Who said that portable consoles were dead? It is true that today Nintendo is the one who maintains the monopoly of the term thanks to its Switches, a worldwide success that has not yet ended with the arrival of the OLED Switch.
After the death of the PS Vita and the onslaught of mobile gaming, it seems that Nintendo is pretty much on its own, but you shouldn’t be surprised to find other projects and handheld consoles.
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There are portable consoles specially designed for retro games that you can take into account if your plan is exactly to play with emulators.
These are some of The best portable consoles you can buy this year and also at the best price. From all the models that Nintendo has, going through the lesser-known consoles that make use of emulators.
You can buy most of them on Amazon, which makes it very easy to order it and have it arrive in a couple of days or the next day if you are a Prime member.
Nintendo Switch OLED Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch Lite Steam Deck GPD XP Plus PowKiddy Q90 Playdate Razer Edge
Nintendo Switch OLED
Nintendo Switch OLED
New version of Nintendo’s star console, now with a 7″ OLED screen, 64 GB of storage and in a new white color.
Nintendo Switch OLED It is a review of the mythical Nintendo Switch, improving details such as its screen.
The screen is now 7 inches and as its name indicates, with an OLED technology panel. This causes it to have better color contrast and higher brightness. For the rest it is rather the same, slightly heavier due to the increase in weight and with 64 GB of internal storage.
Our colleagues from HobbyConsolas.com have already tried it and you can read their impressions here.
Nintendo Switch
Nintendo Switch
This hybrid console from Nintendo allows you to play in portable mode and also on your TV. Its catalog of exclusive games is also one of its main strengths.
The queen of portable consoles par excellence continues to be Nintendo Switch. The second generation with the best battery life, this console has a 6.2-inch HD screen, Joy-Con controllers that can be detached for two people to play, and a powerful processor to power all of Nintendo’s games.
It is the best-selling model because it includes a charging dock that you connect to your Smart TV to be able to play from the sofa or when you have to go out, put the Joy-Con on and continue on the street.
Nintendo Switch Lite
Nintendo Switch Lite
This Nintendo console is exclusively portable, although it is compatible with the entire catalog of games from its older sister.
The “lite” version of Nintendo Switch is actually the only thing that is different is that the screen is 5.5 inches, it does not have Joy-Con although you can play with Bluetooth controls and it does not have support to connect it to a TV.
The good thing about Nintendo Switch Lite is that it is more compact and lighter, which allows you to play anywhere, with the same games as the standard version and at the same quality.
It is one of the cheapest because you can get it from 219 euros in MediaMarkt in yellow, blue, turquoise, coral, gray and Pokémon edition.
Steam Deck
Steam Deck
If you’re looking for a portable console capable of running desktop games, right now the best option you have is Valve’s Steam Deck.
The bad thing about Steam Deck is its battery and its large size, otherwise it is a portable console with games available in your Steam account and based on Linux that has become a phenomenon, for now not for the masses because the stock is limited .
It has 16 GB of RAM, 256 GB or 512 GB of expandable storage with microSD card, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5 and a SoC with an AMD Zen 2 processor and RDNA 2 graphics. All with a large 7-inch screen and 400 nits of brightness .
GPD XP Plus
GPD XP is a portable console based on Android to play mobile games in a comfortable way in the purest Switch style.
It uses a MediaTek Helio G95 octa core processor, has 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of expandable storage with a microSD card. It also has Android 11 as an operating system optimized by GPD and WiFi 6 to connect faster, download or play online with less ping.
The screen is 6 inches and has an FHD + resolution. It even accepts SIM cards to connect to the internet with 4G networks. Essentially a smartphone but in console format.
The 7000mAh battery will give you enough hours of play, it also has a 20W fast charge.
PowKiddy Q90
PowKiddy Q90 It is a generic console but it is capable of running retro games thanks to its emulator. Therefore, if you have a longing for GameBoy, PS1, MegaDrive and many more games, this is a good option.
You just have to put the ROMs on the microSD card and run the game from its menu. It has a 3-inch screen, easy-to-use keypad, and is compatible with console ROMs like GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, NES, SNES, Master System, Genesis, PC Engine, Neo Geo, Playstation 1, and more.
You can get it for just over 50 euros on AliExpress, although it’s also on Amazon a bit more expensive.
Playdate
Playdate
This portable game console is not what you expect. It’s possibly the rarest thing you’re going to find in the world of portable gaming because it’s a product with a crank that can only play games in one color and they’re being added every month.
This is Playdate, a very strange, but fun portable game console with a joystick that has a 2.8-inch screen, basic controls and very interesting games.
Razer Edge
Razer Edge
Finally a console that wants to compete against Steam Deck arrives and it comes from none other than Razer, one of the leading brands in accessories for gamers. Is about Razer Edge that in Computer Hoy we have tested.
This console looks quite similar to Steam Deck, with a 6.8-inch 144 Hz AMOLED screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 as a processor, 8 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, a 5,000 battery mAh and a weight of 401 grams with the controls.
It’s actually between a Nintendo Switch and a Steam Deck, but it promises to run the best Android games of the moment and also streaming platforms like GeForce Now or Microsoft’s xCloud.