Handhelds
Game & Watch
The Game & Watch (Japanese: ゲーム&ウオッチ, romanized: Gēmu & Uotchi) is a line of handheld electronic games created by Nintendo. Released from 1980 to 1991, these devices were the brainchild of designer Gunpei Yokoi. Their name reflects their dual functionality: a single game paired with a digital clock (like a watch) on an LCD screen.
Starting in 1981, models also included an alarm. In North America, the games were originally released through Mego Corporation as the Time-Out series; this line, consisting of Ball (retitled Toss-Up), Vermin (retitled Exterminator), and Fire (retitled Fireman Fireman), was discontinued later that year, with Nintendo of America subsequently distributing the series themselves under their original titles.
A massive hit, the Game & Watch series sold a combined 43.4 million units worldwide, with 12.87 million sold in Japan and 30.53 million overseas. This achievement marked the first major worldwide success for a Nintendo video game product.
The devices are powered by a 4-bit CPU from Sharp’s SM5xx family that consisted of 1792 bytes of ROM with 65 bytes x 4 banks of RAM and an LCD screen driver circuit.
Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_%26_Watch)
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Short Info
Also known as:
- G&W
- Tricotronic (West Germany, Austria)
- Time-Out (North America)
Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Manufacturer: Nintendo
Product family: Game & Watch
Type: Series of handheld electronic games
Generation: Second
Release date: April 28, 1980
Lifespan: 1980–1991 (11 years)
Units sold: 43.6 million
CPU: Sharp SM5xx family
Display: Segmented liquid-crystal display
Best-selling game: Donkey Kong (approx. 8 million units)
Successor: Game Boy