Summary
- Nintendo's Game Boy lineup led to the company's massive success in handhelds later on.
- Despite often not being as powerful, Nintendo's handhelds were always successful due to their focus on innovation.
- From Monster Hunter to Xenoblade Chronicles, the graphical displays for these handhelds have been jaw-droppingly impressive over the years.
Nintendo is no longer the small game company it was decades ago, and its robust handheld lineup is largely to thank for that. The original Game Boy lineup dominated the 1990s, the DS models ran the 2000s, and with the successor to 2017’s Switch coming this summer, Nintendo’s portable console business has only gone up over the years.
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Fans have seen a few reveals of games to come to the Switch 2, with some looking quite impressive. But while we all wait to see more of what the highly anticipated successor has to offer in its game lineup, let’s look back at some of the most visually stunning games ever seen on each of Nintendo’s legendary handhelds.
This list does NOT cover:
• Revised models (such as the Game Boy Pocket, DSi, etc.)
• Ports of games made for other platforms
• Switch 2
1 Game Boy - Faceball 2000
War Of The Floating Smiley Faces
Faceball 2000
- Released
- December 1, 1991
- ESRB
- everyone e10+
- Genre(s)
- Shooter
While their Game & Watch lineup technically came beforehand, the Game Boy was Nintendo’s first true handheld console, and it surely made waves back in 1989. Due to its graphical limitations, nailing down a “best-looking” game here is a bit tricky, but Faceball 2000 is nothing short of impressive when taking into account the handheld’s technical limitations.
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Faceball 2000 was a maze-shooter that saw players navigating through a variety of corridors, blasting away other smiley-faced opponents, all in a first-person, pseudo-3D perspective. It was a remake of MIDI Maze on the Atari ST, and despite being incredibly simple in concept, the fact that they were able to cram something like this onto the original Game Boy is a bit mind-blowing. Sure, its monochrome graphics and choppy framerate may not always be easy on the eyes, but the game’s technical leaps for the time simply can’t be ignored.
Honorable Mentions:
• Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge
• Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
2 Game Boy Color - Shantae
A Charmingly Bright, Colorful & Vibrant Platformer
Shantae
- Released
- June 13, 2002
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E For Everyone: Mild Violence
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
The first Game Boy was a smash hit due to its affordable pricing and impressive battery life, but there was one important thing missing from the Game Boy, and that was color. Luckily, that was remedied with the aptly named Game Boy Color in 1998, and one of the best displays of the new addition of color was the original Shantae from 2002.
It follows the titular half-genie character, Shantae, on her quest across the fictional Sequin Land to stop the evil pirate “Risky Boots.” It’s a typical, yet undeniably charming plot, but its visuals were anything but typical for a handheld game. Shantae showed great use of the new expanded color palette on the GBC, and could almost be mistaken for a Game Boy Advance title with its deep, vivid colors and creative character designs.
Honorable Mentions:
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons / Ages
• Resident Evil
3 Game Boy Advance - MOTHER 3
An Emotional Third & Final Installment
Mother 3
- Released
- April 20, 2006
- Developer(s)
- HAL Laboratory, Brownie Brown
- Genre(s)
- RPG
The new Game Boy Advance model took even bigger technical steps, with its new 32-bit ARM processor and a new display, supporting palettes with an even wider range of colors than the previous GBC. The GBA had so many titles with fantastic artwork that it's almost hard to choose, but MOTHER 3 absolutely deserves some love here.
The third and final installment in the now-beloved series, MOTHER 3 is a turn-based RPG that takes players on a truly wild, yet wonderfully charming adventure. Featuring all sorts of interesting characters, locations, and enemies, all captured in its beautifully colorful art style. Retaining a similar design to the previous game, this time, MOTHER 3 was able to use the handheld's new expanded color palette to its full potential, bringing life to even the darkest areas in the game.
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Honorable Mentions:
• The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap
• Sword Of Mana
• Advance Wars
4 DS - Metroid Prime Hunters
A Downright Impressive FPS Display For The Handheld
Metroid Prime Hunters
- Released
- March 20, 2006
- ESRB
- Teen // Animated Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo ST
- Genre(s)
- FPS, Action-Adventure
The Nintendo DS in 2004 brought some never-before-seen features to the table when it came to the handheld platform: a touchscreen, backwards compatibility with the GBA, and of course, its iconic dual-screen design. So it's no secret that the fancy new handheld saw plenty of games that offered both great gameplay and visuals.
But 2006’s Metroid Prime Hunters takes the cake for just how impressive it is for the DS. Playing as the iconic Samus Aran, the game pits players against six other galactic bounty hunters as they work to investigate and explore a series of space stations. Despite being a rather short game, it managed to pull off first-person shooter gameplay on a handheld that really wasn’t geared at all toward the genre. While there were other, more popular FPS titles on the DS, none of them looked and felt quite as smooth as Hunters did, making it an easy pick as one of the handheld’s most impressive titles of all time.
Honorable Mentions:
• Pokémon Platinum
• Okamiden
• Dragon Quest 9
5 3DS - Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate
A Full-Scale MH Game On The 3DS
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
- Released
- February 13, 2015
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
With almost no competition in the handheld space at the time, Nintendo was in a great spot when it rolled out its all-new 3DS in 2011. Just like its predecessor at the time, it was clear the new handheld had some power just by seeing all the great-looking titles it got.
But when it came down to it, Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate was an incredibly impressive display for the 3DS, not just because of how good it looked, but also because of just how expansive the game was in the content it featured. Capcom took their ever-popular ARPG series and pretty much brought the full experience to the 3DS, with little compromise to note. It features the same gigantic creatures, large-scale battles, and fantastic graphics as its mainline PC and console versions. To this day, Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate is still an especially jaw-dropping game for the 3DS, being widely praised for just how ambitious and impressive it was.
Honorable Mentions:
• Dragon Quest 8
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3D
• Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D
6 Switch - Xenoblade Chronicles 3
A Stunning Balance Between Visual Styles
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Released
- July 29, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen due to Language, Mild Blood, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Genre(s)
- RPG
In 2017, Nintendo brought out the Switch, a unique handheld / home console hybrid that only further solidified Nintendo’s reputation in the handheld industry. Being far more capable than the company’s previous devices, many of its new titles aimed to take full advantage of its hardware, with the third installment in the famous Xenoblade Chronicles series being one of the standout examples.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 features the series’ familiar open-world, ARPG formula, where players battle mechs, wildlife, and many other creatures. What makes the visuals really shine is how the game balances its semi-realistic environments with heavily stylized anime characters, creating visuals that are both graphically stunning and artistically pleasing. Of course, adding to the fact that the series’ games are always a fun and solid experience, it makes Xenoblade Chronicles 3 a great title across the board, and one of the Switch’s best-looking games to date.
Honorable Mentions:
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
• Persona 5 Royal
• Octopath Traveler 2
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