Our Ten Best- Episode 29: Portable Games

Advance_Wars_CoverartOver the years, the portable gaming industry has been one largely dominated by Nintendo, but other companies have gotten into the mix and thus made the genre of gaming a viable one and one that many hardcore gamers love. Being able to take your favorite games on the run with you is no simple task, but with this list, Review Fix counts down the 10 games you should have in your jacket pocket at all times.

10- Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, Gameboy:
Up in the same league as “Super Mario Bros 3,” this title pushed the envelope as to what gamers should expect from a handheld platformer. Tons of levels and secrets made this one you wanted to play again and again, something that normally wasn’t the case with most handheld games of its genre.

9- Sonic the Hedgehog, Game Gear:
Even though it only features three of the six levels in the Genesis version, this title proved that handheld games could be beautiful, fast and fun.

8- Warioware, Game Boy Advance:
Easily one of the best games on the system, this title proved that you didn’t have to put a real game together. Instead, you could splice dozens of small ones and create something completely different. The end result is a fast-paced mini-game collection that will continue to stand the test of time.

7- Twisted Metal: Head-On, PSP: The PSone and PS2 classic plays awesome on the PSP and is full of the same content that gamers would expect from the home version. It’s hard to find a great racing game on a handheld system, but this one is one of the best ever.

6- God of War: Chains of Olympus, PSP: Breathtakingly beautiful and full of content, this is perhaps the greatest game to ever be released on Sony’s fledgling handheld. A true shame that there aren’t more games like it on the system.

5- Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Nintendo DS: A long adventure that would have worked on any system and in no way hurts the franchise. One of the few companies that pulls out all the stops on their handheld games, Konami did an excellent job with this one, making it one of the most complete tales in the series’ history.

4- Burnout Legends, PSP: The best racing game on the PSP, hands down. It’s full of content and gameplay modes and never gets tiresome. Now a bargain bin title, it’s well worth the purchase.

3-Advance Wars, Game Boy Advance: Strategy games done on portable systems are usually incredibly thin on features, making their release in the first place puzzling. However, this title is one of the best ever created due to the fact that it’s chock full of content and never forces the gamer to slow down. At times, you’ll wonder how Nintendo got so much content on the little cart.

2- Tetris, Gameboy: How could this game not make the list? Still to this day, Alexey Pajitnov’s creation is one of the greatest games ever and easily the best puzzle game all of all time. If you’ve played video games at any time in your life, you’ve played “Tetris” and if you’ve ever lived, you know what it is. For that, that game belongs on this list and deserves its high spot on it.

1- Pokemon Red, Gameboy: Not only did this game create a worldwide phenomenon that is still stealing money out of the pockets of parents, it pushed the limits as to what a gamer should expect from an RPG on a handheld system. Deep and rich, providing over 100 hours of gameplay, “Pokemon Red” is a treasure to behold and one that has forever changed the gaming industry.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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