Top Ten Best Handheld Ports Ever (2008)

Last week we brought you a list of the worst handheld ports ever. It was a litany of crimes against gaming, and a masterclass in how to incur critical scorn. It was an example of us critics doing what we do best: taking out the trash.

We're not monsters, though. We like to say nice things too, so in the spirit of fairness it only seems appropriate to accompany that rogue's gallery with its counterpart - the ten greatest ports ever to grace handheld gaming platforms.

What's curious about this list is that many of the featured titles are even better than the original versions, often with enhanced visuals, characters or enough extras to make you wonder why anybody would need a home console.

As you'd expect all the following games represent the pinacle of handheld gaming, and if you haven't already played them what are you waiting for?

Top Ten Best Handheld Ports Ever

Technically this is the best PSP game to date, with the kind of jaw-dropping visuals that were unimaginable on handheld platform just a few years ago. The combat is short, sharp and addictive and there's something incredibly compelling about finding out what other great mythical creatures await around the next pillar or corridor. The only disappointment is that it can be completed in five or six hours, but it's quality time from beginning to end.

Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

When Animal Crossing was first released on the GameCube most people didn't really know what to make of it, and by that point Nintendo's console dominance was in serious decline. But this superbly simple, yet deep social game found its true home on the DS and became something of a phenomenon, with people trading millinery and furniture as though they were commodities on the Stock Exchange. There's no other game like it, and it's brilliant.

Sid Meier's Pirates! (PSP)
Developer: Full Fat
Publisher: 2K Games

Whether you're trading, thieving, dancing, fighting or simply trying to get a governor's daughter into bed Pirates! is a charming antidote to the many lazy driving and action game ports that have flooded the PSP market. In essence it's a series of mini-games interspersed by sea voyaging, but everything is executed with love and care. Xenophobia and greedy colonisation in video games has never been done better.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix

Ten years after its release on PSone this masterclass in tactics came to PSP and completely blew everyone away. Updated with new CGI, extra jobs, plot twists and a head-to-head multiplayer mode it's by far the PSP's deepest, most time-devouring game. Its isometric turn-based charm is so compelling that you'll be seeing characters and grids in your sleep.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (PSP)
Developer: Rockstar Leeds
Publisher: Rockstar

Though both of Rockstar's GTA ports are brilliant, this one edges it for us. Not just because the setting, music and dialogue is more redolent of its cultural era, but because it's also a technical improvement on Liberty City Stories. Of course, you know what the single-player GTA is all about, but with this beautifully honed PSP package you also get 10 ad-hoc multiplayer modes allowing you to tear it up in helicopters, cars, boats or on foot with the trusty rocket-launcher.

Super Mario 64 DS (DS)
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

It's easy to forget just how amazing this was when it was released alongside the original DS. Super Mario 64 on a handheld platform! Despite a few fiddly control issues (the game was made a little easier to compensate) this had all the brilliant bits from the original including the design genius of Cool, Cool Mountain, the sunken ship, catching rabbits and the roundabout in the ghost house. It remains one of the best games ever.

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Developer: Koei
Publisher: Koei

A near flawless port that simply sucks every bit of goodness out of your PSP and bundles it into little gaming moments that seem to endlessly delight. Whether it's entering your items to power them up, petitioning the Dark Assembly to reduce shop prices or collecting presents from the hospital for spending money there, its delicate detail and clever touches never fail to charm. And as a deep and rewarding turn-based strategy game it's a gem.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

Maybe controversial but when Nintendo first ported the Mario Kart universe to GBA it was a revelation and a delight, and in our eyes still edges it over the more recent Mario Kart DS. The handling is sublime, the powersliding a joy, the track design is tight and its difficulty curve is better judged. But beware: trying to collect at least 100 coins on each circuit can become an obsession.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (GBA)
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

Despite its age this still makes it into the top 50 videogames of all time on a regular basis. It's also a perfect encapsulation of Nintendo's ability to start you off on a simple quest with a single item then build onto your abilities and skills by sprinkling features and weapons in bit by bewitching bit. The Dark World/Light World puzzling is an absolute masterclass in game design.

It may be monochrome, limited to two modes, and cursed with some of the most naggingly irritating music ever conceived, but Tetris on the original Game Boy remains one of the greatest ports ever. It was first coded on an Elektronika 60 computer by Alexei Pajinov and has been ported to practically every game system known to man since. But this remains the definitive version. Age will never weary it.