The click of a game cart slotting into a coveted handheld sits among the medium’s many small pleasures, alongside the subsequent flick of a power switch and the LCD explosion as connected circuitry spins up fantastical worlds not inches from your nose. Handheld gaming is intimate. We’re emotionally tethered to the experiences provided by these machines. They are minute in scale, but overflow with silent meaning and memory etched by their creators into each pin connector and internal battery.

A Handheld History (2022) surveyed a four-decade legacy of hardware. Now, we must mine deeper. A Handheld History: 88-95 will traverse the annals of time to uncover the stories behind both your favourite childhood titles and the tumbled curios which the medium forgot. We’ll meet the mavericks which gave them life, and we’ll trace their vision through the industrial context which defined this pivotal eight-year era. So, join us on a voyage through the low-bit landscapes, chiptune sounds, and developer profiles foundational to portable play!