Nintendo is releasing a "new" version of their classic Game & Watch handheld for Super Mario Bros. 35th anniversary. I remember having one of these as a kid, and this new one looks amazing. Comes installed with Super Mario Bros. and Lost Levels, plus a remake of the original "Ball" game from the original series.
Well, and it's also a clock of course, and a pretty cool looking one. ?
I wonder if it will be in any way "hackable"... will it be emulated .. an NES SoC? I can't wait to find out once they release and people get a chance to tear into them.
I want one! I am a huge fan of classic handhelds and the more modern "plug and play" style systems. I love my Sega Genesis handheld from AtGames, play it all the time, as well as the Atari Flashback series.
Maybe I can talk my wife into getting me one for Christmas. ?
A classic geek & family man who enjoys all things retro! Computers, hardware, games, electronics, etc. Expert at nothing, professional hobbyist, and old-school blogger!
seems a little silly to me. somehow i don't remember this at all im assuming it was before the gameboy? i really really wanted a gameboy but we couldn't afford one and my parents wren't going to spend money on something like that.
seems a little silly to me. somehow i don't remember this at all im assuming it was before the gameboy? i really really wanted a gameboy but we couldn't afford one and my parents wren't going to spend money on something like that.
Game And Watch was way before the Game Boy, even before the FamiCom/NES, the first "video games" Nintendo sold directly to consumers. They were like an early version of the Tiger Games, but acting as an LCD clock when you weren't playing the game.
Yeah, the one I owned (Donkey Kong Jr.) came out in 1982, I think. They were out well before that, but I loved DK back then, and got one for Christmas. They even had dual-screen versions, I guess you could say they were the early 80's version of a Nintendo DS, just LCD ... and one game. Though I never owned any of the others. lol
A classic geek & family man who enjoys all things retro! Computers, hardware, games, electronics, etc. Expert at nothing, professional hobbyist, and old-school blogger!
wow ive never heard of this. im assuming it wasn't a color display? interesting nintendo had the tech to miniaturize this stuff back then. why did they stop making them? i could see this being as big as the gameboy if nintendo had stuck with it.
as a child of the 80s im seriously shocked i had never heard of this my parents wouldn't have bought me one but i would of borrowed begged and stole to get one. finally did get a gameboy color later on but never played it due to the crappy display.
There were dozens if not hundreds of these Game N Watch games on the market... I owned two or three of them and my friends had several others that I played (some were simplistic to the extreme, such as Octopus, where you just had to move left and right) some were more advanced such as Donkey Kong that was a dual-screen game)
@markboston36 color display? hehehe, no, it was LCD technology dude ? The cement trucks and factory structure are static decals painted on the plastic screen. Look at the image below, it shows all possible LCD segments activated (the black segments):
Later there were some tabletop or "micro arcade cabinet" variants of these type of games that could display some color. I have no idea how they work though, I suspect simply a more advanced form of LCD with different colored lights.
Tiger wrapped up the market for these LCD segment games, producing them very cheaply, and Nintendo was ruling the console world. The time had come for a handheld with interchangeable ROMs, bringing a proper gaming experience. They knew they could make a fortune from licensing Game Boy games from third party publishers, just like they did with the FamiCom/NES.
