90s hand-helds overview: Lynx, GB/C, GG, NGPC, and WS/C
Rehash, but I wanted to revive some discussion regarding the major hand-held consoles of the 90's.
1989, 1998: Nintendo Game Boy / Color
One of the biggest handhelds of all time is one of the best out there, but largely due to Nintendo's main franchises. Well, actually I'd be kidding if I said there were no third-party gems in the library. Of course there are. However, I feel in some ways the monochrome library was superior to the more kiddy GBC library which was lackluster in comparison.
1989: Atari Lynx
I haven't played the Lynx a whole lot and my experience is with the model 2. The games have a tendency to be somewhat campy and in ways, different than Japanese stuff of the time, sometimes in an interesting way. This one probably wasn't as ghastly as the Gear was with batteries (though I may be mistaken) and had a clearer backlit screen than the Gear, even. The design was very kitschy, though, but somewhat comfortable.
1990: Sega Game Gear
The GG is one of my favorite consoles for the same reason the much later SNK NGPC was so good. It had a small but high-quality library, where even the weakest entries were arguably not nearly as bad as some of the worst fare on GB/GBC. The system sucked batteries like a vampire, but was backlit (despite the ghosting effect) although it's preferable with an AC adapter. A respectable console.
1998: SNK Neo Geo Pocket / Neo Geo Pocket Color
SNK was always known for being loyal to their small but equally dedicated following, and only publishing the best games (most of the time). This sucker could last for a hella long time on two AA batteries, had a library that was accessible and still fairly cheap, and better graphics than GBC. The stick was actually very comfy, though at times a bit awkward for some games like Metal Slug or Sonic Pocket Adventure, but I never had any problem with it, much to my surprise. It was also the only time I enjoyed a fighting game immensely, with KoF R2. Plus, in the age of handhelds that weren't backlit, it was still clearly visible under good lighting conditions. Which can't be said about the next console...
1998-2000: Bandai WonderSwan / WonderSwan Color
Bandai, the kings of video game and anime merchandise, produced this handheld designed by the late Gunpei Yokoi, who is legendary for the Game Boy and the ill-fated (but interesting) Virtual Boy. The system's unique feature is it's two sets of arrow keys (the X and Y sets respectively) and it's wide screen, which work together to allow some games like Tetris to be played in a vertical position. The resolution was higher and more detailed than other handhelds of the time, even in its monochrome iteration, but sadly the display also has the problem of being too dim. I've never had a perfect or fully satisfying experience with the first two Swan models, and even the Crystal has its problems. For example, earlier monochrome games like Makaimura and Terrors are so dark as to be virtually unplayable even with the Crystal's 'improvements'. The second problem is that the system is not ideal by any means for those who have no fluency of some sort in Japanese. Most titles are strategy or RPG games that require some kind of reading. Games that are more action-based and easier for foreigners to play cost an arm and a leg, and are few and far between. That being said, the games I had dabbled in during my time with the Swan seem nonetheless well done if you can get past the language barrier, but it's much more unpleasant in this regard than imports for GB/C. Lastly, it never got released here and having sold only 3-4 million in Japan, is less common than Nintendo or Sega handhelds. Like SNK, the system was supported by first party games.
