Tag: Game & Watch
Soapbox Game & Watch Still Scratches A Very Particular Itch, And I Need More
An itch the Switch can’t fix
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nile is pining for something a little smaller and simpler on his commute... Not too long ago, my niece taught me something heartening about the staying power of old...
Random Nintendo Needs To Make This Fan-Designed Pokémon Game & Watch A Reality
What's the time, Mr. Mime?
There are a few Nintendo products that hold an innate nostalgic feel, and the humble Game & Watch line is one of them. Originally released in 1980, the game/digital clock combo takes gaming back to simpler state, and has recently been something of a nostalgic signifier for Nintendo's anniversaries (last year's Game...
Random Nintendo Gave Tingle's Creator An Amazing Custom Game & Watch As A Leaving Gift
His post-Nintendo life has been a Ball
What's the best gift you've ever received from an employer? A voucher? A box of chocolates? Maybe a company paperweight? Well, if you worked for Nintendo and your name is Takaya Imamura, then you're definitely the winner of this competition. The legendary designer, famous for the F-Zero car designs, creating...
Guide Where To Buy Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda
It's dangerous to Game & Watch alone
Update (18th Feb 2022): If you're in the UK, Amazon UK has the Zelda Game & Watch discounted to £39.95 at the moment. Not bad at all! Update (12th Nov 2021): It's out today! You can read our full review right here if you're interested in picking one up. Update (22nd Sep 2021):
Review Game & Watch: The Legend Of Zelda - A Link To Link's Past
Mark Zelda's 35th with this neat collectable
Last year, Nintendo provided its fans with the perfect stocking-filler via its Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. handheld, a neat tribute to the classic Game & Watch range of LCD games that were so popular in the pre-Game Boy landscape o
PSA Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda Will Let You Enjoy Both Japanese And 'Western' Versions
Spot the differences
Though it's been right there on the official website for Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda, a few of us in the NL team hadn't clocked the fact that the nifty little device will give us access to multiple versions of each game. In terms of the three mainline games -
News Nintendo Launches Three New Zelda Websites To Celebrate Game & Watch
The Triforce of Website
It might be only us games journalists that get hot-under-the-collar for brand new Zelda key art, but this day is extremely special for us: Nintendo have just released three new websites for The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, and Link's Awakening to prepare us all for the release of the Zelda Game & Watch in November. And...
News Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda Gets A Snazzy New Trailer
Hoping for one in your stocking?
After its Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch proved to be a bit of a must-have festive gift, Nintendo is hoping to hit the mark again when it releases Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda to celebrate the IP's anniversary. Now Nintendo has released a snazzy new trailer to showcase its charms ahead of the 12th...
News The 'Book4Games' Range Is Expanding To Include Metroid, Zelda And Game Boy Designs
Store your games in style
Not so long ago, we went hands-on with Book4Games' SNES cartridge storage cases – essentially a means of securely housing your loose games in fancy, book-style units. While we weren't totally convinced they were a must-have item, Book4Games clearly found some degree of success, as it's back with more designs – this time...
News This "Super Rare" Anniversary Edition Game & Watch Unit Just Sold For A Very Low Price
Requested by Gunpei Yokoi and bought for about $9k
We've seen a lot of retro Nintendo products selling for some insane prices in recent times, but this one is a bit different. Despite being a "never before seen for sale" Game & Watch, it's just sold for the "very low" price of ¥1,001,000 (around US$9100 / €8000). Quite reasonable, really...
News Can't Wait For Your Zelda Game & Watch? Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection Might Scratch The Itch
You can even unbox them, virtually!
Finding the wait for your Legend of Zelda: Game & Watch too hard to bear? Well, Rainy Frog and Score Studios might have the solution. They're releasing Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection on the eShop at the end of the month – July 29th, to be precise – and it aims to recreate the feel of
Retro Remember The First Time Nintendo Did A Zelda Game & Watch?
Jump back into 1989...
Yesterday, Nintendo lifted the lid on the one and seemingly only attempt to mark the 35th birthday of its Zelda franchise: a Game & Watch system which includes the two NES outings, as well as Link's Awakening on the Gam
News There's A Zelda Game & Watch Coming This Christmas
Featuring four games
Did you like the Super Mario Game & Watch? Well you're in luck, because Nintendo is bringing out another Game & Watch title which contains Zelda games. And guess what?
News Popular Game & Watch Hacking Videos Are Being Targeted By Nintendo's Ninjas
Watch out, retro enthusiasts
Hackers, as you might recall, wasted no time getting various retro games up and running on the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch. First, it was id Software's classic first-person shooter DOOM and this wa
Feature How Nintendo's Game & Watch Took "Withered Technology" And Turned It Into A Million-Seller
We take a look at the LCD range that sparked a portable revolution
This legacy feature was originally published in 2010 and revisited in September 2020 when Nintendo celebrated Mario's 35th birthday with a wide range of products, including the brand-new Game & Watch handheld based on the iconic LCD range from the '80s. Enjoy! When you look...
News The Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch Can Now Run Pokémon, Zelda And More
DOOM was just the start
Hackers have wasted no time with the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch - discovering its secrets before it was even officially released. Within just weeks, one talented individual known as 'stacksmashing' dug into the system
News Yes, The Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch Can Run DOOM
A stripped-down version, anyway
Nintendo's new Game & Watch handheld was pulled apart in pretty quick order, with hacker stacksmashing digging deep into the system's code before it even officially launched.
News The Hidden Secrets Of Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch
See them yourself!
Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch has just been released and while it might be based on the company's classic hardware, this new version contains a number of hidden secrets. For your convenience, we've rounded them all up into a single post (thanks, Nintendo) - take a look below: Finish Super Mario Bros. and...
Review Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. - A Gorgeous Object That Leaves You Wanting More
Time to shine?
Looking back on the history of Nintendo as a maker of video games, it's clear that the Game & Watch line was a significant step; not only did it allow Nintendo's core developers to hone their skills with snappy, engaging titles, it also gave them the opportunity to evolve their hardware talents, coming up with innovations such as...
News The Super Mario Game & Watch Has Been Hacked Already, And It Could Fix That Unfortunate Bug
Hack the planet
Nintendo's new Super Mario Game & Watch isn't officially out until tomorrow, but as we've already reported, some lucky people have gotten theirs early – and one such individual has been tearing the thing apart all day to find out precisely what makes it tick. Hacker stacksmashing has been posting th
Video The History Of Nintendo's Game & Watch Range
Pocket power!
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...
We can dream, right?
2020 is the 35th birthday of the Super Mario series, and Nintendo is marking that event in a wide range of ways, one of which is the resurrection of its Game & Watch series of handhelds. Ninten
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...
Review Game & Watch Gallery 3 (3DS eShop / GBC)
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...
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...