Which Portable System Should I get

[bawitback]

I'm undecided on buying a portable console. I only own a Gameboy Pocket. I was lookin into NGPC alot, and spotted a bunch of games that looked really good. (Cotton, SNK vs Capcom, Metal Slug, King of Fighter) The Nintendo DS was another option, but the games didn't look that promising (except Castlevania, Bleach, Mario Kart) The PSP is a tad high (price) and I've played a couple of titles, and experenced LONG loading times. And Bandai's Wonderswan, im not sure of. (only titles that look good are Digimon, Guilty Gear Perit, idk) I'm looking for a good portable console that mainly focuses on Gameplay, rather than features. SO far I'm undecided on these:

Sony PSP
Nintendo DS
Neo Geo Pocket Color
Bandai Wonderswan Color

[racketboy]

I'd go with either the NGPC or the DS Lite
Personally, I'd spring for the Lite -- especially if there's any good emulators for it.

[Ivo]

I'm undecided on buying a portable console. I only own a Gameboy Pocket. I was lookin into NGPC alot, and spotted a bunch of games that looked really good. (Cotton, SNK vs Capcom, Metal Slug, King of Fighter) The Nintendo DS was another option, but the games didn't look that promising (except Castlevania, Bleach, Mario Kart) The PSP is a tad high (price) and I've played a couple of titles, and experenced LONG loading times. And Bandai's Wonderswan, im not sure of. (only titles that look good are Digimon, Guilty Gear Perit, idk) I'm looking for a good portable console that mainly focuses on Gameplay, rather than features. SO far I'm undecided on these:

Sony PSP
Nintendo DS
Neo Geo Pocket Color
Bandai Wonderswan Color

I don't have one, but I still recommend the DS. I don't know if you'd prefer the PSP, have a look at the gaming libraries.

About the retro ones, only go for the Wonderswan if you know japanese and enjoy RPGs. On the other hand you can probably get one cheap enough to be a "gunpey" machine, but try out that puzzle game with an emulator and see if you like it (or go for a GamePark and emulate Wonderswan for that - ask Racketboy I think he has a GamePark).

The NGPC will be good for you if you like beat-em ups. It has looooads of them and a great control stick for it. Other genres are a bit limited, it has a Sonic and 2 Metal Slug games, but you can get better Sonics and Metal Slugs (in terms of graphics) in the DS (they're actually GBA games but the DS will take them).

Bottom line, I advise DS. I have a NGPC and a Wonderswan, and a GBA, but I still think the touch screen action is way too compelling.

Ivo.

[jemsic]

I would suggest a NGPC. If you like gameplay, it has loads of it. You can get them for a fraction of the cost of a PSP or DS, and the controls for it are wonderful. They make you forget you're playing a little game, and you'll feel like you're engrossed in the full Neo Geo title.

[bawitback]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. It was between the NGPC and DS Lite. After thinking about it, I'm going for the DS Lite. They were equally on my list to purchase but I found out a couple of my friends are also picking up (reserved) DS lites as well. So we can play some multiplayer games together. BTW, the price isn't bad at all -- US DS lite $129.99

[Mozgus]

I still think the GBASP2 (Backlit, not frontlit), is the most balanced and perfect handheld out right now. Only $80 I believe. The backlit screen beats the hell out of DS's screen, and is on par with DSLite's screen. It's also bigger then GBMicro's screen. GBA has a gigantic library already, so you won't be waiting for anything to show up. Theres dozens of fantastic games, especially if you are a fan of old school 2D. You can find most of them cheap. Plus, piracy is real simple on it. The modern flash carts for it are very solid. At this point, using flash carts to play games which aren't being produced anymore, can't possibly hurt the gaming industry.

To top it off, GBASP is the perfect size for portability, without having an exposed screen like the micro.

[turkey]

what about http://craig.gp2x.de/review/GP2XReview.html or video highlights http://www.gp2x.de/temp/gp2x-movb.wmv

emulator heven on a handheld that also plays your divx

[Mega-Dan]

I would go for the DS lite, you can pick from the entire back catalogue of GBA games, which are not ony very cheap but also includes lots of great SNK games like King of fighters, metal slug advanced, guilty gear etc, and really makes the NGPC irrelevant. Also the DS has the New Guilty Gear Dust Strikers, which while not the best in the franchise is new and totally different than any other incarnation. Also Metal Slug 1 is comming out for GBA in the US in august, which is awesome! There are probably some SNK imports I dont know about, but DS plays imports without modificaiton.
But seriously, you cant beat the backwards compatility of the DS lite, I got final fantasy tactics for $10 at EB games, thats like 100 hours of game right there and Metroid zero mission is similarly $10. Both those games are amazing. You can also be assured of many future quality releases as well, while the NGPC is pretty much dead. The DS has a nearly perfected NES and Sega master system/Game Gear emulator, and classic gameboy emulator beyond that I havent tried much home brew.
I had a PSP and I hated the thing, it was to big, it seemed to delicate to bring around everywhere, and the controls felt very awkward in nearly every PSP game (the d-pad and analog stick were terrible). Even though the PSP has perfect SNES, NES, SMS/GG, Turbo-grafx emulators and a pretty good Genesis emulators, the controls ruin action games and super metroid especially fighting games.

[Wanderer - Vega]

I'd go with either the NGPC or the DS Lite
Personally, I'd spring for the Lite -- especially if there's any good emulators for it.

I believe after you get a keylauncher(ie; http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/div-us/dd-ds-launch.html) you can use emulators stored on GBA carts(yeah.. the old GBA emulators for old GBA compatible flashcarts), so the DS Lite isn't exactly very good on emulation. With the DS Lite these carts would probably stick out a bit, too.

By far the cheapest and most awesome form of old school portable emulation so far to me is the GBA Micro..stick a flash cart with NES roms in that bad boy and you're in for some great portable fun. Easier to obtain than 1.50 firmware PSP and much more portable and cooler looking(faceplates, z0mg!)

BTW, great choice, bawitback. Don't worry about the poor game selection you noted, you'll find lots of games. I have both a PSP(1.50, homebrew capable) and a DS..and I barely touch either..but the DS Lite's battery life and brightness really makes my mouth water!