Game & Watch (ゲーム＆ウオッチ Gēmu ando Uotchi, or G&W) is a line of handheld electronic games produced by Nintendo from 1980 to 1991. Created by game designer Gunpei Yokoi, each Game & Watch features a single game to be played on an LCD screen in addition to a clock and an alarm (thus, "Game & Watch"). 43.4 million of those 59 games were sold worldwide. It was the earliest Nintendo product to garner major success.[1] The device was known as Tricotronic in Germany.
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In 1979, Gunpei Yokoi, traveling on a bullet train, saw a bored businessman playing with an LCD calculator by pressing the buttons. Yokoi then thought of an idea for a watch that doubled as a miniature game machine for killing time.[2]
The units use LR4x/SR4x "button-cell" batteries, the same type used in most laser pointers or handheld calculators. Different models were manufactured, with some having two screens and a clam-shell design (the Multi Screen Series). The Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance SP later reused this design.
Titles available in Game & Watch form vary from Mickey Mouse to Balloon Fight, including Nintendo staples such as Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, and Mario Bros.. For a more complete list, see List of Game & Watch games.
Most titles have a 'GAME A' and a 'GAME B' button. Game B is generally a faster, more difficult version of Game A, although exceptions do exist, including:
If a player reaches 300 points on the later Multi Screen series games, they are rewarded with double points until they lose a life, whereupon the game returns to single-point increments. If the player surpasses 1000 points without losing a life, the game will only register 998 points earned, the next increment rolling back to 0 and skipping 999 altogether. If a later player then reaches 999 points, the game will still register the former 998 as the higher score. However, if they reach 999 after having died at least once, the game will register 999.
There were 59 different Game & Watch games produced for sale and one that was only available as a contest prize, making 60 in all.[9] The prize game was given to winners of Nintendo's F-1 Grand Prix tournament, a yellow-cased version of Super Mario Bros. that came in a plastic box modeled after the Disk-kun character Nintendo used to advertise their Famicom Disk System.[8] As only 10,000 units were produced and it was never available for retail sale, the yellow version is considered rare.[9]
Mario the Juggler, released in 1991, was the last game created in the Game & Watch series.[10]
The Game & Watch games were renewed between 1995 and 2002 with the Game & Watch Gallery series, five Game & Watch collections released for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance. They feature the original ports, as well as new, modernized versions starring the Mario series cast.
From 1998 onward, a number of third-party distributors have been licensed to re-release smaller LCD versions of ten separate Game & Watch games which together compose the Nintendo Mini Classics series.
In 2001, Nintendo released Manhole-e bundled with its Nintendo e-Reader systems.[11] Although an entire line of Game & Watch e-Reader cards were planned, they were never released.
Between July 2006 and March 2010, Nintendo produced two Game & Watch Collection cartridges for the Nintendo DS to be released exclusively for Club Nintendo members. The first cartridge featured three games from the Game & Watch Multi Screen series: Oil Panic, Donkey Kong, and Green House. The second compilation, Game & Watch Collection 2, contained Parachute, Octopus, and a new dual-screen game with Parachute on the top screen and Octopus on the bottom. Both cartridges are now available to the general public.
Between July 2009 and April 2010 Nintendo released nine separate Game & Watch ports for DSiWare including remakes of Ball (called Game & Watch: Ball),[12] Flagman (called Game & Watch: Flagman), Manhole (called Game & Watch: Manhole),[13] and Mario's Cement Factory (called Game & Watch: Mario's Cement Factory) among others.[14][15]
In February 2011, Club Nintendo also released a reproduction of Ball entitled Game & Watch: Ball.[16] The game cost 1200 Coins.
In Australia game stores stock mini Game & Watch consoles.
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.
Nintendo Game & Watch was issued under different trademarks in different countries, resulting in different packaging. These have become rare and are also collectable.
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 (featuring a hunter firing at ducks) and Explorers from Space (featuring a space ship being fired upon), and many others.
Before the Game & Watch Gallery series, the Game & Watch Mario Bros. 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.[17]
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 Super Smash Bros. Melee,[18] although the character was first seen in the Game & Watch game Ball. Mr. Game & Watch does not speak in the games that he is featured in, instead makes beeping noises similar to those heard while playing Game & Watch games. Other traits unique to the character are him being paper-thin (due to having only two dimensions, not possessing depth) and his very limited animation, both alluding to the LCD screens on which Game & Watch games run. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the main storyline suggests Mr. Game & Watch is made of a primordial substance that can take on any number of forms. Mr. Game & Watch was harvested for this reason to create The Subspace Army.[19] It is also stated on the Smash Dojo that Mr. Game & Watch allowed this to happen because he has no concept of good and evil.
Mr. Game & Watch has appeared in several Game & Watch Gallery games. In Game & Watch Gallery 4, where in he was the manager of the "classic games" area alongside Mario, he was able to speak, unlike prior appearances. He is a part of the playable rosters of both Super Smash Bros. Melee and its sequel, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.[18][20] 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). A Game & Watch system was one of the treasures in Pikmin 2, although it was referred to as the "Dream Architect." 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? in the Game & Watch game Chef, after it is unlocked. In the title Donkey Kong Country Returns, he appears in the background of level 7-1, as a worker in a foggy factory. He also appears during certain stages in Rhythm Heaven Wii. 7
UGO.com listed Mr. Game and Watch on their list of "The Cutest Characters", stating "Mr. Game and Watch is adorable because he’s completely oblivious to his condition."[21]
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