Handheld electronic games are interactive games, often smaller versions of video games, that are played on portable devices called handheld game consoles. These devices have controls, a display, and speakers all in one unit. Instead of screens made up of many tiny pixels, they usually have special screens made for playing a single game. This simple design allows them to be as small as a smartwatch, and sometimes they are. The way these games show images can vary, from a few small lights or LED displays to screens that look like calculators showing letters and numbers. Later, these screens were mostly replaced by liquid crystal and vacuum fluorescent displays that showed detailed images and, in the case of VFD games, color. Handheld game consoles were most popular from the late 1970s to the early 1990s before their popularity decreased. They came before modern handheld game consoles.

History

Early handheld games used simple ways to work with players, often using bright buttons and sounds. Examples from the 1970s include Mattel Auto Race (1976) and Mattel Electronic Football (1977), which had small red lights for displays. Players pressed buttons to move a car or a quarterback symbol (a bright dot) and avoid obstacles (dull dots).

In 1978, the Milton Bradley Company made a game called Simon, which used colored buttons that lit up and made sounds. Simon had no screen, only four colored buttons. It was large enough to play on a table or held in the hand. Later versions became smaller. Around the same time, Parker Brothers released Merlin, a more complex handheld game that could play six different games using 11 buttons with lights. These early games were very popular.

The success of Mattel and Parker Brothers led to many similar handheld games made in the early 1980s. Coleco made a series of two-player games, and other companies made smaller versions of popular arcade games.

In 1979, Gunpei Yokoi saw a businessman playing with an LCD calculator on a train. He thought of making a watch that could also play simple games. Starting in 1980, Nintendo released a series of games called Game & Watch, designed by Yokoi. These games used LCD technology, like calculators, and included a digital clock on the screen. For more complex games, Yokoi created a cross-shaped button pad, called a D-pad, to control characters. This design later became standard on game consoles.

During the 1980s, LCD screens became cheaper and replaced LED displays in handheld games. LCDs allowed for more detailed images and avoided the blocky look of older screens. However, all graphics were fixed and could not move freely. Movement was created by flashing images in order. Backgrounds were still drawings, and characters could not overlap. These limits made gameplay simpler than earlier LED games.

Popular LCD games included Nintendo’s Game & Watch series and games from Tiger Electronics. Many other companies also made games, often based on arcade games. New games are still made today, but most are simple versions of card or board games.

In 1982, Bandai made the first solar-powered handheld games called LCD Solarpower. Some games, like Terror House, used two LCD screens stacked on top of each other to create an early 3D effect. This allowed for more stages in games. In 1983, Takara Tomy made the Tomytronic 3D series, which used two LED screens and light from the top to create 3D images, becoming the first home 3D game system.

The LCD Solarpower series were handheld games powered by sunlight, made by Bandai in 1982. The Double Panel series used two LCD screens stacked together, allowing games to have two different stages for more variety.

These games include:

Second series (Double Panel):

Other handheld games had flip cases with two or three LCD screens, showing different scenes for more variety in gameplay.

Handhelds today

Handheld gaming devices, such as the Nintendo Switch, have become more advanced over time. However, traditional handheld consoles still have a place in certain markets. Among groups of gamers who enjoy technology, like those in the Akiba-kei subculture, unique control methods, such as those found in the 2008 Tuttuki Bako, have proven to be popular due to their novelty. These types of dedicated handhelds are rare, though. Adult games like blackjack, poker, and Sudoku have also led to the creation of many original and copycat handheld games.

The Brick Game, which began in China and Russia in the early 1990s, uses a 10 × 20 block grid to act as a simple, low-resolution screen. These devices often include many versions of Tetris and Snake, and sometimes other games like racing, Breakout, or shoot 'em up games similar to Galaga or Battle City. In these games, one block controls the movement of blocks to attack "enemy" blocks. The most advanced models usually have 26 different games organized by letters of the alphabet. They also include features like multi-channel sound, voice synthesis, or digital sound samples, and internal CMOS memory that saves game progress and high scores when the device is turned off. Many handhelds with a dozen games are advertised as having hundreds or even thousands of games, such as "9999 in 1." However, most of these are simply variations in speed or difficulty. The simplest models can now be sold for as little as $1.

Another common game type involves "avoiding or catching falling objects." These games use two movement buttons and display a screen with a column showing the player's position and rows of projectiles moving toward the player. The player and projectiles can be represented by any image, such as tanks dodging missiles or a dog catching sausages.

In addition, although Tamagotchi and similar handheld digital pets are often seen as virtual pets, they are still classified as handheld electronic games. These devices continue to be sold to consumers.