For many people (your humble scribe included), Nintendo's Game & Watch series served as an introduction to the wild and wacky world of video games. These pocket-sized devices familiarised a generation with the likes of Mario, Luigi and Donkey Kong, and were one of Nintendo's biggest successes in the games sector until the NES and Game Boy came along and changed everything.
However, Nintendo is a company which loves celebrating its past, and next month we'll be able to get our hands on a brand-new (kinda) Game & Watch model, which comes with Super Mario Bros. pre-loaded, as well as Ball, the very first Game & Watch title from 1980.
With this in mind, we thought you might like to take a trip down memory lane and reacquaint yourself with this classic line of LCD-based handhelds. Enjoy!
Thanks to Rich at Game Boy Shack for kindly loaning us some of the rarer Game & Watch units used in this video.
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Comments 17
Ball on Game and Watch is more fun than New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe.
Ah, is anyone going to buy it?
I own the snoopy table top G&W and I’m planning on getting the other table top G&W’s.
Mario’s Cement Factory is amazing!
Also, the first game I owned and I still have it. 🤓
I"m waiting for the new one to go on pre-order. From what I've seen they haven't even got an FCC sign off for it.
Takes me back. I remember loads of kids had Game&Watch games at school. They seemed so sophisticated! Also at around the same time there was a Casio calculator game. Numbers came at you from the right, and you had to eliminate them by pressing one key to increment your number on the left, then pressing another key to "kill" them. Astonishing how many hours I sunk into that one. Oh, it was also a "synthesizer". You could play tunes although nobody did that. Or did maths. About five of us had it just for the numbers game!
Seriously, those Game & Watches that they pull out of their suit pockets are about exactly the size Sega should have aimed for with the Game Gear Micros (which should have been Minis). And the Game Gear Micro also should have had a better quality screen display and say 50 of the best Game Gear [and Master System] games pre-installed.
Brawl got me into Game & Watch and it made me realized that after the Gallery and Collections series ended, there's still a whole bunch of G&Ws that haven't been remade or rereleased.
Honestly, I hope we can get some Switch game that compiles every one, even the licensed ones like Snoopy, for an anniversary or something like that.
Vey old stuff such fun And really I love it.
The only Game boy advance cart that I own is Game and Watch Collection (wich says that has 6 games on the box, but actually contains at least the double)
I really hoped that Nintendo was going to release a Game & Watch Gallery 5 on the DS or a Game & Watch 3D for the 3DS.
Granted their was the Club Nintendo prizes but they are not the same.
You forgot one!
Also released during the Club Nintendo era was reproductions of the original G&W Ball. I remember it cost all of the points I had left. I still haven't turned it on.
I love that they just called the game, Ball. Nothing about juggling or anything creative. Just, "Ball" lol
My first gaming love, and nearly 40 years on Snoopy Tennis still works and plays perfectly. Can’t wait for the new one to arrive - preordered ages ago on the UK store and counting down the days ever since.
I can vividly still remember playing the Dual Screen Donkey Kong for the first time when it came out. I think I also had Octopus...if only I still had it....
My first contact with a Nintendo product!
Donkey Kong II back in 1986!
Now, I have 15 models!
got my Mario Cement Factory mini-cab sitting right next to me. Always wanted to collect the others (Snoopy, Popeye, etc) but the $$ outweighs the real life value for me. Ah if i was rich....
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