1980 is the year. Nintendo, a company primarily known for its arcade games (Donkey
Kong, etc.) releases this line of Game & Watches. And the world of handhelds would
never be the same! Being a handheld collector for a long time, I’ve seen several
hundred handhelds and heard of even more. The Game & Watch line really has no equal.
These units, despite their LCD screens (a death sentence in terms of handhelds) remain
among the most popular and sought after handhelds there are. Why? A few reasons that I can
think of. First, the line of handhelds in general plays better than any other line of
handhelds. The games are simply more fun to play and have the best replay value of any
handhelds. In addition, the line has a certain un-measurable charm that is missing in most
other LCD games. The cases are compact and arguably, cooler than any other handhelds. The
most important of those reasons is the gameplay, but without all those factors combined,
these handhelds wouldn’t be nearly as popular.
The following information was gathered from several different sources. Camiel Dobbelaar
(dobbe@xs4all.nl) was the one who really got me started on the idea of doing this when he
combined information taken from the July/August issue of Retrogames, a foreign fanzine. He
noticed several different things, but the most interesting is that Nintendo used a very
specific numbering system with it’s games. You’ll notice that the original
silvers start with 01 and it goes up from there, with each variety of G&W having a new
starting point. What’s most interesting about that is that there is plenty of room
for more in almost all the categories. One thing that doesn’t make sense about their
numbering scheme is the first initials before the numbers. Some titles, it’s easy to
tell why they were named that way. FL for Flagman, MH for Manhole, etc. Others, the
letters don’t make any sense. AC for Ball, RC for Fire, etc. Good work Camiel, I knew
that college degree was good for something! ;-) The reviews and descriptions of the types
were all written by me, with help from Michael Davidson (pinwiz@pinwiz.demon.co.uk) and
Camiel on some that I don’t have.
Original Silver G&W’s are among the smallest LCD handhelds made in terms of
unit size. The screen, however, is fairly large for it’s compact size. The screen is
surrounded by a silver metal plate, which gives these versions of G&W’s their
name. In terms of rarity, these are pretty hard to come by, my guess is because they were
the first of the line and probably didn’t get the advertising that the later titles
did.
Original Gold G&W’s are exactly the same as the silver line, except (surprise)
they have a gold metal plate around the screen. They are not quite as hard to find as
their Original Silver counterparts, but still darned hard to find.
Original Silver (01-05):
AC-01 BALL
A juggling game where you must keep balls from falling, just like real life
juggling. The gameplay is simple. Move left and right to automatically catch the balls and
throw them into the air again. Mego, another well-known handheld company had an exact copy
of this game made for them with the same name and everything!
FL-02 FLAGMAN
This is a memory game, roughly equivalent to Simon, a matching game where
you have to match certain sequences of patterns. It reminds me a lot of Milton Bradley's
Simon handheld, except that it uses numbers (1, 2, 3 & 4) instead of colors. Mego,
another well-known handheld company had an exact copy of this game made for them, with the
same name and everything!
MT-03 VERMIN
This is one of the few G&W’s to use raw violence (Popeye - all types
- is another)! The object here is to pound the heads of poor moles before they have a
chance to eat your cabbage. It’s a simple “Whack-a-Mole” game in handheld
form. Mego, another well-known handheld company had an exact copy of this game made for
them. The only difference in the two games is the title, Exterminator.
RC-04 FIRE
People are jumping out of the building and your job is to get them to the
ambulance without letting them splat on the pavement. To accomplish this job, you are
armed with only a trampoline and when someone hits it, they will bounce to the next spot
on the pavement, where you have to “catch” them again. Continue this all the way
to the right and they will bounce into the ambulance (wouldn’t that hurt as well,
though?) and you get to do it all over again. Mego, another well-known handheld company
had an exact copy of this game made for them. The only difference in the two games is the
title, Fireman, Fireman.
IP-05 JUDGE
This is probably one of the most bizarre G&W's, in that it seems to have
almost no play value. The object is to hit your opponent over the head with your mallet
before he hits you. Unfortunately, I've not been able to figure out how to hit first or
avoid the opponents shots. A stinker of a game to be sure.
Original Gold (06-08 or more):
MH-06 MANHOLE
There are 4 holes in the two levels of the street. You have to use a manhole
cover to fill the holes before the people fall into the holes and into the water below.
This is the same as the Wide Screen version with the same name.
CN-07 HELMET
Run your guy along the bottom of the screen while avoiding falling objects.
Get hit by the falling objects, and you lose a life. This seems to be a very common theme
to older LCD games. I’m not sure which came first the G&W version or the rest,
but my guess would be that Nintendo was the original inventor.
LN-08 LION
Ever want to be a lion tamer? This is the game for you. Keep the lions in check
by shoving a chair in their faces. The lions come from 6 different positions in the cage
(3 on the left and 3 on the right) and you have to move our hero to meet the lion before
it gets out of the cage. If one gets out, you lose a life and start over again.
CLICK HERE to read Part 2
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