Game & Watch

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Ball (Silver), 1980.The first product of the Game & Watch series.

Donkey Kong JR. (New Wide Screen), 1982

The Game & Watch (G&W) series was a line of approximately 59 handheld electronic games made by Nintendo and created by Gunpei Yokoi from 1980 to 1991. Most featured a single game that could be played on an LCD screen, in addition to a clock and an alarm. Most titles had a 'GAME A' and a 'GAME B' button. Game B is usually a faster, more difficult version of game A. The game Squish is a notable exception; here game B is very different from game A. Climber is an example of a game that doens't have a 'GAME B' option.

Some of the titles available in Game & Watch format were games varying from Mickey Mouse to Balloon Fight as well as several Nintendo staples such as Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda and Mario Bros.. For a more complete list, see the list of Game & Watch games.

Different models were manufactured, with some consoles having two screens (the Multiscreen Series) and a clam-shell design. The Nintendo DS later reused this design.

1 Origin
2 Series
3 Legacy
4 Soviet wide-screen clones
5 Super Smash Bros. Melee
6 Evolution
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Origin

Some games such as Mario Bros. had two screens and a clam-shell case

Gunpei Yokoi, travelling on a Bullet Train, saw a bored businessman playing with an LCD calculator by pressing the buttons. Yokoi then thought of the idea for a mini gaming machine for killing time.

[edit] Series

Silver (1980)
Gold (1981)
Widescreen (1981-1982)
Multiscreen (1982-1989)
Tabletop (1983)
Panorama (1983-1984)
New Widescreen (1982-1991)
Super Color (1984)
Micro Vs. System (1984)
Crystal Screen (1986)
Mini Classics (1998)

Sometimes considered the 60th Game & Watch, a yellow-cased version of Super Mario Brothers exists that plays identically to the New Wide Screen series version. Sources difer on how many units were produced. One webpage said 11790, one said 10000. In comparison with the millions of units produced of other G&W titles, this game is considered rare and and thus highly valuable. It was not intended to retail but was given as a prize to winners of Nintendo's F-1 Grand Prix tournament. The plastic box this game was packaged could be folded open and was modeled after the Mr. Disk character that Nintendo used to advertize their Famicom disk system. [1]

[edit] Legacy

Mario Bros. closed

The Game & Watch made handhelds vastly popular. Many toy companies followed in the footsteps of Game & Watch, such as Tiger Electronics and their Star Wars themed games. Nintendo's Game & Watch units were eventually superseded by the original Game Boy. Each Game & Watch was only able to play one game, due to the use of a segmented LCD display being pre-printed with an overlay. The succeeding generation removed these restrictions.

Nintendo Game & Watch was issued under different trademarks in different countries, resulting in different packaging. These have become rare and are also collectable.

Interestingly, before the Game & Watch Gallery series, the Mario Bros. Game & Watch game was the only Game & Watch game ported onto a different system. In this case, it had been unofficially ported over to the Commodore 64 system. Since the arcade game Mario Bros. had also been ported over to the same system, the similarly-titled Game & Watch version had to be rebranded as a sequel, entitled Mario Bros. II. [2]

[edit] Soviet wide-screen clones

Donkey Kong (Multi Screen), 1982. The Nintendo DS has a similar form.

In the Soviet Union, clones of some wide-screen console games appeared by mid-1980s; they were sold under the universal Elektronika brand. The choice of titles included Octopus, Chef, Egg (renamed Nu, pogodi! with the Wolf resembling the main character from the animated series), slightly different variants of Egg named Hunt (a hunter firing at ducks) and Explorers from Space (space ship fired upon), and many others.

[edit] Super Smash Bros. Melee

In 2001, the character featured in several of the games was given an official name, Mr. Game & Watch, in the GameCube game Super Smash Bros. Melee, and all of his attacks are taken from Game and Watch games. The Game & Watch system is also Mr. Game & Watch's special level (a fusion of Manhole, Helmet, and Oil Panic); the level is referred to in the game as Flat Zone, a location in the larger Superflat World. It is unknown if he will appear in the upcoming sequel Super Smash Bros. Brawl. However, given that no characters were dropped off the roster in the transition from Super Smash Bros. to Melee, most fans have assumed Game & Watch will be making an appearance, although Masahiro Sakurai, the director of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, has confirmed that some characters may get dropped this time.

Yokoi's work can also be seen in the Nintendo DS which looks similar to the Multi-Screen Game & Watch series due to the fact that it has two screens, with one right above the other.

[edit] Evolution

The Game & Watch games was renewed with the Game & Watch Gallery series of games for the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. They feature the original ports, as well as new, modernized versions starring the Mario series cast. Most recently, however, a Game & Watch Collection cart for the Nintendo DS was put up on Nintendo's "Club Nintendo" website [3]. For 500 points, users of the Japan-only service can order such a product. The Collection includes three games, "Oil Panic", "Donkey Kong", and "Green House". All three were, suitably, multi-screen Game & Watch games.

[edit] See also

Early units
Handheld game consoles
See Microvision and Handheld electronic games
Nintendo handhelds
Game & Watch \| Game Boy (Pocket \| Light) \| Game Boy Color \| Game Boy Advance (SP \| Micro) \| Nintendo DS (Lite)
Bandai handhelds
WonderSwan \| WonderSwan Color \| SwanCrystal
GamePark/Holdings handhelds
GP32 \| GP2X \| XGP \| XGP Mini \| XGP Kids
SNK handhelds
Neo Geo Pocket \| Neo Geo Pocket Color
Sega handhelds
Game Gear \| Nomad \| Mega Jet
Sony handhelds
PocketStation \| PlayStation Portable
Other handhelds
Atari Lynx \| Gamate \| Watara Supervision \| Mega Duck \| Game.com \| Gizmondo \| N-Gage \| TurboExpress \| Pepper Pad \| GameKing \| iRiver G10 \| Ez MINI \| OQO Model 2
Comparison