Game & Watch

Game & Watch, referred to as Tricotronic in Germany and Austria, is a brand of handheld LCD games developed and published by Nintendo. The idea originated form Gunpei Yokoi riding the bullet train in the late 1970's and witnessing a bored businessman pass the time by pressing random buttons on an LCD calculator. This led to the first game in the series, Ball being released on April 28, 1980. Every game contained three modes: Game A, Game B, and Clock. Game A is the standard mode, Game B is a tweaked version of Game A, and the clock can be set to tell the time as a replacement to a watch.

Due to each Game & Watch unit only carrying one actual game, each unit was tailor made for that game with unique controls and layouts. Most Game & Watch games fit under different series that were released in waves. Those series were the following:

Silver- single screen games with a silver finish

Gold- single screen games with a gold finish

Wide Screen- single screen games with a wide screen

Multi Screen (Vertical)- 2 screen games with a clamshell design that folded vertically, which would later inspire the Nintendo DS

Multi Screen (Horizontal)- 2 screen games with a clamshell design that folded horizontally

New Wide Screen- Wide screen games, now based off famous Nintendo properties

Tabletop- Large, colorized versions of other Game & Watch games meant to replicate an arcade experience

Panorama- Colorized versions of other Game & Watch games where the graphics are projected onto a mirror

Super Color- Long, vertical games that heavily rely on their colorized screens for gameplay

Micro Vs.- Games designed for multiplayer with 2 controllers built in

Crystal- Games with a transparent screen and exchangeable backgrounds.

After the initial run, Several Game & Watch games would be rereleased under the Game & Watch Gallery series as well as sold individually in dsiware and 3DS Eshop. Characters would also make occasional cameos in many games over the years, including the introduction of Mr. Game & Watch in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Nintendo would also develop more Game & Watch units, including the Club Nintendo exclusive 2010 reissue of Ball and the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Edition in 2020.

The Legend of Zelda series got its own Game & Watch entry, simply titled Zelda. Released exclusively in North America on August, 1989 as part of the Multi-Screen series, the game is notable for being the first Game & Watch entry after the launch of the Game Boy in April of that year, as well as the second to last entry in the original Game & Watch run, the final being Mario the Juggler in 1991.