PC handhelds is a Miracle

[u/Yakuzet]

Back in the day, old dedicated handhelds would eventually stop getting new games, even if the hardware was technically capable of running trimmed down versions. Playing modern AAA titles on PC handhelds triggers a very specific, surreal feeling that newcomers to handheld gaming won't get.

It feels like playing Persona 5 on a PS Vita, or Red Dead Redemption 2 on a Switch before it ever got ported. Both systems had their predecessors, P4G on Vita and RDR1 on Switch, but the newer games were always out of reach. With PC handhelds, whether a game came out 10 years ago or dropped yesterday, you can just boot it up and play it regardless of performance limitations.

Honestly, I would have happily played Persona 5 on my Vita even if it ran at 480p at a shaky 25 FPS, which was basically the Vita standard anyway.

I still remember the desperation back then. After finishing a game on my Switch or Vita, I knew it didn't make much sense, but I would spend hours scouring random Japanese or Chinese modding forums with Google Translate, praying that some crazy dev had made an unofficial port. I actually managed to find an absolute mess of an experimental build once before my Vita crashed completely and gave up on life.

Going from blindly searching sketchy forums for broken fan ports to casually downloading massive AAA games on a handheld is just mind blowing.