Throughout its 272 pages, A Handheld History takes a comprehensive look at the handheld market, featuring commentary and full-color images for dozens of handhelds released over the past four-plus decades. The first half of the book focuses on the original and present king of handheld gaming, Nintendo. It kicks off with Game & Watch before moving into the largest section of the book: the Game Boy family of systems. Nintendo DS, 3DS, and Switch follow, and there’s even a small section about the Micro vs. System and Pokemon Mini.
After Nintendo, the book examines the PlayStation Portable, PS Vita, Sega Game Gear, and Neo Geo Pocket Color. Multiple other modern systems are covered besides Switch, including the Analogue Pocket, Evercade, Playdate, and Steam Deck.
A Handheld History also includes some of the more obscure handhelds and devices from big brands that were overshadowed and ultimately thwarted by Nintendo’s handhelds, including Nokia’s N-Gage, the Tiger R-Zone, Mega Duck, Atari Lynx, Gamate, and more.
If you’re interested in reading A Handheld History for the Game Boy sections, we’d also recommend two other books specifically about Game Boy. The History of the Game Boy by Florent Gorges offers the most comprehensive look at the creation of the Game Boy and the decade of dominance that followed. It’s based on hundreds of hours of interviews with key players with first-hand knowledge of the Game Boy’s development. This book was recently translated to English for the first time, more than a decade after its original release in French and Spanish, and is part four of Gorges must-read (unofficial) History of Nintendo series. The History of the Game Boy is available on Amazon for $28.
To supplement The History of the Game Boy, check out The Game Boy Encyclopedia by Chris Scullion. This 320-page hardcover covers every game released for the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color.
