Game & Watch

The Game & Watch was the brainchild of designer Gunpei Yokoi, the head of Nintendo Research & Development 1 (R&D1), who was inspired during a trip on a Shinkansen high-speed train, where he noticed a bored businessman idly pressing buttons on a credit-card-sized pocket calculator. This sparked the idea of a compact, discreet toy for adults to pass the time on public transport. At the time, Nintendo was struggling financially, and R&D1 consisted of just Yokoi and his assistant, Satoru Okada. The two looked at other handheld electronic games, including Mattel Auto Race, the Microvision, and Simon, but found these too large and reliant on low-resolution vacuum fluorescent or LED displays that rendered abstract graphics. Yokoi pitched the idea to Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi while driving him to a business meeting after the company chauffeur called in sick. Yamauchi's meeting happened to be with Sharp's CEO, and the two leaders discussed the concept. Within a week, Yokoi was invited to a meeting between Nintendo and Sharp, where approval was given to develop a calculator-sized gaming device. The Game & Watch name reflected its dual functionality: it combined a single game with a digital clock. The first game, Ball, had modest initial sales but enough success for Yamauchi to greenlight three more games: Flagman, Vermin, and Fire. In North America, the games were initially launched through Mego Corporation as the Time-Out series. The series included Ball (renamed Toss-Up), Flagman, Vermin (renamed Exterminator), and Fire (retitled Fireman Fireman). This partnership ended within a year, and Nintendo of America began distributing the series under their original titles. '', showing its revolutionary D-pad and multi-screen clamshell design Starting in 1981, Game & Watch devices incorporated an alarm function, enhancing their practicality as a watch. By mid-1982, limitations of single-screen LCDs led to the creation of the Multi Screen Series, which effectively doubled the gameplay area. Oil Panic launched the series. Shortly thereafter, Nintendo's highly successful Donkey Kong arcade game was adapted for the Multi Screen format, requiring an alternative to the traditional joystick, which was impractical for handheld gaming. This challenge led to the invention of the now-iconic D-pad, a flat, four-way directional control that allowed for precise movement with minimal space requirements. The D-pad design was later honored with a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award in 2008. The clamshell design of the Multi Screen Series would later inspire the Game Boy Advance SP, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS. The Game & Watch series was a monumental success. Yokoi had initially aimed to sell 100,000 units, but Nintendo ultimately sold 43.4 million units worldwide—12.87 million in Japan and 30.53 million overseas. The device also significantly improved Nintendo's financial standing. Before its release in 1980, the company reportedly had debts of 7 to 8 billion yen. By 1981, however, largely due to the Game & Watch's success, Nintendo had paid off its debts and put about 4 billion yen in the bank. It marked the company's first major worldwide success with a Nintendo video game product. == Series ==

Over the initial eleven-year life span of the Game & Watch line, 60 different games were produced for sale. These games came in eleven different series, each with a different form-factor: These games were never sold, but instead given away to 10,000 winners of Nintendo's F-1 Grand Prix tournament. The Game & Watch version of Donkey Kong released in 1982 sold 8 million units. Mario the Juggler was the last LCD installment in the Game & Watch series released in 1991 and is a tribute to the first game, Ball. == Game A and Game B ==

Most of the titles have a "GAME A" and a "GAME B" button. Game B is generally a faster, more difficult version of Game A, although exceptions do exist: • In Squish, Game B is radically different from Game A—the player must touch aliens to eliminate them as opposed to avoiding moving walls. • In Flagman, Game B is a mode where the player has to press the right button within a certain amount of time, not memorize patterns. • In Judge, Boxing, Donkey Kong 3, and Donkey Kong Hockey, Game B is a two-player version of Game A. • In Climber, Balloon Fight, and Super Mario Bros., there is no Game B button. In most cases, both Game A and Game B would increase in speed and/or difficulty as the player progressed, with Game B starting at the level that Game A would reach at 200 points. == Legacy, ports and remakes ==

IM-02 (Well, Just You Wait!), a clone of the Game & Watch from the Soviet Union The Game & Watch series helped to popularize handheld video games, inspiring imitators like Tiger Electronics, Micro Games of America, Konami and Elektronika, which released the IM-02 series in the Soviet Union. Computer Models of the Bassmate, Bassmate II and WalleyMate Nintendo also used the core technology from the Game & Watch line for the Bassmate Computer, a handheld databank intended for bass fishing. The Bassmate was released in 1984 by Telko under various brand names, with Nintendo acting as the original design manufacturer. After this initial model, Telko and its partners expanded the concept into several related fishing computers—including the Bassmate II, WalleyeMate, and Troutmate—all of which were produced without Nintendo's involvement. These later units reused the same basic hardware and software platform created for the original Bassmate but were engineered and manufactured entirely by third‑party companies. Each model targeted a different fishing niche—bass, walleye, or trout—and, like the first Bassmate, was sold under multiple brand names such as Telko, KMV, and Probe 2000. Nintendo revived the series between 1995 and 2002 with the Game & Watch Gallery series for Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance featuring original ports and modernized Mario-themed versions. Starting in 1998, smaller LCD versions of ten Game & Watch titles were re-released as the Nintendo Mini Classics. In 2001, Nintendo bundled Manhole-e with the Nintendo e-Reader, though a planned line of e-Reader Game & Watch cards never materialized. From 2006 to 2010, Nintendo produced the Game & Watch Collection series for the Nintendo DS, initially exclusive to Club Nintendo. Between 2009 and 2010, nine Game & Watch titles were released on DSiWare. In the DS game, ''Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat?, the player can unlock the game Chef''. To celebrate Game & Watch's 30th anniversary in 2010, Nintendo re-released Ball as a Club Nintendo reward, adding a mute switch. It was available to members in Japan, North America, and Europe. The Game & Watch legacy was also acknowledged in the 2012 game Nintendo Land for Wii U, with a mini-game called Octopus Dance based on the classic Octopus title. '' In 2020, Nintendo released Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Super Mario series and the 40th anniversary of the Game & Watch line. This limited-edition handheld included the full NES versions of Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, and Ball now starring Mario. The following year, Nintendo launched Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda to celebrate that franchise's 35th anniversary. It included The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, ''The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and Vermin now starring Link. Unlike the classic Game & Watch'' devices, these modern versions are far more technically advanced with a backlit full-color LCD screen, a rechargeable battery that charges via USB-C, and powered by an Cortex-M7 processor with over a megabyte of RAM and flash memory. Mr. Game & Watch Mr. Game & Watch represents the brand in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series, debuting in Melee (2001) as a two-dimensional, stick-figure-styled fighter with moves based on classic Game & Watch games. He also appears in Game & Watch Gallery 4 and makes cameos in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Rhythm Heaven Fever. In 2015, Nintendo released a Mr. Game & Watch Amiibo, which unlocks a personal CPU fighter in Super Smash Bros. and a cosmetic option in Super Mario Maker. His moveset in the Super Smash Bros. series utilizes techniques taken from various Game & Watch games. He was featured as one of the greatest video game icons by Retro Gamer staff, describing him as an early mascot in gaming while also someone who never earned the level of celebrity that Nintendo's biggest characters did. They felt that his simple design made him work well on the LCD format, and allowed him to slot into different roles. The character makes a cameo appearance in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026), where Luigi paints him into existence after taking Bowser Jr.'s paintbrush. == See also ==