There are lots of gamers out there who seem to love physical media. Whenever a digital-only game gets a sudden print run on card or disc, people go crazy! Also, plenty of gamers love books - especially books on games. There have been countless tomes released over the last few years; practically every topic has been covered.
In Japan, the same love of print and physicality is taken even further. The Okura Mook series of books has been covering different genres and hardware for ages, and has outdone itself with a great book on LCD games.
Nintendo fans would be no stranger to some of the games in this book. The Nintendo Game & Watch series is covered extensively, giving in-depth information on each game. The most obscure details are covered. For example, who knew that the release date for Green House was 6 December 1981?! Surely, I did not.
Nintendo is not the only star of the show in this book though, as Bandai, Tomy, Mattel, Epoch and more are featured here. It should be noted that in the early days of gaming Epoch and Nintendo were huge rivals. Not quite at the level of a Console War, but they were competitive games companies in Japan in the late 70s and early 80s
Though the book is in Japanese, you don’t need any ability in the language to admire the unique designs of each LCD game unit. Many followed the Game & Watch “square and thin” style, yet others copied their respective arcade cabinet or went with something unique. That is one of the great things about these types of games - each one is its own experience. Considering how many gigabytes games take up these days, its just a marvel to see a fully playable game put into such a restricted space in original ways every time.
The one unfortunate thing about the LCD games is that you need the original hardware to play them. There are a few browser games out there and the Game & Watch Collections, but most of these games are not playable by emulated means. With that in mind this book - if you're in Japan and can track it down - makes for a great crash course in the primordial days of handheld gaming.
Comments 12
Game And Watch: doing the DS thing before it was cool.
This looks amazing! Not having been able to experience it firsthand, I absolutely love books on this era. I'd prefer it to be in English (or French), but man it looks so nice I'd almost take it in Japanese.
DaddaRuleKonge already did something like this, albeit in PDF format. Only Game & Watch stuff is covered, admittedly, but the guide itself is pretty comprehensive.
Game & Watches are great novelties. If you want to play them, you could get Game & Watch Gallery 4 for the GBA, which is cheap as dirt nowadays and has 20 games, counting the unlockables.
But of course, there's something special about having the actual model around. The designs are so sleek and appealing!
I used to have the Donkey Kong Game & Watch. I remember bringing it to show and tell when I was in elementary school (early to mid-nineties) and people were curious what it was.
I remember these. I'm sure I had ball,vermin and a donkey Kong one. Very basic but at the time early 80's they were like magic in your hand ( i was 9 )
I had a couple of Ninja Turtles games, Sonic the Hedghog and maybe one or two others I can’t remember. Each very different in their design.
Pretty cool.
I’ve still got all of my G&Ws from childhood. My favourite was probably Zelda but the rarest ones I have are Super Mario Bros Crystal Screen (where there’s no background and you can see your hand through the screen) and Mario the Juggler (which I believe was the last game produced before the range was discontinued).
This author made a very good point, actually (too bad they're not a frequent writer on this site): these old LCD games are indeed unemulatable. I myself tend to find myself gravitating towards many games where one MUST own the actual console to get the full experience, like most 3DS games, some Wii U ones, Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2 (okay, I bet you can emulate Transfer Pak compatibility somehow, but it sounds like it would be a pain), and although I don't own one yet, a Famicom and the 3D Glasses peripheral (and Sega's version too, probably after the Famicom version though). These gaming experiences remain my priority, simply that, for many other types of games, you could comfortably emulate it on your couch with a laptop, and get the full experience in most cases that way. Even the Switch/PS4 will succumb to this fate someday, and the XB1 kind of already has. With games such as these LCD games, 3DS games that use 3D, Wii U games with significant Gamepad features, etc, there IS no way to feasibly get everything from an emulator. With these LCD games, I never realized fully until now, but these experiences are even less fully realized due to them...never really being possible, in any form, unless there publihers re-make/rerelease them, and if you're not Nintendo...that'll likely never happen. So, this was actually a very good point, and I thank you for that, author.
Ahh I used to love the Game and Watches..my very first was Fire where you had to bounce the little guys jumping out a burning building into the ambulance lol,I also had that Octopus,Donkey Kong Junior,Zelda,Mario brothers a few others but my favourite was my brothers...Snoopy Tennis...which I stupidly let my mate have a go on the way home from school..who went on to drop it on the pavement and broke it.Wow I seriously wish I kept all mine now instead of selling them for a pathetic price.
@EmmatheBest
They can be emulated, actually. There are a number of table top games and LCD handhelds emulated in MAME/MESS.
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