I’ve always been a stalwart of handheld gaming, taking my consoles with me wherever I went all trough my childhood. Nowadays, I get most of my handhled gaming done at home, but thanks to the strong PSP and DS lineup 2010 had, there was plenty to be getting on with.

3) Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (DS)

Comparing Pokemon games to other titles in lists like this is often difficult due to how little things change from game to game. This is even more appropriate for these remakes of GBC titles Pokemon Gold and Silver, this era my personal favourite of any thus far. As such, reliving these now iconic events as you journey through Johto and Kanto is a terrific experience, and the Pokemon gameplay is as strong here as it ever will be. I’d say that if you only buy one DS game a year, the current Pokemon title will most likely be you’re best choice.

 2) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky (DS)

The announcement that the next ‘proper’ entry in the Dragon Quest series would be heading exclusively to Nintendo DS baffled me at first, but once I finally got my hands on the game, the reasons were obvious. DQIX doesn’t take the series to the next level visually, or expand the grandiose story that featured in VIII, instead it perfects everything that has made DQ the RPG series it is. Up there with Final Fantasy IV as the DS’s defining RPG, Dragon Quest has never been so accessible.

1) Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP)

I have to admit, I haven’t completed MGS: Peace Walker yet. I know that this must be surprising considering its position at the top of this list, and above two time consuming RPGs. That aside, everything that I have played of this entry in the Metal Gear series points it being as close to MGS5 as we are going to see for a good few years. The best third person controls on PSP, with arguably the best graphics and narrative, everything points to this as a game that can stand up against its home console predecessors. definitely the best handheld game of 2010.