Dual-Screen Dedicated Handheld Gaming Discussions

2 replies [Last post]
Bernston

I've had a very great fond of dual-screen handheld gaming systems, & still do today, but for the present being, there aren't any new ones like what we've seen, that is to say, the Nintendo DS, DSi, & 3DS.

Let me talk about a couple benefits in terms of what dual-screen handhelds brought since they arrived into our lives.

The Nintendo DS gave us the well-known dual-screen inclusions to the handheld gaming landscape, broadening additional conveniences prior systems haven't, such as in the cases with Sonic's 3 handheld games, Rush, Rush Adventure, and Colors DS, with gameplay spanning across 2 screens, providing a rather taller screen experience in seeing more vertically as if seen from a combined viewport of a tall screen, and many other games that provided a more convenient place for minimaps, inventories, etc., cutting down many repetitive switching from pause, to gameplay in prior games that were single-screen only.

I also remember a couple other key games that covered both aspects of storytelling in one sitting, such as Mario VS. Donkey Kong, Mini-Land Mayhem, where the scenes are both presented in their in-game and pre-rendered CGI image stills played at once, occupying both screens to convey the story and allow players to see both perspectives at once, rather than use either one for a single-screen game, which is a very cool sight to see the storytelling in a convenient and well-executed way for a dual-screen handheld system.

Needless to say, the DS gave different, and very cool, convenient ways to convey game stories, along with gameplay changes that stood them out.

We all have lots of memories playing that very great handheld system, such as our Mario Kart races with system to system connectivity, the Game Boy Advance compatibility for playing GBA games,

Then came the DSi, a rather nice addition to the DS family offering us to take pictures from the system, edit them to give added stylistic flairs, record and edit audio to our fun, but moreover, the addition of its own store for buying exclusive games taking advantage of its capabilities, the DSi Shop, offering more unique games none could ever see nor play.

Paved the way for Indie game developers to make their games there to showcase their work, and envision some possibilities in the download service. The very tight caveat for it is the 20MB size restriction to games, sure enough half as less than WiiWare's 40 MB limit, which does indeed hinder others trying to make bigger games there, and, yes, other games that went under the limitation radar have been less favorable, but each and every game still deserves to be mentioned and spoken of, no matter how bad they were in their execution and vision being DSi exclusives.

The 3DS came by, and eased up the size limit by a lot to digital-exclusive games, and offered cool glasses-free 3D viewing as its focus feature, along with providing gameplay experiences that match that of a prior console system, such as the Gamecube, but better, and a bit more powerful. And compatibility with the DS & DSi games saved us the worry of its availability, even towards later games. The many games gave us lots more fond memories than ever, and broadened indie devs to reach out more to the handheld landscape.

Even we enjoyed stronger online connections the 3DS gave us, letting us playing either against or with each other for amazing multiplayer fun in many games.

Moreso, the addition to patching and DLC are very amazing additions to handheld gaming, mirroring said experience from prior console games.

My one strong disappointment to that system is the 2 screens are rather uneven, in terms of their screen viewport sizes, that is to say, the top screen being in widescreen-like format(res size, 400x240), and the touch screen still being standard screen-like(res size, 320x240), which made certain games' scenes viewed in a rather uneven size when seen with both screens, the opening scene from Kingdom Hearts 3D being a key example. I've thought to myself, "Why couldn't the bottom screen be wide as the top screen, too?". A good advantage to that would be not just being able to see more from a widened viewport, but to have extra drawing room.

More from this post later...

Sat, 12/23/2023 - 22:51 #1
Bernston
What to see in a new handheld...

OK, now, to continue...

Those dual-screen handheld systems are very amazing to have, but, lately, the importance of handheld gaming is in need of greater resurgence, even at the face of mobile games, along with PC & home console gaming being less fun in the way many game companies are doing lately at the behest of many players.

The preservation of exclusive handheld games, such as those made for the DS, DSi, and 3DS, both physical and digital, are in need of greater attention than ever, and I strongly feel in my heart and mind it won't likely take just Nintendo alone to do that kind of work(which is obvious, because of what they did and have been doing that's harming gaming preservation rapidly lately, and still won't stand for it and let that be so by doing nothing).

Who is to say the days of dual-screen handheld gaming should stop just because Nintendo has the say-so, as many think and believe? It was us, the people, even those from Nintendo, that gave such systems, so it still is up to us, the people, to make such new handhelds, even if we have to do it on our own.

This is stemming from the inspiration of what I saw in a video about what a new handheld system is like for both screens' viewports to be in their widescreen-like format, such as this video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHH_7FXss60 (this is to show how cool it is to see both screens wide on an actual handheld if such a one was made for the gameplay to be like what is seen here)

What would I perceive from an actual handheld system is to be an actual, standalone successor to the 3DS family that continues the dual-screen gameplay like those systems did, but have unique inclusions that no other gaming system could try to replicate, even on mobile. Even continue the convenient ways of storytelling to games on the handheld's both screens, but in greater ways than many had done possible before.

It needs to be what kids & adults can really enjoy as if handhelds' days aren't ever going anywhere, with unique additions no one expected(and, I don't mean specific, certain hardware & software changes that can be privacy-intrusive & breaching, you know?).

The one thing I would really enjoy from it is the matched screen sizes, both screens being widescreen-like (preferably quite a bit wider and taller than the 3DS & even the PSP's viewport size(which is, 480x272, that size of which I like). I could say both screens' viewports being a custom-made resolution sizes of maybe... 494x286, both for each screen. And it would have to be done on custom-made, non-mobile based and made hardware, and have new additional hardware features none could replicate, along with the CPU and GPU being much, much more powerful than the 3DS, Vita, or even the Switch family, which doesn't count as the handheld line(especially the Switch Lite, for it is still an offshoot of one).

What could you imagine such handheld games being made with these screens at those sizes? For me, I could imagine a new Kokopolo installment in that, because the first game had its screen sizes being a bit tight to see what's going on the field and how and what to react in situations when chasing enemies & avoiding hazards. To have such a game being seen on those screen sizes, along with others, well, it makes it easier to watch for dangers in many situations, yes?

Even Jools Watsham, Atooi's owner, posted a lament about a handheld system not having its own digital game marketplace, like the PlayDate, for instance, so the new handheld system should have one like how the DSi & 3DS had before. Post from Twitter here - https://twitter.com/JoolsWatsham/status/1516114407734001670

To any who feel about this otherwise, I don't advise laying out some cynical, apathy, and downplaying to lower handheld lovers' hearts & minds. Were trying to give out and spread great positivity about this, here.

It takes a good amount of amazing people that has such hardware designing talents, skills, & know-how to make such a new non-mobile based handheld system. There's still lots o' potential in handheld gaming systems that hasn't been reached yet. You just got to think really deep to get there and be ahead of it all.

Wed, 01/10/2024 - 15:06 #2
Bernston
I got to be deep straight on this...

Lately, so many people, old and young, regardless of what generation or year they're born in or from, have been taking prior true handheld gaming systems & their exclusive games for granted, inexplicably and, sometimes, obliviously disregarding them, that is to say, casting their key accomplishments down because of what more people are addicted/too focused on, like, for instance, spending too much time on pointless "Battle Royal" games that stemmed from Fortnite's success & other said so-called games trying to capitalize its success, mobile games, oversaturation of said former matters & not taking more time to admire and appreciate those true actual handheld gaming systems, & that still concerns me as a true handheld gaming fan as a whole.

In short, their heightened negligence is like being treated as, well, far lower than 3rd wheel in the gaming industry. That really needs to be stopped.

Because of what Nintendo did lately, hardly we have any proper access outputs to playing games made for Game Boy, GBA, DS/DSi, & 3DS, not counting the Switch Online additions that does not match the overall experience anyone comes to expect playing on the proper handhelds, and those decisions they did severely harm many game preservationists' efforts to showcase said games to the younger players out there in the world on the handheld side.

That, and the game developers spent all their years working on such games to provide proper experiences, great sequels & amazing hits that have come to our lives. That greatly hurts them, too, to see their work tossed to the wayside, placing plenty of many games' potential series opportunities into jeopardy. Think about all their hard work that should not be wasted over all this. Really.

No matter how hard Nintendo tries to convince, putting games made for handheld systems on home consoles, even to the Switch, still said to be a home console first and foremost, will not match the overall experience of really playing said games on said prior systems only.

Clearly, there's never been a finer time to commit re-invigoration about playing handheld systems than the present. We need to start our causes & movements to rally greater attention to true handheld systems for not just past gamers to reinvigorate interest in playing said systems, but to encourage younger gamers to join in on the thrills, too.

Not only that, but we also need to be well-prepared and planned ahead of our days to keep the handhelds' place in the gaming industry alive and kicking stronger than ever, even in case Nintendo's next system goes south, bad. I'm speaking of our own "Plan B" in great anticipation to this matter.

Why, one user from Twitter, called @TubaZef, said this about the manufacturers that made handhelds, Ayaneo, the company that made the AYANEO Flip DS, for instance, that try to emulate our prior systems to keep playing said games that utilizes the dual-screen gameplay experiences to make their own proprietary dual-screen handhelds to continue on the experience that does not need to just stop at the 3DS, but I still feel from my heard and mind that for the new systems to be made that keeps the line going as their own standalone, true successors to the 3DS line, I truly feel the bottom, second screen should be far, yet equally, wider as the top screen, because that should solve the inconsistent mismatched viewport problems to both screens at once.

Well, those said systems are nice, but we need actual new handhelds that can play their own proprietary games made from scratch, like how Nintendo's prior handhelds have done so.

Those tweets can be viewed here...

@TubaZef's Tweet 1 - https://twitter.com/TubaZef/status/1740723151628382339

@TubaZef's Tweet 2 - https://twitter.com/TubaZef/status/1740723885933461847

@TubaZef's Tweet 3 - https://twitter.com/TubaZef/status/1740726537471828030

It befalls onto us to keep all the handheld games, past & present, to be kept greatly noticed to a lotta people all over the world, even the obscure games. The more they know how truly fun handheld games are, the more people can play them with greater appreciation of our history with them.