Blog:Grust's Top 10 Handheld Games

Wow, my 46th Top 10 Blog and I've almost never discussed handheld games so for this list I'm taking a look at games made exclusive for handheld devices. As the Switch is regarded as a hybrid, I won't be counting it and mobile games are off the list since it likely encouraged game companies to shovel out microtransactions. Now onto the countdown.

10. Harvest Moon: A New Beginning for the Nintendo 3DS: I love Harvest Moon and this is a good farming game for the 3DS. You take control of a farmer who is entirely customizable from face and gender who inherited his or her farm from his or her parents. However it's located in a town whose economy hit the toilet causing many to flee for the big city for jobs and opportunity. To revive the town the farmer must use his or her talents to build grow crops, or raise money to attract more villagers and even find a love interest. It's 10 though because until you get the farm bell, taking care of animals can be a chore and the bachelorettes don't feel well written and one is even a gold digger so I usually play as a female farmer just for a well written story.

9. Adventure Time: Hey Ice King, Why'd You Steal Our Garbage for the Nintendo 3DS: Based off the Adventure time series, the game follows Finn and Jake on a quest to recover their garbage from the Ice King who just wanted to create a garbage princess. To progress you must learn new skills for Jake to shapeshift into different objects to get past obstacles as well as find new treasures to get stronger. You can find food in the game that when mixed with other food can create new benefits and increased hit point healing. And when you beat the game, you can start a New Game + allowing you to play with what you've gathered while the bosses have double the HP as before. Also the game plays like Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link.

8. '''Most Yu-Gi-Oh! Games from various handhelds:''' I still have a certain love for Yu-Gi-Oh even if I quit watching after Zexal and well being owned by the evil Konami. And for the most part, I like to stick to older titles naturally ending mostly with 5Ds. But I my main favorite is Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Spirit Caller. But for the most part is that if it follows the main game, I'll love it, but I personally don't like the games that go in a new direction like Reschef of Destruction. But the amount of Yu-Gi-Oh! games I love is enough that's I'll list them as a whole on this list.

7. Bravely Default for the Nintendo 3DS: If it weren't for micro transactions and the Norende rebuilding thing, I'd put this higher on this list but taking those aside, this is an awesome traditional JRPG and a spin-off of Final Fantasy with jobs and the crystals. The uses the Brave/Default mechanic allowing you to build your brave points by using Default and spending them with Brave to unleash a barrage of attacks or special attacks that cost more than 1 BP. With the way the game plays, you can unlock bonuses from battle like extra gold, job points, or experience depending on how you finish the battle. If it weren't for the micro transactions I'd consider it one of the best JRPGs of all time though thankfully you don't need a dime to beat this game.

6. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for the Nintendo 3DS: An official sequel to 1991's A Link to the Past, this has a descendant of Link, named Link, on a quest to recover the maiden trapped in portraits by a narcissistic sorcerer name Yugo. When Yugo traps Link in a painting, a bracelet given to him by a masked figure allows him to become a painting at will to climb walls or fit narrow cracks. This game also makes rupees more important in the game by making the secondary items available from the start. At first you can only rent the items and lose them if you die, but eventually, you can own them and with a sidequest, even upgrade them.

5. Dissidia: Final Fantasy for the Sony PSP: When I first heard about this I thought, "How could they make a tournament fighter/RPG hybrid?" They did and it was awesome. Taking place in an alternate world, the heroes and villains from 10 Final Fantasy games square off against each other in what's meant to be an eternal conflict between the gods. Each character has their own strengths and weakness and play differently. As you fight mannequins (enemy fodder) you gain experience and level up, unlocking new abilities and equipment. Believe it or not, the real game begins when the final boss, Chaos is defeated in the main story. Once beaten, you unlock the Colliseum which offers waves of enemies to fight nonstop or until you are ultimately defeated. Easily my favorite game on the PSP.

4. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon for the Game Boy Advance: If you loved Symphony of the Night but wanted it handheld this at the time was for you. The game is similar but adds a uniqueness with the card mechanic allowing you to combine two cards for different magical effects. As you progress, you can unlock hidden rooms for upgrades and level up fighting enemies. As you defeat more enemies, you gain access to new items to unlock new abilities, and you'll need them if you wish to take on the demonic vampire himself, Dracula.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening originally made for the Game Boy, but remade for the Game Boy Color and even the Switch: Original designed without Shigeru Miyamoto's knowledge (though he approved of it when he found out), this is regarded as one of the best hand held games. After his final battle with Ganon, Link went on a journey to study combat should evil befall Hyrule again. However during a thunderstorm, Link's ship is destroyed and he washed up on Koholint Island where unless he awakens the Wind Fish, he may never escape. If he wants to escape, he must find 8 magical instruments in 8 dungeons and the secondary items he'll need to explore the island.

2. Wario Ware Inc. for the Game Boy Advance: When I first rebought my Game Boy Advance, for the longest time I wanted to replay this. I was not dissapointed when I finally did as this game is fun and challenging. It's a collection of miniatures games made by several of Wario's friend and the greedy anti-hero himself. The mini games require perfect timing, attention to detail, intelligence and common sense. As you play, the games get 3 tiers of challenge and over time, the game gets faster and faster till eventually, you will get your ass kicked. Once you get to the final tier of the game and beat Wario and see the credits, that's not the end. As you play, you collect a ton of unlockable including the fly swatter game from Mario Pain and even the classic Sherrif arcade game slightly redesigned so Wario is the sheriff. Definitely a must own for GBA fans.

1. Golden Sun For the Game Boy Advance: Not only what I think is the best JRPG on any handheld, but one of the JRPGs of all time. You control 4 characters, each possessing a different elemental attribute on a quest to discover the secret of Alchemy and why it was sealed millennia ago and why several people wish to unlock it. The best part of the game is the Djinn system. As you progress, you encounter several creatures called Djinns, which either join you willingly or battle you to prove your worth. As you collect more and more, the characters' stats go up depending on what Djinn you have as they also have different elemental attributes. The Djinns also give off different abilities based off what you have unlocked which are not only good for battle but are even used to solve puzzles in the overworld to progress or even find more Djinns. Djinns even have unique skills to use during battle but using them will lower your stats and you risk losing abilities until the end of battle. However by keeping them inactive, you also have the chance to unleash powerful summons depending on how many Djinns are locked. There's so much customizing and puzzle solving and great music in this game I decree that it's the best handheld game I can think of and my pick for number 1.

Any other handheld you can think of? Let me know in the comments.

