
If like this humble scribe you grew up with gaming magazines, you'll probably remember when the Internet really became easy to access and you found yourself straying away from these paper-based curiosities to online news and reviews.
Considering that many of the web's biggest gaming sites were founded in the '90s or the "Naughties", it's surprising to find that not only were a select group of people using the Internet back in 1982, but they were even reviewing video games - or in this case, a Game & Watch handheld.
On Reddit user Celeryyy's travels through Google's archives of Usenet posts he stumbled across such a review of Game & Watch game Octopus by a user known as "sdcarl!rusty" which dates back to 2nd February 1982. That's probably a time before most of our readers were even born!
If you were thinking about picking up this game from a well-known auction site, here is the review for your edification:
This is a review of a hand-held game "Game & Watch" made by Nintendo (makers of the Donkey Kong video arcade game). The model I have is called "Octopus". The store where I bought mine had five different models, each costs $35.
First a general description of the physical configuration. The case is quite thin; about 3/8 inch thick, 4 1/2 inches long, and 2 2/1 inches tall. About the size of a wallet calculator. It has a large LCD screen in the middle. The dimensions of the screen are 2 1/8 inches by 1 3/8 inches. The game is held with the long dimension horizontal. To control the action there are two large red buttons, one on each side of the screen, each conveniently near the lower left/right corner where your thumbs would naturally rest. The left red button causes movement to the left and the right red button causes movement to the right. In the upper right hand corner are three buttons; two select the level of difficulty, game A and game B, the third button turns on the clock display as the game can be a clock while it isn't being used. It has a little swing out stand in the back so that it can be stood up on your desk.
The game: to get as much of the treasure out of the sunken ship as possible. The scenario: in the upper left corner is your boat floating on the surface of the sea with a rope dangling to the ocean floor, in the lower right corner is the sunken ship with the treasure chest. Filling up most of the area in the water is a large octopus with four tentacles that grow and shrink at random rates and intervals. The rightmost three tentacles don't move around, they just grow and shrink. The leftmost tentacle can grow either in a downward direction or in an upward direction. In the upward direction it can snag you while you're climbing down the rope. If one of the tentacles touch you you're dead. As the game starts you have three divers in the boat and you use the right button to move the first one down the rope and over to the treasure then you use both buttons to make it dance back and forth to avoid the tentacles or when you're all the way over to the treasure you press the right button to make it grab some of the treasure. For each piece of treasure you snatch you get one point. After you've picked up any amount of treasure you can climb back into the boat and get a three point bonus. While the game is being played it makes a ticking sound; reminds one of a time bomb and adds to the sense of tension and panic. When the octopus gets you the game makes a buzzing rasberry sound and the remaining diver(s) do a left shift in the boat in preparation for the leftmost one going down next. Game A and B are the same except the tentacles move faster in game B.
It's quite fun. It's difficult enough to keep you coming back but not to difficult to frustrate you. The design of the characters is very humurous. The octopus has a sappy, lugubrious expression. When the diver is grabbing some of the treasure it's arm moves back and forth from the treasure chest to the bag it's stuffing it into. When it gets back into the boat it's arm swings up and down with the bag to show it unloading the treasure. They have comical positions when walking over to the treasure. When the octopus gets one of the divers he pulls it up towards him and the diver flails its arms and legs frantically.
Features: As mentioned before it has a clock. When the game isn't being played it can stand up on your desk as a clock with the time displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen. While in clock mode the display is active with the divers marched down to the treasure and pranced around until the octopus gets them but it is all done silently with no ticking or beeping. It also has an alarm. The clock and alarm are 24 hour.
Misfeatures: to set the clock or alarm requires a thin object to poke the recessed buttons. A paper clip straightened out will do. It remembers the highest score but setting the clock causes it forget it. There is no on/off switch (being LCD I suppose that's not a misfeature).
It's quite a neat little discovery. For those not in the know, Usenet was essentially the first Internet-based message-board system, which was around before the web as we now know it even existed. Let us know what you think about this little Internet gaming time capsule with a comment below.
[source reddit.com, via groups.google.com]
Comments 41
I vaguely remember that game as a very young kid. A neighbour had it.
This was really cool to read.
Wonder what he thinks now of the game?
Thats the real question. I wonder if he thinks fondly of the game even with modern tech.
This just made me realize how bad we need a Game&Watch collection on the Switch.
"The game is held with the long dimension horizontal."
"It has a little swing out stand in the back so that it can be stood up on your desk."
Make it where you can play in HD or in "LCD" mode. That would be great!
Nice. Now I'm not feeling lugubrious!
(Not gonna lie, I looked it up)
We had this game when I was a kid! We also had a Donkey Kong one, which was more fully featured. No idea what scores I got, though. In fact, I think my sister still has the Donkey Kong one somewhere, and has passed it on to my nephews. I see these are selling for $80 on eBay now...
Interesting stuff!
Octopus was always my favorite Game & Watch game!
Wow, people really took time to actually write well on the internet back then...
Octopus is a decent Game & Watch game, but I especially like the modern version of it in Game & Watch Gallery. That version has great music as well. =)
$35 in 1982, heh ?

So worth a little less than a 2DS today. Still not sure if it was cheap or not !
But how much did it get out of ten!?
I was on the fence, but this review sealed the deal. Day one.
confirmed for switch (Belize only)
Octopus is the best Game & Watch game
That review made me realise how picky we have become as players. We complain that weapons break in BotW or that shooters have become too repetitive and yet this reviewer considers having a clock as a positive feature.
I'll have you know that I was the ripe old age of 8 months when this was written!
I had no idea the internet even EXISTED in the early '80s. This is rewriting history for me!
I had no idea Game and Watch was so expensive back in the day. I suppose compared to the other games of the time and considering the lack of other handheld games, it was kind of a luxury.
My favorite Game & watch title.
I just can't get enough of it. I hope one day I can own one.
Currently have to settle for the versions in Game & watch gallery 1 and 4, as well as game & watch collection 2 on the DS.
@Other-Brother: Me too!! So the octopus was goth?!? LOL.
Great fun to read a review from a simpler time in gaming. Puts frame rate and polygon count complaints in perspective, eh?
i don't remember playing that particular game and watch game. however, i might still have a copy of it.
reading this review reminds me of nice memories of the dial-up days from when the internet was young and thanks to Compaq, i could access the internet whenever i wanted. no AOL needed...lmao
and yet at times i still play the different game and watch games at times. however, i had some of them on the original gameboy and not the dedicated game and watch systems which brought out the best of each of the games.
@HeroponRiki Everything gaming related was expensive back in the 80s. I'm pretty sure we paid £30 for new Master System games in the late 80s and that works out at £68 in today's money. I might be remembering incorrectly, but I think Ultima IV on the Master System was £59.99, which would be £137!
This is the very first Nintendo product I ever owned. I played it and even use it as an alarm clock for my night stand. I was 6 in 1982. It wasn't the first videogame I owned, that goes to the Atari 2600, but this one stands out in my heart much more, as it was portable and I could take it anywhere with me. To my grandparents, on vacation and beyond. Glad to see that concept still alive and well.
Anytime I see this game mentioned, it takes me back to wonderful memories of my youth. Now I feel warm and fuzzy.
Thanks NL.
@BezBot
I agree. I started collecting these a few years ago and the Donkey Kong ones are great as well. I also really enjoy the Zelda one, which was released much later in the 80s and as such, benefits from better technology. Theres different dungeons to explore, multiple routes to take and even boss fights. The Zelda Game and Watch is quite impressive.
You can play it at http://www.pica-pic.com/#/octopus/
Amazing site that I've spent hours on in the past.
My fav quote: "It has a large LCD screen in the middle. The dimensions of the screen are 2 1/8 inches by 1 3/8 inches."
Lol.
I missed out on the G&W wave entirely due to not being born for at least most of them (not counting that Club Nintendo Ball reprint, which I adore) but I love them anyway. It's so cool that Nintendo was just like "calculators, eh? Well, what if we made messing around on a calculator but FUN?"
I've still got all my Game & Watches, Donkey Kong was my first one and it's seen better days but all the rest are still in their original box and the boxes are in pretty nice condition.
I think the rarest ones I have are Crystal Screen Super Mario Bros and Mario the Juggler. My favourite is definitely Zelda though, I think it was the only G&W which had an ending and a continue button.
@Agent721 I like the Zelda one better than DK, but I'm also a big Zelda fan. DK is next after that.
You know it's old when it refers to Nintendo as "those who made Donkey Kong"
@SLIGEACH_EIRE If you'd like to play it now, you can always download Game & Watch Gallery on the 3DS eShop or Game & Watch Gallery 4 on the Wii U eShop 😉
February 2nd, 1982.....that was the day before my 2nd birthday!
I was born in June 82 so this is actually just slightly older than me
I love it! The language is amazing. For example, "The octopus has a sappy, lugubrious expression." you don't find that often in reviews these days. The author did a fantastic job describing the unit and I had to laugh at the features and misfeatures section so common today as pros and cons. Thanks for sharing, our humble scribe!
@Other-Brother it's one of my favorite words along with salubrious! Lol
This was a fantastic review! I loved reading his descriptions of the unit and the fact that Nintendo is those guys who made "Donkey Kong." Also, of course, the use of the word "lugubrious" which I have never heard anyone under the age of 50 use. People had better vocabularies back in the day.
February 2, 1982 was well over five years before I was born! Wow!
i'm so old, i remember when the atari 2600 was the home console i got to play, and game & watches were the first handhelds. those g&w's lasted, btw. i remembered playing them near the gameboy era. after that, everybody was playing tetris.
@NinChocolate @bluedogrulez
Well mine is discombobulated!
I've got a few Game & Watches. Were great in the day and are interesting now. Probably like Donkey Kong the best of the ones I have played. As a kid I got 901 on 1 man for a total of 1,266. It's weird the things you remember...
@Jamotello What impressed me back then (I'm super old) was how much more polished G&W games were than 2600 games. As Atari crashed under a deluge of garbage in 1983 (with a technically strong system, in the era), Nintendo quietly churned out classics on machines less powerful than a handheld calculator. Their model is not really all that different today.
Mario's Cement Factory was my first game. 😎
I would be 9 later that year. I had a friend whose dad would have known about Usenet. I never had a Game and Watch. The closest I came was a tabletop Donkey Kong Jr.
Never guessed G&W games cost that much back then. I actually would love a new "Game & Watch Gallery 5" honestly.
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