In a Japanese train, there was a bored man. In those days, mobile phones, Snake game, or portable consoles barely existed. All he had to pass the time after reading the newspaper was a calculator he brought to work. He started playing with it, as all kids have done in some particularly boring math class. What he didn’t know was that by doing so, he was changing video games forever. On the same train as him, a Nintendo employee was traveling, who, again without a good way to entertain himself, analyzed what was happening around him. He saw problems and, above all, proposed solutions. In terms of entertainment, we can surely do better than a calculator; he must have thought.
The seed of what we now call “Nintendo philosophy”
The story is known to a good part of the public because seeing that bored man gave Gunpei Yokoi the idea to create the Game & Watch. We can say that this was the first portable console in history and, essentially, it didn’t have much more technology than a calculator. The idea was worthy, and it is also surprising that Nintendo barely took a week to give the green light to the development after the first meeting. However, what stands out the most when we see these consoles is the brilliant design of their video games. They had to adapt to so many technological limitations that, seen from the perspective of players who started playing during the 2000s, it seems impossible that there was anything worth it.
Nintendo invented many things with this device. The name Game & Watch can be translated into English as “Game & Watch,” so it should not be surprising that its functions were exactly those two: killing time and telling time so you didn’t have to use another device. It was a way to justify its purchase beyond being “a toy for children.” This is something that all video game companies have copied with more advanced technologies. The most exemplary case is Sony. If you were born around the 90s and were a “plei” person, you have probably tried to convince your parents to buy you the PlayStation 2 by telling them that it could also play DVDs.
A doll with six pre-set positions and three balls with a marked trajectory. This was the first and addictive game of Game & Watch (Via YouTube, @
Putting marketing matter aside, the main element of the Game & Watch were the video games. Each console could only run one title. It should be taken into account that the LCD screens used by Nintendo were not very different from those of watches and calculators. Technological limitations, in addition to being the result of the era in which the first machines arrived (1980), were also due to a tight budget. The Game & Watch models had to be available at relatively low prices and adapt to all budgets. An advertisement from 1983 shows that some of them cost between 15 and 20 pounds (equivalent to about 50 or 60 pounds today after adjusting for inflation).
An interesting article from The Boar includes statements from journalist Lara Crigger: “There was little room for mistakes in the design. If the gameplay was not simple or addictive enough, the game failed. It couldn’t hide behind spectacular graphics or intricate stories. There was a player, a mechanic, and that’s it.” In this sense, the creation of games was a good test of ingenuity and is exemplified in the one that came with the first Game & Watch model: Ball. Basically, it was a doll juggling two balls. It threw them in the air from one side of the screen and had to catch them on the other side. This was repeated endlessly, with increasing difficulty like Tetris: the higher the score, the faster everything went.
Advertisement of the Game & Watch in 1983. Highlighted the Donkey Kong model.
The Game & Watch games were based on the players’ competitive spirit. A simple task that becomes complicated and invites to set a higher score target each time. Although it has become more complex (and already existed before this Nintendo machine), it is still an identical loop to what competitive games like League of Legends or Counter-Strike propose today. Additionally, the Game & Watch brought two game modes “Game A,” a simple version to start, and “Game B,” a more complex option where games started at a higher difficulty level. In the “Game B” of Ball, for example, we juggled with three balls (instead of two) that moved a bit faster. It was like the “Game A” after reaching 280 points.
These machines evolved over the more than ten years they were available, offering increasingly complex experiences and modifying their model. They released things as strange as dual-screen consoles. Some in book format (one on the left and one on the right) and others in Nintendo DS format (one on top and one on the bottom). In general, they were a stroke of genius in design and a reminder that sometimes video games are little more than the art of entertaining us through very few options. However, the most remarkable thing about the Game & Watch is that it changed the history of video games. This is usually used lightly, but here we are not exaggerating in the slightest.
The inspiration of Nintendo DS in Game & Watch model Donkey Kong is evident.
The existence and success of the Game & Watch were the seed of Nintendo’s philosophy as a company more focused on innovation than on cutting-edge technology. The same is true when we think about how the company has managed to bring video games to an audience that historically was not related to the medium. When we think seriously, everything started here. This was a product that catered to young technology enthusiasts, businessmen who got bored on the train, or parents who wanted to keep their children entertained on a car trip. It is generally overlooked, focusing on Wii, Nintendo Switch, or Nintendo DS. However, it is extremely unfair not to take it into account.
In fact, two of the biggest triumphs in Nintendo’s history (and up to three if you stretch it) were directly inspired by the Game & Watch. The birth of Game Boy is the most evident example, as the machine acted as a sort of “super gamewatch” that could play several video games. Something similar happened with the Nintendo DS. The second best-selling console in history was inspired by the dual-screen Game & Watch model Donkey Kong. Eric explains this perfectly on his channel Legends and Video Games. Hiroshi Yamauhci, Nintendo’s former president, who had left his position, was concerned about the arrival of Sony’s handheld (PSP) and suggested to his former subordinates a different approach knowing that they would be defeated in the race for brute power.
Game & Watch is now just a memory in the retro video game museum, but that does not take away its merit as a gaming device. With it, a butterfly effect began whose ramifications have been undeniable, affecting all hardware companies and forever changing our favorite form of entertainment.
In 3DJuegos | Analysis of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. After the success of Breath of the Wild, Nintendo wants to revolutionize The Legend of Zelda once again
In 3DJuegos | Difficult to choose among so many great games, here are the 20 best Game Boy Advance games
