SNES and PSX era RPGs. It's hard for me to sit in the same spot on the couch for turn based games with repetitive gameplay, but it feels like less of a chore when it's just something I'm doing to pass time while lounging in bed. I'm playing through FFI pixel remaster now and really couldn't imagine myself playing it on a TV.

I know it is a bit of a silly answer but here we go:

My brother had installed a game-boy emulator on the family PC when my parents had prohibited gameboys from the house. My older siblings bought some though and hid them, but i was too young for that. (They also didn't tell me).

Anyways, so at the time Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire was the hot shit. I played Ruby on the emulator and i loved it. There was just one problem. The "nebula" animation that is transparent in the gameboy version was solid in the emulator. When i entered a cave i had to find a way to pass it blindly. This was before we had proper internet access at home, so i couldn't look up the cave layout.

I had to gave up after the second gym or so. When i got older and my grandma bought me a gameboy, i played Ruby like crazy as i finally could progress.

This is a great question! A few from the top of my head:

The original Assassin's Creed: I would never have the patience to play something like this on my PC. It is too repetitive and basic for me to enjoy while the rest of my PC is available. On Steam Deck though, I loved playing this in bed as a way to turn my mind off and just enjoy a simple story / game. I had a similar experience with the 2008 Prince Of Persia reboot. I 100% completed both, something I would never do on PC or TV console.

Undertale I also enjoyed way more during my second playthrough on Steam Deck. I think it has something to do with being fully immersed and again, playing from the comfort of my bed.

Also Slay The Spire, I got reasonably into it on a pirated copy on PC, then played it for hundreds of hours on the switch, then finally got a steam deck and it was the first game I bought for it, now sitting at 700h on Steam alone. So I went from piracy to actually owning the game twice :).

Any visual novel like Steins;Gate, Zero Escape series, Danganronpa... I would never be able to complete these games on PC or console.

What I notice, is that longer games mostly only work for me portably, because of the way you can sneak in extra hours on a portable machine. Time spent playing on TV or PC is always quite scheduled, and I often feel like I don't want to waste it on a single experience for too long.

Slay the Spire. Never really got into it until I installed it on my Steam Deck.

Fun thread! Handhelds are great, wish they still made them in smaller form-factors though. They are getting chonky!

Something about being able to pause/suspend anytime and resume without the whole dance of booting console, then game, then load game etc. just for a bite-sized gaming session. Handhelds also has fewer distractions.

Dusting off my Switch to play games like Persona 5 Royal on it has rekindled my love for good games and made me more averse to live service games. For the longest time I have felt like playing without some externally visible progression (rank, achievements, cosmetics etc.) was "pointless". The longer I stay away from those kinds of games the more I am enjoying excellent narrative experiences in real games again rather than running around with checklists or playing virtual slot machines.

Stardew Valley I love on PC, but I have without a doubt racked up most of my hours in it on Switch.

Last few playthroughs of Dark Souls 1 was great on Switch too despite lower framerate and less responsive controls.

When it comes to Persona 5, I adored it on PS4 but I didn't get that far before I got pulled away into other things. Now I'm almost 80 hours deep on Switch and loving it. Makes me want to play the new Persona 3 and 4 remakes but I'm holding off on getting a Switch 2 and I'm not getting anywhere close to those game key cards.