Nintendo Game and Watch Mini Games Review
Those of you who were kids back in the eighties would remember those cute little pocket-sized Nintendo Game and Watch Mini Games that told the time as well as give you hours of gaming enjoyment playing two versions of a game (normally called “Game A” and “Game B”) on a black and grey LCD screen. These games were called the Nintendo Game and Watch.
In the late seventies (around 1977) was the creator of the Game and Watch series of games from Japan. He actually got the idea of creating these mini portable game consoles by watching a businessman playing with his LCD calculator. I am guessing that the businessman had time to kill, but little did he know that he was going to inspire the creation of the Game and Watch which would eventually evolve into the ever famous Game Boy handheld entertainment system which now exists as the New Nintendo 3DS XL portable game system today.
The Game and Watch Mini Games systems were powered by “button-like” batteries (battery model numbers LR4x and SR4x), the types of batteries found in watches and calculators. The controls normally consisted of a directional D-pad on the left hand side and usually two to four actions buttons on the right hand side. In addition to the clock feature there was also a game that could be played in two modes, namely Mode A and Mode B.
A list of some of the popular Game and Watch Mini games to come out from Nintendo were the following:
- Ball (Launched on April 28th, 1980) – You essentially control a little man as he juggles balls.
- Flagman (June 5th, 1980)
- Fire (July 31st, 1980)
- Judge (October 4th, 1980)
- Manhole (January 29th, 1981)
- Helmet (February 21st, 1981)
- Lion (April 29th, 1981)
- Parachute (June 19th, 1981)
- Octopus (July 16th, 1981)
- Popeye (August 5th, 1981)
- Chef (September 8th, 1981)
- Mickey Mouse (October 9th, 1981)
- Egg (October 9th, 1981)
- Fire (December 4th, 1981)
- Turtle Bridge (February 1st, 1982)
- Fire Attack (March 26th, 1982)
There were approximately fifty titles that were launched from 1980 to 1991. The form factor of these portable consoles did change with time with the timeline below shoes the evolution process:
- 1980 – Silver Series (These games were in landscape mode and has a silver bezel)
- 1981 – Gold Series (Landscape mode games with a gold bezel)
- 1982 to 1989 – Multi Screen systems (Clamshell model similar to what exists today with the new Nintendo 3DS XL where there are essentially two screens)
- 1983 – Tabletop systems
- 1983 to 1984 – Panorama form factor
- 1982 to 1991 – A revised edition of the wide screen format
- 1984 – The introduction of Super Color
- 1984 – The Micro vs. System
- 1986 – The Crystal Screen version cane out
In 1998 some of the popular titles from the eighties were reborn and they were called the “Mini Classics” series. These Mini Classics are the systems that are being reviewed in this post.
The mini classic games looked like miniature Game Boys (based on the original Game Boy) and used the same ROM programming that was used on the original games. That being said game play was identical and the same two modes (i.e. Mode A and Mode B) were available. Thu units are also powered by a mini tablet sized battery that is roughly the size of a quarter and there is also a little kick stand attached at the back of the game unit that can be used to prop up your little game machine on your desk while you can easily get access to the time as well as see the game in screensaver mode. Some of the titles that were launched as Mini Classics were:
- Donkey Kong Junior
- Super Mario Brothers
- Mario’s Cement Factory
There is also a little key chain attached so that you can have one of these systems with you at all times attached to your bunch of car and house keys. They are really small indeed – about the size of a match box – and make great gifts for those nostalgic middle aged gamers out there or for the children of today who are interested in seeing what portable gaming was like back in the old days!
Checkout my review video below: