Portable Handheld? You don’t say?
By happenstance we stumbled upon a company called Innex in the last few weeks and they manufacture a very interesting product called Portable Handheld. Packed with Sega Genesis titles (20 in total) our staff was very skeptical on how well the $49 device would hold up. Something so cheap and promising can’t possibly actually do what it advertises….. can it?
Well, one 8 hour trip to Maryland and three AAA batteries really do tell a lot about a device’s longevity. Add to this equation two younger daughters, whom are budding into gamers, were fighting over it and this is a perfect reviewing environment.
Durability
When you first open the stylish, hard cover case that houses the Portable Handheld you can already see how much quality Innex and company put into it. Protected by some padding, the device is light (coming in well under a half a pound — that’s with batteries). At times I felt like I could break the darn thing by accident, but this sucker withstood all the frustrations and frantic movement that I provided on my long trip. The buttons were crisp and accurate, while the actual connection between them was followed by a resounding clicking noise. Unlike the Game Gear, which I was a huge fan of, this actually gives you all the confidence that it’s making a solid connection when buttons are pressed.
I must confess that the hard plastic casing did freak me out a bit. I thought for sure that this neat little device wouldn’t dare survive such a long weekend journey to Damascus. The Portable Handheld survived several drops in the car, fumbles by the kids and one hard drop on my stick shift (no jokes, please). It acquired no scratches on the body nor did it acquire scratches on the screen.
So, is it durable? You bet.
Screen size
One of the bigger concerns I did have, outside of durability, is the screen size for this device. Coming in at a whopping 2.5″, the LCD seemed just as fragile as the body. Having something so small could potentially strain your eyes, and let’s face it compared to other portable devices this screen was itsy-bitsy. Much like the previous category, I was dead wrong about my first notion as well. The screen is unusually good for this device, as I didn’t give it much eye strain. For people who don’t like watching something up close this might be an issue. For me, I held the thing about 1-2 ft” away from my noggin’ and felt very comfortable the entire time.
Battery life
The gaming system didn’t officially die until the twelfth hour of the trip (that’s two hours after we got to our destination). For about 12-15 hours the device ran beautifully. You have to take into account that the Portable Handheld was turned on and off several times. This device out-shined and outlasted the Game Gear on far lesser batteries. In comparison to a DS or PSP, though, this simply isn’t even in the same category. If I have to knock the device it would have to be for the lack of rechargeable battery. In this day and age it can’t possibly cost that much more to add a Lithium battery to the mix. If it meant paying $60 for it, I’m there. Buying batteries should be the last thing in this day and age. Video games, especially hardware, have moved well beyond that. Think of it this way, you’re probably going to pay more purchasing eight AAA batteries, which will guarantee you two life cycles with the Portable Handheld.
Despite the long battery life, I’m still purchasing batteries; you shouldn’t have to do that.
Games
Other reviewers of this system have pointed out what I’m about to point out; these games aren’t the worst picks. Unlike other generic systems like this, the Portable Handheld brings some solid gameplay. The featured titles are:
– Sonic & Knuckles
– Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
– Gain Ground
– Arrow Flash
– Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja
– Ecco, Jr.
– Ecco
– Golden Axe
– Crack Down
– Altered Beast
– Flicky
– Decap Attack
– Cyber Police Eswat: City Under Siege
– Alien Storm
– Shadow Dancer
– Columns III
– Sonic Spinball
– Jewel Master
– Kid Chameleon
– Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
While you won’t find any deep RPGs on this puppy, you will find instant action and adventure; that’s more than other systems like this can offer. Sonic & Knuckles, Shinobi III, Golden Axe, Mean Bean Machine and Columns III alone make this worth the price of admission.
One big complaint that a few people have had about this set is there isn’t anyway to save games. Well, traditionally most of these games gave codes to enter when you wanted to continue on a certain level. So while the gameplay hasn’t been modified to save games onto the system (as there is no writable memory onboard), it does maintain the classic feel. Gamers of the Sega Genesis generation will appreciate the classic feel, while gamers of the gamecube to present may not fully understand why it doesn’t have a save feature.
Either way, the amount of games, quality ones at that, will still make you happy.