Best Handhelds for Metroid

Metroid is the Nintendo series that punishes cheap hardware hardest, and it does it in a way that is easy to miss when you are shopping. The 2D games are as cheap to emulate as anything ever made - the NES Metroid runs at a straight A on 98.9% of the handhelds in our capability index - and the modern ones are as expensive as anything ever made, with Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime Remastered sitting on a Nintendo Switch grade that 74.7% of the catalogue fails outright.

Fifteen games across nine systems is a smaller catalogue than Mario's, so it is tempting to read Metroid as the cheaper franchise to collect. The data says the opposite. Metroid shipped on nine of the eighteen systems we grade, and those nine trace almost the entire difficulty range of the index in one line: 98.9% of handhelds take a straight A on the NES, 98.6% on the Game Boy, 84.2% on the Game Boy Advance, 80.4% on the SNES, then it falls off a cliff - 47.1% on the Nintendo DS, 28.4% on the GameCube, 27.4% on the Wii, 26.4% on the Nintendo 3DS and 14.5% on the Switch. There is no middle ground in this series. It is either a $30 purchase or a $399 one.

So this guide is a price ladder with four honest stops: $30 for the entire 2D canon, $40 to add Metroid Prime Hunters, $159 for the three Prime games, and $299 or $399 for Samus Returns, Dread and the Prime remaster. The device that does all nine at a straight A is the Steam Deck at $399, and it is the only handheld of the 63 that manage it to come in under $499.

Where the Metroid games live

Three things about that table change what you should buy, and none of them are obvious from a list of games.

The first is the Prime Trilogy disc. Metroid Prime Trilogy, released on the Wii in 2009, contains all three Prime games on one disc, which means a handheld that runs the Wii well covers Metroid Prime, Prime 2: Echoes and Prime 3: Corruption without ever touching GameCube emulation. The GameCube row in that table is optional in a way the Wii row is not, and it is the reason this guide's Prime recommendation is a Wii device rather than the GameCube bargain a list of release dates would suggest.

The second is the shape of the modern era. Every Metroid game released after 2010 is a Nintendo 3DS or Nintendo Switch title - and those two systems are, respectively, the third-hardest and the hardest in the index. Nine of the fifteen games in the table are from 2004 or earlier and are effectively free to emulate; the six that are not are where the entire cost of this guide sits.

The third is an absence worth stating plainly: Metroid never shipped on the Nintendo 64, the PlayStation 1, the PlayStation 2, the PlayStation 3, the Sega Genesis, the Dreamcast, the PSP, the Sega Saturn or the Wii U. Nine of the eighteen systems we grade are missing from this guide because Metroid is missing from them, not because our data is thin.

What to look for

Three things decide the purchase.

1. Which era you actually want. The 2D canon - Metroid, Metroid II, Super Metroid, Fusion and Zero Mission - is thirteen years of the series and costs $30 to run properly. Everything from Prime onward is a different hardware problem, and the price jump between the two is a factor of five. Most people who search for the best handheld for Metroid want one of those two things and get sold the other.
2. The emulation grade, not the chip name. Our capability index grades every handheld on all eighteen systems, and the difference between a straight A and a B is the difference between Super Metroid running as it did on a CRT and running with frame pacing that makes the wall-jumps feel wrong. Metroid is a precision platformer and a 60 fps speedrun game; it is a franchise where the grade is the feature.
3. Whether the Switch and the 3DS are in scope. Those two systems carry every Metroid game released since 2017, and they are the reason a Metroid guide can cost $399. They are also the two systems where the honest alternative is buying the original hardware instead.

The price ladder

Every number below is computed from the capability index: the cheapest handheld in our catalogue that reaches that grade on that system, with the grade it publishes. The right-hand column is the cheapest handheld that makes the system playable at all, which the index defines as a B or better.

Read the top and the bottom of that column together and the guide's whole argument is there. The NES takes a straight A on 438 of the 443 handhelds we grade - 98.9% of the catalogue - for $13, and the Game Boy takes one on 437 of the same 443 for $15. At the other end the Switch takes a straight A on 63 of 435, 14.5%, and grades an F on 325 of them, which is 74.7% of everything we measure. Between those two rows there is no handheld that is good at both ends of the ladder for less than $299.

The 2D canon is a $30 purchase

Here is the number that makes this guide worth reading. 356 of the 443 handhelds we grade take a straight A on all four of the Game Boy, the NES, the SNES and the Game Boy Advance at once - 80.4% of the catalogue - and the cheapest of them are the G28 and the U8 at $30 each.

Those four systems are five of the fifteen Metroid games, and they are the five that matter most: Metroid on the NES, Metroid II: Return of Samus on the Game Boy, Super Metroid on the SNES, and Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission on the Game Boy Advance. That is the complete 2D series, 1986 to 2004, on one $30 device at full quality.

Two caveats keep that honest. The first is that the individual systems are cheaper still if you only want one of them: the RGFC520 at $13 is a straight A on the NES and nothing else in this guide, and the GB300 at $15 is a straight A on the Game Boy and the NES with a B on the Game Boy Advance. The second is the wall immediately above it: the G28 grades the Nintendo DS a D and the GameCube and the Switch an F, and the U8 grades the DS a B but the GameCube and the Switch an F. The $30 stops exactly where 2004 stops.

If you want to add the one DS Metroid game to that set - Metroid Prime Hunters - the answer is the R39S at $40. It takes a straight A on all five of the Game Boy, the NES, the SNES, the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS, and 208 of the 442 handhelds we grade manage the same five-system set. Six of the fifteen Metroid games, the entire 2D canon plus Prime Hunters, on a $40 device. That is the best-value purchase in this guide and it is worth saying plainly, because the rest of the ladder never gets this cheap again.

Prime Hunters is where the cheap tier ends

The Nintendo DS is the first system in this guide that a $30 handheld cannot do properly, and it is the last one where the answer is still under $50.

The DS takes a straight A on 208 of the 442 handhelds we grade, 47.1%, and 83 of them grade it an F, which is 18.8% of the catalogue failing to run a 2006 handheld. The reason is structural rather than about horsepower: the DS has two screens and a stylus, and Metroid Prime Hunters was built around both - its control scheme uses the touchscreen as a mouse. The cheapest straight A is the R39S at $40. The cheapest handheld that makes the DS playable at a B is the U8 at $30, which is the cheapest way to play Prime Hunters at all if the $10 matters.

Two other DS details are worth knowing. Metroid Prime Pinball, the 2005 pinball spin-off, is also a DS title and runs on exactly the same hardware, so both DS Metroid games come as a pair. And the two systems that follow the DS in this guide - the GameCube and the Wii - are five and six times harder to emulate, which is why the price goes from $40 to $159 in one step and never comes back down.

The 3D era starts at $159

Three systems carry the 3D Metroid games before the modern era: the GameCube, the Wii and the Nintendo 3DS. All three are a significant step up in emulation cost, and the first two of them share an answer.

The GameCube has Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. It takes a straight A on 119 of the 419 handhelds we grade - 28.4% - and an F on 200 of them, which is 47.7%. The cheapest handheld that runs a GameCube game at all is the Pocket Air Mini at $70 with a B, and the cheapest straight A is the KT-R2 at $159.

The Wii has Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Metroid: Other M and the Trilogy's versions of the first two Primes. It is harder: a straight A on 113 of 412 handhelds, 27.4%, against 238 F grades, 57.8%. The cheapest playable Wii is the Retroid Pocket Classic at $114 with a B, and a straight A again starts at $159 on the KT-R2.

Those two rows produce the single most useful fact in this guide. 113 of the 388 handhelds we grade on both the GameCube and the Wii take a straight A on both - 29.1% - and the cheapest is the KT-R2 at $159. Because Metroid Prime Trilogy puts all three Prime games on one Wii disc, that $159 covers the complete 3D Prime trilogy at full quality, and the GameCube row stops being a separate purchase. If you want the Prime games and nothing else, this is the end of the guide for you: $159, and you can skip every page about the Switch.

The playable version of the same answer is the Retroid Pocket Classic at $114, which grades the GameCube and the Wii a B. 133 of the 388 handhelds we grade on that pair reach playable, 34.3%, and the Retroid Pocket Classic is the cheapest. A B is not a straight A - it is the band where a game runs and the frame pacing is not perfect - but it is $45 less than the full-quality answer and it also takes a straight A on all four 2D systems, so it is the cheapest single device in this guide that covers Metroid from 1986 to 2010.

Samus Returns is a 3DS problem

Metroid: Samus Returns, the 2017 remake of Metroid II, is a Nintendo 3DS exclusive, and the 3DS is where the modern era starts.

It takes a straight A on 115 of the 436 handhelds we grade - 26.4% - and grades 268 of them an F, which is 61.5%. The cheapest straight A is the Mangmi Air Y Pro at $160. The cheapest handheld that makes the 3DS playable at a B is the Pocket Air Mini at $70, the same device that is the cheapest playable GameCube.

There is a piece of context that explains why that grade is as bad as it is. Citra, the only mature 3DS emulator, was discontinued in 2024 in the same action that took down the Switch emulator Yuzu, and its successor Azahar is younger and less optimised. The 3DS also has two screens and a stereoscopic 3D mode that no handheld in this catalogue reproduces. A 3DS grade is therefore as much a statement about emulator maturity as about the chip inside the device, and it is the reason a $160 handheld is the cheapest full-quality route to a 2017 game.

The Mangmi Air Y Pro is worth a paragraph of its own at this point, because it is the value pick of the guide. At $160 it takes a straight A on eight of the nine Metroid systems - the Game Boy, the NES, the SNES, the Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo DS, the GameCube, the Wii and the Nintendo 3DS - and grades only the Switch a D. 104 of the 372 handhelds we grade on all nine systems manage eight straight A's or better, and the Mangmi is the cheapest of them. The KT-R2 at $159 grades the 3DS an A- rather than an A, which is what that one dollar buys.

Dread is a $299 question

Metroid Dread released on the Nintendo Switch in 2021, a project Nintendo had first explored for the DS in the mid-2000s and then shelved, and Metroid Prime Remastered followed in 2023. Both are Switch titles, which makes them the most expensive two games in this guide to play on a handheld.

The Switch is the hardest system we grade: a straight A on 63 of 435 handhelds, 14.5%, and an F on 325 of them, 74.7%. The cheapest device that grades the Switch playable, at a B, is the AYANEO Next Lite at $299, tied with the Odin 3 at the same price. The cheapest straight A is the Steam Deck at $399.

The structural reason is the same one that governs the 3DS, one generation later and worse. Yuzu and Ryujinx, the two mature Switch emulators, were both shut down in 2024, which is why the Android side of Switch emulation is as thin as the grade suggests. There is no $150 handheld that plays Dread properly and there is unlikely to be one, because the software layer that would make it possible no longer exists in a maintained form.

One caveat worth stating plainly, in the spirit of a guide that is supposed to save you money: a Nintendo Switch Lite costs less than every handheld we grade at a straight A on the Switch, and it plays Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime Remastered natively, with no grade at all. If those two games are the reason you are reading this, the honest answer is a Switch, and this guide's $299 and $399 tiers are for people who want one device for nine systems rather than the best device for two games.

The whole series on one device is $399

This is the number the guide exists for. 63 of the 372 handhelds we grade on all nine Metroid systems take a straight A on all nine - 16.9% - and 61 of those have a tracked price. The cheapest is the Steam Deck at $399, the next is the Legion Go S at $499, and there is nothing between them: the Steam Deck is the only handheld in our catalogue that plays every Metroid game at full quality for under $499.

A detail worth pausing on. Those same 63 devices are exactly the 63 that take a straight A on the four 3D systems alone - the GameCube, the Wii, the Nintendo 3DS and the Switch. The 2D systems cost nothing in this calculation; every device that clears the modern four clears the retro five as well. Metroid completeness is a Switch problem wearing a nine-system costume.

If a straight A on all nine is more than you need, the ladder below it is measured. 78 of the 372 devices we grade on all nine play every one of them at a B or better - 21.0% - and the cheapest are the AYANEO Next Lite and the Odin 3 at $299 each. The Pocket Air Mini at $70 plays seven of the nine at a B or better, which is every Metroid system except the Wii and the Switch. The Retroid Pocket Classic at $114 plays eight of the nine, everything except the Switch. And if you want the full eighteen-system picture rather than Metroid alone, 43 of the 342 handhelds we grade on all eighteen systems take a straight A on every one of them, 41 with a tracked price, and the cheapest is the AOKZOE A2 at $599, tied with the TJD T101.

The shortlist

The RGFC520, $13. A straight A on the NES and nothing else in this guide - which is the original Metroid, the 1986 game that started the series, at full quality for the price of a sandwich. The NES takes a straight A on 438 of the 443 handhelds we grade, so this is not a compromise; it is the cheapest correct answer for one of the nine systems.

The GB300, $15. A straight A on the Game Boy and the NES - Metroid II: Return of Samus and the original Metroid - with a B on the Game Boy Advance, which means Fusion and Zero Mission run but not at full quality. The Game Boy takes a straight A on 437 of the 443 handhelds we grade. If you are collecting the pre-SNES games only, this is $2 more than the RGFC520 and one system wider.

The X6, $25. The cheapest handheld that makes the SNES playable at a B, which is Super Metroid at playable quality, and it also takes a straight A on the Game Boy and the NES. It is the value route to Super Metroid specifically, for anyone who does not need the two Game Boy Advance games.

The G28, $30. One of the two cheapest handhelds to take a straight A on all four of the Game Boy, the NES, the SNES and the Game Boy Advance at once - the complete 2D series, Metroid through Zero Mission, on one device. 356 of the 443 handhelds we grade do the same and this is the cheapest; its SNES grade is what makes Super Metroid the anchor of this tier. It grades the DS, the GameCube and the Switch an F, so it stops where 2004 stops.

The U8, $30. The other $30 answer, and the more useful one if you own nothing else. It takes the same straight A on the four 2D systems and grades the Nintendo DS a B, which makes Metroid Prime Hunters playable for the same $30 - the cheapest route to that game in the catalogue. It grades the GameCube and the Switch an F.

The R39S, $40. The cheapest straight A on the Nintendo DS and the best value in this guide. It takes a straight A on all five of the Game Boy, the NES, the SNES, the Game Boy Advance and the DS, which is six of the fifteen Metroid games - the entire 2D canon plus Prime Hunters - at full quality on one $40 device. 208 of the 442 handhelds we grade do the same five-system set. Its GameCube grade is a D and its Switch grade an F, so the 3D era is where it ends.

The Pocket Air Mini, $70. The cheapest handheld on which the 3D era is reachable at all: a B on the GameCube for Metroid Prime and Prime 2, a B on the Nintendo 3DS for Samus Returns, and a straight A on all four 2D systems plus the DS. It plays seven of the nine Metroid systems at a B or better, which is everything except the Wii and the Switch, and no cheaper device reaches that many.

The Retroid Pocket Classic, $114. The cheapest handheld that makes the Wii playable at a B - which, because Metroid Prime Trilogy sits on one Wii disc, is all three Prime games - plus a B on the GameCube and the 3DS, and a straight A on every 2D system and the DS. It plays eight of the nine Metroid systems at a B or better, everything except the Switch, and it is the cheapest single purchase on which Metroid from 1986 to 2017 runs at playable quality or better.

The KT-R2, $159. The cheapest straight A on the GameCube and on the Wii - Metroid Prime, Prime 2: Echoes, Prime 3: Corruption, the Trilogy disc and Other M at full quality - and 113 of the 388 handhelds we grade on that pair manage it. It grades the Nintendo 3DS an A- and the Switch an F. If the Prime games are all you want, this is the end of the guide and $240 less than the winner.

The Mangmi Air Y Pro, $160. The cheapest handheld in our catalogue to take a straight A on eight of the nine Metroid systems, everything except the Switch - which is the complete 2D canon, Prime Hunters, the three Prime games on the Trilogy disc, Other M and Samus Returns on one $160 device. 104 of the 372 handhelds we grade on all nine systems manage eight straight A's or better; this is the cheapest. It grades the Switch a D, and that is the only reason it is not the winner.

The Odin 3, $299. One of the two cheapest handhelds on which all nine Metroid systems are playable at a B or better, and a straight A on eight of the nine with a B on the Switch. If Dread is on your list and $399 is not, this is the honest answer: the game runs, at the band below full quality.

The AYANEO Next Lite, $299. The other $299 answer, with the same profile - a straight A on eight of the nine systems and a B on the Switch, tied with the Odin 3 as the cheapest handheld that plays every Metroid game at all. The choice between the two is a hardware decision, not a data one.

The Steam Deck, $399. The winner. The cheapest handheld in our catalogue to take a straight A on all nine Metroid systems, and the only one of the 63 that manage it to come in under $499 - the next is $499. Every Metroid game from the 1986 original to Metroid Dread and Prime Remastered at full quality on one device: 63 of the 372 handhelds we grade on all nine systems qualify, 61 with a tracked price. It is a straight A on sixteen of the eighteen systems we grade and falls to a B+ on the Wii U and a C- on the PlayStation 3, which is why a $399 device is not among the 43 that are complete for everything.

The AOKZOE A2, $599. One of the cheapest of the 43 handhelds that take a straight A on all eighteen systems we grade - 41 of the 43 have a tracked price - tied with the TJD T101. If you want a device that is complete for Metroid and for every other system we measure, this is the cheapest way to buy that, and it is the top of the ladder.

The honest counterpoint

This guide's winner costs $399 and most people reading it do not need to spend that.

If the 2D games are the series to you - and for a large part of the Metroid audience they are, Super Metroid being the one this whole genre is measured against - then the answer is $30 and the winner is $369 of overkill. If you want Prime Hunters as well, it is $40. If you want the Prime trilogy, it is $114 playable or $159 at full quality, and the Wii's Trilogy disc means you never need to emulate a GameCube. Only two things in this series actually require the $299 to $399 tier: Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime Remastered, both Switch exclusives, both natively playable on a Switch Lite that costs less than any handheld we grade at a straight A on that system.

Which is the last honest thing to say. The best handheld for Metroid depends entirely on which Metroid you mean, and the price gap between the answers is thirteen times over. What this guide adds is the measurement: which of those answers is real at which price, and where the walls are.

Sources

• Nintendo - the Metroid series history and the original 1986 release: nintendo.com
• Nintendo - Metroid Dread on the Nintendo Switch (2021): nintendo.com
• Nintendo - Metroid Prime Remastered on the Nintendo Switch (2023): nintendo.com
• Nintendo - Metroid: Samus Returns on the Nintendo 3DS (2017): nintendo.com
• Nintendo - Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii (2009), the three Prime games on one disc: wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia - the Metroid series, its release chronology and platforms: wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia - Super Metroid (1994) and its influence on the genre: wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia - Metroid Prime Hunters (2006) and its touchscreen control scheme: wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia - Metroid Dread's history, including the shelved DS project: wikipedia.org
• Dolphin - the GameCube and Wii emulator, and its Windows, macOS, Linux and Android builds: wikipedia.org
• Azahar - the Nintendo 3DS emulator, the successor to Citra: azahar-emu.org
• Wikipedia - Nintendo Switch emulation, including the 2024 shutdown of Yuzu and Ryujinx: wikipedia.org
• Lost In Consoles - the Handheld Capability Index, the per-system grades and tracked prices used throughout this guide: lostinconsoles.com
• Lost In Consoles - the Game Boy Advance buying guide, for the two GBA Metroids in more depth: lostinconsoles.com
• Lost In Consoles - the dual-screen handheld guide, for the DS and 3DS screens: lostinconsoles.com
• Anbernic - the RGFC520: anbernic.com
• Data Frog - the GB300: datafrog.com
• Dealbay - the G28: dealbay.com
• AYANEO - the Pocket Air Mini and the Next Lite: ayaneo.com
• Retroid / Moorechip - the Retroid Pocket Classic: goretroid.com
• KT Pocket - the KT-R2: ktpocket.com
• Mangmi - the Air Y Pro vertical handheld: mangmi.com
• AYN Technologies - the Odin 3: ayn.com
• Valve - the Steam Deck: steamdeck.com
• AOKZOE - the A2: aokzoestore.com

Method: the per-system grades in this guide are the frozen values published on each device's page in the Lost In Consoles capability index, and the price floors quoted above ($13 RGFC520 on the NES, $15 GB300 on the Game Boy, $25 X6 on a playable SNES, $30 G28 and U8 on a straight-A SNES and Game Boy Advance, $40 R39S on the Nintendo DS, $70 Pocket Air Mini on a playable GameCube and Nintendo 3DS, $114 Retroid Pocket Classic on a playable GameCube and Wii, $159 KT-R2 on a straight-A GameCube and Wii, $160 Mangmi Air Y Pro on a straight-A Nintendo 3DS, $299 AYANEO Next Lite and Odin 3 on a playable Switch, $399 Steam Deck on a straight-A Switch, $599 AOKZOE A2 on all eighteen systems) are computed directly from that dataset. A straight A here means the index's top grade band, the letter A; there is no A+ in the dataset, and A- is the band below it. The grade counts quoted in this guide - 438 of 443 devices at a straight A on the NES, 437 of 443 on the Game Boy, 356 of 443 on the SNES, 373 of 443 on the Game Boy Advance, 208 of 442 on the Nintendo DS, 119 of 419 on the GameCube, 113 of 412 on the Wii, 115 of 436 on the Nintendo 3DS, 63 of 435 on the Nintendo Switch, 356 of 443 on the four 2D systems together, 113 of 388 on the GameCube and Wii together, 63 of 372 on all nine Metroid systems, 78 of 372 playable on all nine, and 43 of 342 on all eighteen - are the same dataset counted in full; a denominator differs from 443 only where the index has no grade for a device on that system. Prices are the tracked street price at publication and move with the market.