Today, playing Candy Crush on a smartphone or a classic arcade game on the Nintendo Switch is, for many, a part of modern life. However, our love of gaming-on-the-move isn’t a recent fad. It started in the late 1970s when the first portable electronic consoles allowed us to play our favourite games anywhere, anytime.

In the following decades, handheld consoles such as the Game Boy from Nintendo and Sony’s PlayStation Portable sold in such numbers that they became icons of popular culture. Through their games, we were introduced to Mario, the characters from Pokémon, Sonic and many others.

Andrew Morten explores the history of handheld electronic games, the companies behind them and the games we have been playing for more than four decades.