July 26, 2025
I decided to go for a one-year-long journey with iPad, camera and Kindle, but not any other form of electronic entertainment.
And I do like games.
Bringing Switch with me would be great, yes, I contemplated that. But I wouldn't feel comfortable travelling with yet another expensive thing on myself. Sure, Japan is probably the safest country there can be, but who said my journey will stop there (spoiler alert: it won't)? Also, Switch's weight would add a lot to my backpack and its rather fragile screen would require additional protection while being tightly packed with the rest of my things as well.
Unfortunately, Switch is not the most mobile console there is. Hell, I never even took it with me while commuting, so I won't take it to the other side of the world.
In the end, I decided to just endure this year without games. I can do that, right? After all, I'll be in Japan! Who cares about Metaphor Re:Fantazio, The Hundres Line: Last Defence Academy, Expedition 33, No Sleep for Kaname Date or Date Everything! I will have so many things to see, so much stuff to do, different kinds of attractions and—
So, after 5 months, I got myself a cheap, used DS.
It turnes out that there is only as much a human like me can explore. After a whole day of walking around (especially making ten kilometers in 37C heat during the summer), it's nice to just lay down and cool down with some nice game in hand. As a borderline-asocial introvert, I need a lot of time alone, so gaming is usually perfect for that.
In the end, is DS the perfect console for a traveller?
Yes, I believe so!
DS costs only a fraction of Switch. It is also way lighter and compact, and the battery lasts forever. Its case protects the screen, so no additional gear is needed.
Note for the future me: If you ever go travelling for a longer time, bring a 3DS with you.
The games price is yet another huge advantage over Switch. Now, every time I'm in BOOK OFF, a second-hand store for everything imaginable, I hunt for some cheap (100-400yen) DS cartridges—titles I don't know, but look interesting, or titles I already know, but would like to try them in Japanese. Even if I don't spend too much time on them, I still get some entertainment.
But...
Let's not forget about the iPad
And I don't mean games available on AppStore, though there certainly are some. By gaming on iPad, I mean... glory to itch.io! Again!
If you've never came across itch.io, let me give you a quick explanation. Steam is currently the biggest and most well-known shop for games. However, putting a game out there cost quite a lot of money, time and work, which is troublesome for creators doing games just for fun, gamejams, or non-profit works. Steam also take a 30% out of every transaction.
Itch.io is a bit different. There, anyone can put a game quickly and for free (although within 2GB size). Itch.io is also not limited to games—you can find there game assets, digital zines, printable RPG and books. Furthermore, on itch, a creator can modify the amount of money the platform gets for each purchase, making it way friendlier place to support indie developers.
What matters in my case however, is that itch.io allows playing games directly in the browser, if one was built in a way that suppors it. Currently, there are over 500 000 games that can be played that way (and I was surprised to see that only 2000 of them are paid!)
Obviously, those won't be multi-hour and graphically advanced titles—not that it's any indicator of a game's worth. But there are still many really, really good games among them, offering fun stories and mechanics in times when there is nothing else available.
Some of my favourites I've played while travelling include Today, I'm Harvesting You, lycoris;lastwords and Anomalous Coffee Machine II.
How about a phone?
I can rarely get into mobile games, or I just cannot find something suitable for my taste. The process of searching anything through AppStore gives me shivers, its library populared with low-effort, ad-filled titles . All in all, I try to avoid playing on my phone...
Unless it's Pokemon TCGP. Then yes.