Game & Watch

Donkey Kong JR. (New Wide Screen), 1982

The Game & Watch (ゲーム＆ウオッチ, Gēmu ando Wotchi^?) (G&W) were handheld electronic games made by Nintendo and created by its game designer 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.

The units used LR4x/SR4x "button-cell" batteries, the same type used in most laser pointers or watches. There are variations in height for button cell batteries, and the G&W units used the shorter height variety. Specifically, they were packaged with Maxell LR43 batteries.

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.

Origin

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 watch that doubled as a mini gaming machine for killing time.^[1]

Series

Widescreen Octopus, 1981

Main article: List of Game & Watch games

• Silver (1980)
• Gold (1981)

• 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 differ 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 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 in could be folded open and was modeled after the Disk-kun character that Nintendo used to advertise their Famicom Disk System.^[2]

Game A and Game B

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. Judge is another exception in that game B is a 2 player version of game A, rather than it being noticeably faster or more difficult. The games Climber and Super Mario Bros. do not have a 'GAME B' option.

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 speed and responsiveness of the games was also limited by the time it took the LCD to change state. The Game & Watch Multi-Screen version became the model on which the Nintendo DS was based.

The Game & Watch series also pioneered left-handed directional control, with a D-pad movement control on the left and action buttons on the right. This design would later be used for the Nintendo Entertainment System control pads, and copied by virtually every other game console system. At the time, the position of the joystick on arcade systems varied, and home systems (such Atari 2600) tended to use right-handed joysticks.

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.^[3]

Mario the Juggler, released in 1991, was the last game created in the Game & Watch series.

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 (renamed "Mysteries of the Ocean"), 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.

Evolution

The Game & Watch games were 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. 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. Despite the difficulty purchasing this game outside of Japan (or even within Japan), the game is virtually entirely in English.

Mr. Game & Watch

Mr. Game & Watch (Mr.ゲーム＆ウォッチ, Misutā Gēmu ando Wotchi^?) is the mascot of the Game & Watch series, following his appearance in the 2001 video game Super Smash Bros. Melee,^[4] although the character was first seen in the Game & Watch game Judge. Mr. Game & Watch does not speak in the games that he is featured in, instead noises similar to those heard when playing Game & Watch games are heard. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the main storyline suggests Mr. Game and Watch is made of a primordial substance that can take on any number of forms. Mr. Game and Watch was harvested for this reason to create The Subspace Army.^[5] It's also stated on the Smash Dojo that Mr. Game and Watch allowed this to happen because he has no concept of good and evil.

Appearances in games

Mr. Game and Watch has appeared in several Game and Watch Gallery games, including his addition to the rosters of Super Smash Bros. Melee and its sequel, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.^[6][4] In both games, the character's special abilities include attacks derived from various aspects of the Game & Watch series (such as turning into the octopus seen in the game Octopus). Later, he appeared in Game & Watch Gallery 4 as the manager of the "classic games" area alongside Mario, where he was able to speak, unlike in previous games he has been featured in. Mr. Game & Watch appears in several games in the WarioWare series, along with several other characters that bear a strong artistic similarity to him, usually as a brief cameo appearance. He also appears in the Nintendo DS title Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What To Eat? as the Game & Watch game Chef is unlocked after the in-game kitchen timer function is used.

See also

• List of Game & Watch games
• Bandai LCD Solarpower

References

External links

• Game & Watch at the Open Directory Project