Best handheld gaming consoles

149 ELO points separate Nintendo Switch from Nintendo 3DS at the top of the Handheld Consoles ranking, after 3763 duels.

Nintendo Switch dominates with 1567 ELO points and an 87% win rate across 76 duels, establishing a commanding lead over its predecessor. The 149-point gap between first and second place marks the sharpest divide in the ranking, reflecting the hybrid console's widespread appeal among players who logged the most hours on it. Nintendo 3DS holds second place with 1418 ELO after 86 duels, while Nintendo DS claims third with 1358 ELO. Nintendo DS Lite trails closely at 1352 ELO, separated by just 6 points despite facing 86 duels. Game Boy Advance SP rounds out the top 5 at 1245 ELO with a 52% win rate over 94 duels. At the opposite end, Game & Watch sits last with 896 ELO and a 19% win rate after 54 duels, behind Tamagotchi at 961 ELO and PSP Go at 1000 ELO. The bottom ranks suggest the community has little patience for early LCD novelties or Sony's missteps.

This ranking aggregates 3763 duels from 106 players comparing 14 handheld consoles, last updated on 11 October 2026. Vote now to influence which device truly deserves the top spot for time spent.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →