid Fan]

Go for the DS unless they like the old GB games

[Mr.FoodMonster]

GBA SP. They've got a lot of classic games ported, and sequals to classic games. Plenty of kids games, and they arent expensive so you wont have to worry about it getting broken as much as say, a PSP.

[Famicoman]

GBA. Origional gameboy to save money.

[Shannon]

backlit gba sp or....

 

a DS with ninten"doh"gs..

[Serguei2]

I would say Atari Lynx still is the king of hand held systems.

971114[/snapback]

 

True but where can you buy one? E-Bay?

 

The Lynx's battery life is just pitiful.

 

You know, you can play Lynx with an ac adapter.

[ninjarabbit]

I would say Atari Lynx still is the king of hand held systems.

971114[/snapback]

 

True but where can you buy one? E-Bay?

 

The Lynx's battery life is just pitiful.

 

You know, you can play Lynx with an ac adapter.

971592[/snapback]

 

But doesn't that defeat the point of having a portable system?

[JagFan422]

of course i'm going to say the GP32, GP2X.

 

 

don't know what it is, see http://www.gp32x.com

 

best portable hand helds perios sorry, i'm a gamepark fanboi

[captainhowdy]

how about the new gb micro, looks pretty nice.

 

but, personally I am going to track down an Atari Lynx for collecting. I still have a Neo Geo pocket and it work great.

[The_Laird]

I love the lynx and think everyone should. Best handheld period.

Edited November 27, 2005 by mr.kizza

[Flojomojo]

No contest. You should get her the GBA SP - preferably in Pearl, Graphite, or Spongebob (last one is Toys r Us exclusive) because they have the best lighting. The GBA has a HUGE game catalog, and it's easy to find 2ndhand games for it cheap.

 

The DS is bulky and fussy. You could always upgrade her to one of those later if she really likes the GBA.

[birdie3]

GBA SP with the new improved lighting.

[Ferris]

I think everybody is forgetting the Turbo Express. It was by far the most powerful and gorgeous handheld of its day. With the right games, it still holds up very well today and you can find brand new units on line.

[bergbros2]

The Lynx was good for its time but no save feature, horrible battery life and extremely limited library especially in the games that an adolecent would like makes it an unacceptable choice for a kid. Just imagine a kid lugging around the 6 D sized battery pack and you know it isn't the best choice. And what games on the Lynx are geared to a kid that age. I can't even find one. I got a Lynx and its a fun system especially for some great arcade conversions like Klax and Rampart but it really is only for older gamers and it really isn't all that portable. The backlit SP is really the best option for the money.

[sega saturn x]

But doesn't that defeat the point of having a portable system?

Thats one of the reason I never bothered getting a lynx or a game gear, I couldn't see myself sitting at hope plugged in to a wall play these games. Since pretty much all of them have much better home conversions on systems I already have, so what's the point? Plus the game gear is about as comfortable as a brick.

Edited November 27, 2005 by sega saturn x