Important questions: What do you want to play? Do you prefer vertical (GB), flip (GBA SP), or horizontal (GBA) form factor? How do you want to carry? Is there a handheld you have particular fondness for?

Depending on what you say, there are systems of all these form factors, some pocketable, some not, and varying in power from “anything up to certain Dreamcast games) down to “stick to 16-bit generation or lower”. Some recent efforts have admirably mimicked the designs of the original GBA and GBA SP, while many have a pretty generic but effective form factor.

I picked up the small one, the miyoo mini. It’s a pretty great little handheld with particularly good community support. The buttons, D-pad, and screen are excellent, and it can support up to ps1 games.

The only downside I’ve found with it is that my fingers can cramp up slightly if playing fast-paced games that require intense trigger or d-pad use. For short sessions it’s fine, but I wish it was able to fill the hand more for certain games. There is an attachment for it that gives it a more normal controller shape, though I’ve held off on it.

Overall a great little device, especially for the price.

They’re definitely my two favorites! RG35XXSP (or the non-SP variant) if you don’t mind a bit of complexity and want RTC. Miyoo Mini+ if you want a dead simple UI that’s super clean (OnionOS).