From Game Boy to 3DS: handheld games consoles in pictures

Nintendo Game Boy, 1989: Designed by Nintendo's legendary R&D expert Gunpei Yokoi, the original Game Boy featured a modest monochrome display and 8bit processor. Thanks to games like Tetris and Super Mario Land it sold almost 65m units before the arrival of the Game Boy Color Photograph: Science & Society Picture Librar/Getty Images

Atari Lynx, 1989: The first handheld gaming system with a colour LCD screen. The visuals were impressive but it could drain six AA batteries in the space of four hours. It never stood a chance against the cheaper and better supported Game Boy Photograph: Science & Society Picture Librar/Getty Images

Game Boy Color, 1998: Smaller, more powerful iteration of the Game Boy with, yes, colour graphics. Boasted excellent versions of Zelda, Wario Land and even Metal Gear Solid Photograph: PR

Game Boy Advance, 2001: The beginning of the modern era of handheld consoles. Offered rich visuals, a slim design and a huge range of in-depth games, including the ruinously addictive battle strategy title, Advance Wars Photograph: PR

Nokia N-Gage, 2003: Nokia's attempt to create a gaming phone failed to capture the world's imagination, despite several redesigns including the N-Gage QD (above). Ahead of its time, perhaps. Or possibly just rubbish Photograph: PR

Tapwave Zodiac, 2003: An interesting hybrid multimedia handheld, based on the Palm OS. Despite having a name like a Star Wars character, it reportedly sold fewer than 200,000 units. Created by a Californian startup company which promptly went bust hence a limited worldwide release Photograph: PR

Nintendo DS, 2004: The best-selling handheld games console of all time with 145m units shifted worldwide. The touchscreen display tempted in casual gamers who lapped up titles such as Nintendogs and Dr Kawashima's Brain Training. It's the one to beat for 3DS ... Photograph: AP

Sony PlayStation Portable, 2004: Sony's flashier answer to the DS featured a powerful processor and gorgeous large screen. Has sold almost 70m units worldwide and is massively popular with the homebrew games coding community Photograph: PR

Gizmondo, 2005: The most bizarre entry into the handheld history books. Featured text-messaging and GPS functionality, but appalling games. The strange death of the company behind it was brilliantly chronicled by Wired Photograph: Games Press

Pandora, 2010: Created by a community of avid coders, this hybrid games-console-meets-netbook device runs an open-source OS and anyone can develop games for it. Geeky, but brilliant. Find out more at the official website Photograph: PR

Nintendo 3DS, 2011: The first major consumer gadget to feature hands-free 3D, the 3DS also boasts a camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, 3D videos and augmented reality gaming. Nintendo reckons it'll sell 4m by April. Nintendo is rarely wrong about these things ... Photograph: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images