What's your favourite and/or least favourite gaming hardware?

Submitted ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨sleepybisexual@beehaw.org⁩ to ⁨gaming@beehaw.org⁩

So, I’ll start. I have 3 devices that I’d say are tied for best

First, my n3ds xl. Beautiful handheld, clamshell, just a nice piece of hardware. If the cstick didn’t suck itd be the sole winner. My 3ds has served me very well

I also like my rp4 pro, just a great all round emulation machine. And a functional second analog stick, its almost like analog sticks are meant to be sticks and not pencil top erasers

I also like my ambernic sp, got it recently. Looks cool. And clamshell so yippee

As for the worst, I have a few:

Mandatory jab at the switch. Not awful but cmon, the controls suck

The leapster explorer. Shitty dpad. Insane power consumption, it s afun gimmick, jut kinda useless.

Then I had this little system from lexibook, the “compact cyber arcade” or something. Was silver and white, appeared to be 16 bit. Really shit controls. Buttons weren’t even labeled. It also just randomly died after about a decade, but I can’t fault it for that I guess.

I also hate tiger handhelds with a passion. Like ignoring the awful game, the controls just SUCK I didn’t even pay for the one I do have and I still feel scammed

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Comments

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apotheotic@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Favourite: Steam Deck, hands down. It has totally revolutionised the way I play games. I very often choose to play games on my deck instead of on my far more powerful pc.

Least favourite: Smartphone. The closest I’ve come to having an enjoyable traditional gaming experience on a smartphone was Sky: Children of the Light but even then I was constantly getting frustrated with the touchscreen controls and dealing with my phone getting as hot as the surface of the sun. Its also just not a comfortable shape to hold while you game.

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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yea, phone games have awful controls. But at leasts its not a shitty proper stick
  
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  - apotheotic@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Fortunately no stick drift
    
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rothaine@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Am I the only one who loves the Switch? That the joycons come off and even have their own shoulder buttons is so cool. You can just set it on a table and play some multiplayer Mario Kart, heck yes. And they snap into the ring fit circle thingie! Neat! And the Pro controller is great all around.

Shout out to the DS Lite. Loved that thing. Gotta have the thumb strap to play that Metroid multiplayer FPS.

Worst: TI-84. How the hell they still charging over $100 for this thing, when it has less processing power than a Palm Pilot? Seriously the CPU is from 1976. Yeah Bubble Bobble and Block Dude are great, but the Zelda port runs awful.

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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Switch is a good but underpowered home console. The joycons are just top flat.
  
  All ds systems are cool.
  
  Calculators are way overpriced, yet schools refuse to allow phones
  
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- Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I really like the switch. My only complaints are: I miss the 3DS like charm and customization.
  
  I find it hurts to hold my switch in handheld for too long.
  
  Otherwise, I think it’s a very neat machine
  
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- derbis@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Love the switch. The only reason I’m still a console gamer at all.
  
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Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Computer

Everything else is underpowered and gimmicky and overpriced with constant subscriptions to useless junk just to play a game.

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t3rmit3@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Going to stick with portable systems, because a box is a box is a box, even if some are cooler than others (PS2 slim with attached screen, and N64).

#3 Gameboy Advance SP

Loved the compactness of the clamshell design. So much more portable than other systems at the time.

#2 Steam Deck

Windows games on a Linux handheld, plus it runs old games that Win 10 can’t.

#1 PlayStation Portable

This was and will always remain my favorite gaming system. So many great games, movies, a cool disc/cartridge hybrid media format, SD card support for all sorts of stuff, custom firmwares… man, such an amazing system.

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- yuri@pawb.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It physically hurts me to see so many other people loved the PSP as much as me, and we’ll never get to go back.
  
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  - t3rmit3@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    This made me sad so I went on AliExpress and got a usb to psp charger cable…
    
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ICastFist@programming.dev ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
My old PSP3000 is one of my favorite pieces. It hasn’t seen any action in 5+ years now, but it will probably get some around september.

Mandatory jab at the switch. Not awful but cmon, the controls suck

cries in 3 left joycons with drift

Another of my least fave is my laptop’s monitor. It’s an ASUS ROG whose screen sucks major balls. If it ever gets over 40ºC, it starts showing some “scanlines” or something like that, with horizontal lines that don’t refresh correctly or something, kinda hard to describe. In any case, if I ever game straight on it without anything blowing cool air on the screen, games will become unplayable because it’ll reach a point where I literally can’t see shit, because the screen won’t be refreshing correctly, several lines will be “stuck” for 1 second or more. The keyboard is also a piece of shit.

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- Vivendi@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  PSP! Bought when I was a literal child. Works like a fucking charm, even the ORIGINAL BATTERY!
  
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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Isn’t the rog a handheld?
  
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  - HER0@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    ROG Ally is. ROG is just their “Repblic of Gamers” gaming brand, with a bunch of products.
    
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HER0@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I really enjoy all of Valve’s hardware. Others are mentioning the Steam Deck, which is great, but I also love (and frequently use) the Steam Controller and Valve Index.

I don’t know if I have a clear least favorite, as I never owned the things which interest me the least.

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- BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  People really seem to hate the steam controller. I love that thing.
  
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  - HER0@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    A big part of it, I think: the Steam Controller is different in ways that are unpleasant if you approach it like a standard controller. For example, it is not designed to be gripped around the handles like an Xbox controller, but to rest in your fingers. If you attempt to grip it like a traditional controller, it is uncomfortable and the trackpads are hard to use.
    
    I have a friend who grew to like his Steam Controller after using the trackpads on his Steam Deck. For him, it was realizing the potential of the hardware combined with Steam Input.
    
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INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Virtual boy fits in both best and worst 👍

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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  O see the worst but how is it the best?
  
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  - INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    At the time it blew my mind.
    
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Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Favorite: Steam Deck, it’s my favorite piece of gaming hardware I’ve ever owned. The controls are fantastic, it’s now frustrating to use other controllers that don’t have back paddles, gyro, or track pads.

Least favorite: cheap off-brand controllers, with bad tactile buttons, sticking buttons, analog sticks that drift, analog sticks that only register 8 directions, etc.

Also, Wii U. I have some mixed feelings on it because I have some good memories with the system, but the hardware never paid off. Their were almost no games that made use of the gamepad screen in a way that wasn’t just a gimmick, generally the only real advantages of it were being able to play on a handheld screen while the TV was being used (a feat that the switch and steam deck so far better) and being able to have split screen multiplayer where the players can’t see each other’s screen (limited because you only have 1 game pad, and the deck struggles to do two different rendered screens for many games, with games like Hyrule warriors having to cut the enemies in half when doing split screen).

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sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Dishonorable mention. One of those “99 in 1” things with the weird LCD. Really shit dpad, the thing didn’t even have tetris

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confusedbytheBasics@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
SNES was the ultimate From childhood until the release of Nintendo 64

In high school it was a PC with a mouse and keyboard.

Now it’s a PC with an xbox controller. Using a mouse and keyboard reminds me too much of work.

There is a PS5, a Switch, and a Steamdeck, in the house plus several more devices in the garage. I’ll watch other people play but gaming on dedicated hardware just doesn’t grab me. I’ve never tried gaming on a phone.
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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yea, SNES is good, one of my favourite systems. Phone gaming is bad (shitty practices)
  
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AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Least favorite has to be a tie between switch joycons in general and the circle pad on 3DS.

Joycons on their own are too small to be all too comfortable disconnected and connected they’re slightly better since I can position part of my hand on the back of the switch, so there’s at least that.

And with the 3DS circle pad, it’s just nowhere near sensitive enough. Movements feel too quick, with little to no control over how far the pad move, in my opinion.

As for favorite, I’ll say that in general I absolutely hate track pads and everything they stand for, but steam deck is the only exception. With most track pads I’ve used recently outside of the steam deck, I have trouble clicking since the mouse buttons are built into the track pad and half of the time feel like they don’t work. Though with the deck I find it real easy to just click pretty much anywhere on pad and it’ll click for me.

Only problem I’ve had with deck pads is that sometimes the click is a bit too sensitive for me, so I’ll sometimes accidentally click while on the onscreen keyboard by accident or click while playing a game like Gemcraft, making me deselect a gem or power up while dragging over.

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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  The 3ds analog is good. Comfiest stick ever.
  
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  - AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    To each their own. I got a used 3DS less than a year ago, so maybe that’s why I find the analog bad. Wear and tear.
    
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JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I only have one, a 16 inch, 120hz, 16GB RAM, 1660 Ti laptop, so it’s got to be that. I do like it, though.

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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Wow that’s powerful. My laptops at epretty weak
  
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shnizmuffin@lemmy.inbutts.lol ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Favorite: Nintendo 3DS XL. I never would have thought a resistive touchscreen would last that long. What an absolute beating that thing took.

Dogshit: Microsoft Sidewinder Game Pad Pro (1999 edition). Motherfucker didn’t know up from left.

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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  My 3ds has taken a beating too. Those things are champs
  
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chloyster@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Favorites

Steam Deck

Analogue Pocket

My PC I suppose. Can do the most!

Least favorite

DS-i: just a lot worse than the lite imo. The camera and the few dsi downloadable games were not worth losing GBA back compat

PlayStation TV: had potential but was just a worse vita and mediocre streaming box.

Piboy: a weird raspberry pi 4 based handheld I had by a company called experimental pi. It was actually kind of cool, but they had their own custom software needed to run on the screen and they were really bad about getting fixes out, and some patches would brick the machine iirc. The company seems to be defunct now. The website is a 404 now
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AVincentInSpace@pawb.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Is that 3DS jailbroken? If not, you totally should.

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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It is, but I don’t really play much on it
  
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  - averyminya@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    After you jailbreak it, you can! Lol.
    
    Also, I’ve heard that PSP nubs fit perfectly in replacing the C-stick on the 3DS. May be worth looking into!
    
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knokelmaat@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
My favorite is honestly my PS5. The load times are fantastic and I love the feel of the controller and the rumble / adaptive triggers. I also fucking loved my PS Vita, to bad it had such a mediocre run games wise.

Worst is pretty harsh, as I have loved all my consoles. But there’s no denying that the PSP was a bit garbage with its single analog stick (which was also very hard to use).

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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yea, single stick devices piss me off. I don’t really get the PlayStation hype nowadays. Isn’t it just a gaming PC?
  
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  - monsterpiece42@reddthat.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yeah basically a kneecaped PC with horrible data policy. Example, if you have a game with a 3rd party save/account like a lot of games do, Sony owns it and you can not migrate it to other platforms. I bought my nephew a gaming PC and he lost about 2000hrs of progress in Apex because Sony owns his account.
    
    I’m not even a snob against consoles, just Sony sucks balls these days. I’d go with an Xbox but by then you’re basically buying a PC… Although you can prob get a cheaper price on an Xbox especially if you’re not building your own machine.
    
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jecxjo@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
All of my gaming is super retro or low tech. I do have an XBoxOne but i rarely use it. Computer is old so games on there are mostly old old stuff from the 90s and early 2000s.

Hardware wise i have an Anbernic 353V that I do a lot of retro gaming. Not a huge fan of the Gameboy style setup but its a good cheap machine.

My kids have Switches and thats what kicked me from supporting Nintendo after they go obsolete. The Joycons on one suck and I’ve replaced the connector hardware twice now. The best version is the Lite but you cant connect it to a TV which is dumb. Their family sharing is broken (wife has digital game, i havs DLC, we are SOL).

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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yea, the switch is a bad console, was the start of Nintendo becoming as shitty as the competition
  
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BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Favourite: PC Least favourite: Nintendo switch

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FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Least favorite - Joycons. They make my hands ache, and I hate that to enjoy my switch I have to have a 3rd-party grip.

Favorite - my Lenovo legion laptop, which has given me for excellent years of service. I’m going to upgrade to a newer model later this year and keep this one, install Linux on it, and make it a Linux-only machine for better privacy in using the Web.

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- sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yea, joycons are the worst bit of the switch.
  
  Also if you want I can give you some advice with linux
  
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  - FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I appreciate the offer.
    
    I ran a dual boot Mint install on my main PC for two months and it was just too buggy. I had to switch back to full Windows, but I know it’s an issue with Nvidia and some distros have been Nvidia compatibility, so when I make the switch again I’m just going to use a different one.
    
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violintech@beehaw.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Favorites:

DS Lite: maybe it’s because it was my first gaming console I bought with my own money as a kid. But this thing is such a trooper. Looks beautiful clamshell and the battery some how is still good today, almost 20 years later. Works real well with game carts too!

GameCube: I’m such a sucker for Nintendo but this thing was so portable and had a phenomenal wireless controller if you had it. I loved this console and the mini disks were so fun until I lost my case full of them.

Switch Lite: I know this isn’t a common one but the weight and the power behind it is amazing to me. I’ve always wanted a super portable console that doesn’t weigh a lot. The regular switch hurts for me to hold too long even with grips.

Least Favs:

PS2 slim: this little shit barely worked. At one point the slim would stop working where I’d have to open it, spin the disk like I was pull starting a lawn mower. It also scratched half my disks for no reason. The OG was a tank.

OG DS: bulky pain in the ass. Felt like holding two GBAs glued together.
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TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Favorites

Steamdeck: Such a great way to game at home or on the go, and I have access to a ton of games via my account

N64 controller:

That thing was such a comfortable controller.

Not so Favorites:

Switch controllers:

Hopefully, they will fix them for the second version because the drift is unbearable at times. I bought kits to fix them, but come on man

Dreamcast.

Not so much it was a bad system, Sega just abandoned it like hot potato. The controllers sucked though from what I remember. Really bulky.

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Telorand@reddthat.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Favorites:

Steam Deck. I haven’t been this excited for a console since the original Xbox. I play a lot of games that I would otherwise avoid on my gaming rig, and it’s excellent for traveling.

Steam Controller. This one was worth the effort to get used to, and it introduced me to gyro controls and paddle buttons. Also, it was integral to the Steam Deck’s control scheme design.

Least favorites:

Wii. There were a few good games, but the controllers sucked ass. GameCube was better.

Game Gear. Screen was a smudge-fest. Any kind of motion was super hard to see.

Gen 1 Xbox controller. That thing was massive and awkward.
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