Tag: Game & Watch
Hardware Classics Exploring Luigi's Debut, The Mario Bros. Game & Watch
Everyone has to start somewhere
Luigi may not be quite as famous as his illustrious sibling, but there's a fair chance that you could stop a random person on the street and they'd still be able to identify him or at the very least acknowledge his association with the Super Mario Bros. series. Keeping this in mind, it's an odd sensation to play the...
Book Review The Unofficial Game & Watch Collector's Guide
LCD legacy
Game & Watch was Nintendo's first foray into the world of portable electronic gaming. These small, pocket-sized devices used LCD screens to create crude but surprisingly playable games, perfect for passing the time on the way to and from work (in fact, creator Gunpei Yokoi even stated that he was inspired to create the range after...
News This Plate & Watch New Nintendo 3DS Cover Plate is Hard to Resist
The clock/alarm/timer/thermometer cover plate you never knew you wanted
It was only a matter of time before entrepreneurial third parties started making their own creative New Nintendo 3DS cover plates, and this is a beauty. Taking inspiration from Nintendo's classic series of Game & Watch devices, the Retro Plate & Watch actually looks...
News You Can Now Create Your Very Own Game & Watch Handheld
Soldering skills required
While some believe that Nintendo's domination of the handheld market started with the Game Boy, it was in fact the Game & Watch series which really kicked things off for the Japanese firm. The brainchild of Gunpei Yokoi - the same man who created the Game Boy - these simple LCD portables sold millions during the '80s...
Video Hacker Demonstrates Fully Functional Game & Watch amiibo in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Creation, editing and levelling
Just recently a YouTube channel titled Mema Haxx posted a video that - very briefly - showed hidden Duck Hunt amiibo data being activated; the basic suggestion reinforces what we half expected, that Nintendo's set up code within the game to support amiibo for still unannounced figures. Considering the fact the company...
A gallery worth visiting
As over 50 different Game & Watch titles were released during the eighties, Nintendo had the clever idea to give a select few a fresh coat of paint, giving them a visual makeover, adding music, turning them into Mario-themed titles and then putting them together in a collection which allowed you to play both the new and...
Hardware Classics Game & Watch JR-55 - Donkey Kong II
A multi-screen masterpiece
Before the Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance and even the Game Boy, portable gaming was all about Nintendo's Game & Watch series. The brainchild of Nintendo engineer Gunpei Yokoi - who apparently came up with the idea after seeing a Japanese businessman playing around with his pocket calculator during his journey to work -...
News Prepare To Be Jealous At This Amazing Nintendo Collection
Japanese collector Isao Yamazaki shows off his stunning haul
As we move towards a totally digital age, the attraction of collecting physical gaming media is going to become even more unusual - pretty soon, there will be kids who don't understand the concept of actually buying a physical cartridge. Thankfully, so long as people like Isao Yamazaki...
News Today Would Have Been Gunpei Yokoi's 71st Birthday
Play a game of Tetris in his honour
Gunpei Yokoi was one of Nintendo's original star employees. His inventions made the company millions, with the Game & Watch series kick-starting a period of portable dominance for the firm which was cemented further by the launch of the insanely successful Game Boy - possibly Yokoi's most enduring legacy...
Out Now History of Nintendo: Volume 2 - Game & Watch
Book 'em
The second instalment in Pix'n Love Publishing's History of Nintendo book series is out today. The 200-page tome looks at the history of the Game & Watch, with reviews of every unit, over 1,500 pictures and exclusive documents too. If you've ever wanted to know more about Nintendo's 1980s portable games, this book should scratch that...
News History of Game & Watch Book Due on 9th March
For real this time
We know we've reported several release dates for The History of Nintendo: Volume 2 — Game & Watch — the most recent being 15th December — but this time we're told it's definitely, definitely coming on 9th March. The follow-up to the rather good History of Nintendo: Volume 1 — 1889 - 1980: From playing-cards to Game...
News Game & Watch Gifts Added to European Club Nintendo
Get 'em while they're hot
The European Club Nintendo Stars Catalogue gets just received two new rewards, but they probably won't be around for long. 7,500 Stars gets you a replica of Game & Watch: Ball, the very first Game & Watch game ever produced all the way back in 1980. It's already been offered to Japanese and North American Club...
News The History of Nintendo Volume 2 Out on 15th December
Pre-orders open
The History of Nintendo: Volume 1 spanned the company's beginnings up until the creation of the Game & Watch, setting things up nicely for the second volume, which deals exclusively with Gunpei Yokoi's LCD wonder. The History of Nintendo: Volume 2 — 1980-1991: The Game & Watch games, an amazing invention to give its rather...
News Thirty Years of Nintendo Handhelds Stem from Make-Up Cases
Clamshell design inspired by compacts
The most recent Iwata Asks article is a fascinating insight into the development of the Game & Watch series, showing off unseen design documents and now revealing the origins of the system's iconic style that lives on through Nintendo's current and next-gen handhelds. But where did the folding feature...
News These Game & Watch Documents are All Kinds of Amazing
Black and white and oh so right
Currently enjoying a resurgence due to many rereleases on DSiWare, Nintendo's portable Game & Watch consoles are the subject of the latest Iwata Asks over at Nintendo Japan's site. Most of the development team, minus the late Gunpei Yokoi, dropped by on Mr Iwata to chat about these seminal titles and hardware and...
Feature Becoming a Nintendo Game & Watch Collector
We ask the experts about collecting this vintage format
Given the durable nature of the Game & Watch range, the appealing design of the casing and the desirable Nintendo branding, it’s little surprise that a truly hardcore collecting scene has risen up over the past few years. The reasons for this differ depending on which collector you happen...
Feature The History of the Nintendo Game & Watch
We take a look at the LCD range that sparked a portable revolution
When you look back on the history of video games it’s not uncommon to discover amusing anecdotes regarding defining moments in the industry. For example, rumour has it that Namco’s Pac-man was conceived when creator Toru Iwatani glanced at a pizza with one slice missing and...
News Japanese Club Nintendo Members Get Game & Watch Goodness
Retro-themed freebies = WIN
Western Nintendo fans are used to getting rubbish gifts from Club Nintendo while their Japanese cousins take home some seriously amazing kit, but this latest news is especially depressing for anyone outside the Land of the Rising Sun. Nintendo of Japan is offering actual Game & Watch "Ball" units to Platinum...
News Game & Watch Games to be Released on DSiWare
Classic handheld games to be available for download soon!
It seemed like a pretty quiet month for Japan - With just three VC games initially announced for a July release and this week having no WiiWare games at all it almost looked as if Nintendo was actually running out of games to release! It seems like it was all a ruse to surprise us with...
