Game and Watch - The Topic (56k Warning)

[Cmtz]

Back in the 80's my parent's didn't have much money. Instead of buying a Nintendo or SEGA Master System I would buy handhelds. My favorites were the Game and Watch, but I had to save up at least half a year to buy one. Of course I don't have any of these any more. I would open them and mess around with the picture in the background. Then I would show my friends. I would tell them that I modded my handheld. LOL

Which Game and Watch was/is your favorite? Do you guys have any special memories?

http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~mspecian/Donkey%20Kong%20Jr.%20Game%20and%20Watch.jpg

http://toonervilleantiques.com/webpics/hand_helds/dkonggme.jpg

http://www.maj.com/gallery/MikeDotBe/GameAndWatch/JI21/FR-27/fr27_game.jpg

http://www.maj.com/gallery/MikeDotBe/GameAndWatch/JI21/DJ-101/dj101_game.jpg

http://www.zeldalegends.net/files/other/games/gamewatch/gwzelda-open2.jpg

[Nirvana]

Well, I never owned one, but I read about it in a Game Informer magazine when they were discussing the history of handhelds. They certainly do look cool. How much were they back then? I know that they'd probably be really expensive now due to rarity...

[Cauterize]

I can relate to your story about not gettin consoles as a kid... My parents couldnt afford it at the time, so i had handhelds like the Tiger "Sonic The Hedgehog" and a Racing game i remeber to be called "Game Child" or something...

I cant believe how much i played them though! Now, if i pick up one of these i get distracted easily...

Game and Watches are a different story however, i find them quite addictive due to the simplicitiy and High Score system...

I never owned a Game and Watch as a child, however in my collecting days i have managed to find:

Bombsweeper - Loose
Super Mario Bros - Loose
Donkey Kong II - Loose
Parachute - Loose
Goldcliff - Complete
SafeBuster - Complete
Donkey Kong Jr - Complete
Marios Cement Factory - Complete
Octopus - Complete
Green House - Complete
Mario the Juggler - Loose With Manual
Super Mario Bros Crystal Screen - Loose

http://videogamecollectors.com/albums/album28/room_of_doom_003.sized.jpg

Mario the Juggler and SMB Crystal are obviously my most prized possesions here, however id say out of these Goldcliff and Mario's Cement Factory are the most playable!

[Neil Koch]

I had SO many of those... I was poor as a kid as well (didn't get a system until I was 16 and got a job to pay for it). My mom, of course, went through my room after I left for college and sold them to a pawn shop for about $1 each x_x

[dcware]

Is the SMB Crystal screen rare / worth something? Because I bought one from a junk sale for 50p a few years ago, worked great, In good condition too. Must be around here somewhere.

[Cauterize]

Is the SMB Crystal screen rare / worth something? Because I bought one from a junk sale for 50p a few years ago, worked great, In good condition too. Must be around here somewhere.

IT SURE IS!!!

for example look at thes auctions
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nintendo-Game-Watch-CRYSTAL-SCREEN-SUPER-MARIO-BROS_W0QQitemZ8209117806QQcategoryZ50221QQssPageNa meZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nintendo-Game-Watch-Super-Mario-Bros-Crystal-NNIB_W0QQitemZ8209984793QQcategoryZ50221QQssPageNa meZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

also the DP guide...

Rarity 8 - $250 Loose

and you paid half the price i did for mine :P
I had to pay a whole 1 pound coin for it! :P

[dcware]

Oh my god... I guess I'd better find it, lol. Can't believe I didn't know it was worth anything all these years.

[AtariBuff]

I also had a few of those (Donkey Kong and a few others). The first great handheld :)

I have a Crystal Screen Climber for sale (in the box, pics available) if someone is interested.

[MarHel78]

A friend of mine had the light-blue Mario Bros. G&W which can be seen on the picture in Cauterize's post.

I used to play with it alot. I never had Game & Watches. However, I found a loose Octopus G&W the other day, with in working condition and with fresh batteries for just 2,50 Euros. Not too bad.

I used to have a green LCD handheld with a Tarzan setting. IIRC it was made by "Schuco". You had to get from point A to point B and dodge your enemies on the way: crocodiles, monkeys, snakes and coconuts. Saw one of these on ebay recently and wanted to buy it, but didn't win.

[Pantechnicon]

Never owned one, but was always fascinated by them. When I was growing up in Santa Fe circa 1982 there was this locally owned stereo shop in the mall that was also a reseller for lots of game systems and computers. On any given night you could walk into this place and they'd have, for example, Odyssey2, Commodore 64 and Vectrex all set up for demo play. Those were the days, kids...

Anyway, over on this one mirrored shelf they had around three or four G&W's sitting there to play as well the consoles. I'd gravitate over to these when the bigger kids were hogging the Odyssey2. I loved the whole dual-screen thing and the fact that they retianed high scores. Above all I liked the fact that they were portable. Back then the only other real portables were like those Mattel LED games. By comparison this LCD stuff was pretty sophisticated.

I pleaded with my parents to no avail for a Donkey Kong on the basis that it was a functional device since it had a clock. "You've already got a digital watch," was the reply :(

Nowadays I naturally keep my eyes open for these things in the wild but haven't found any yet. Historically speaking, I'm most interested in them because they represent Nintendo before they were Nintendo. One day I'll get lucky and bag a few.

[Amy Rose]

I have a Game and Watch that my grandpa gave me, back when I was about 7. It's in pretty bad condition now, but I love it to bits. It's Donkey Kong, orange and has two screens and I used to spend HOURS playing the stupid thing.

Looking back on it now, I don't see how it amused my brother and I that much. We even played it when we had other consoles, but... I guess I overdosed on it.

[McBacon]

How much did you roughly pay for your whole collection of these bad boys, Caut?

[Cauterize]

How much did you roughly pay for your whole collection of these bad boys, Caut?

Ha on estimate, about £15...

Seriously, people are totally unaware of the values, theyre just seen as "an out dated handheld lcd game" now... and i freaking love it that way!!!

However, finding them at car boots is another story... hard as hell IMO
The majority i have found have been mixed up with other toys...
What you see is about 5 years worth of Car boot huntings of G&Watches

[McBacon]

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5259/linkgw1vv.jpg

Link takes some time off saving Hyrule with some classic Octopus action.

Its fun when you play fullgames that could have been sparked off by these LCDs. For example, a game for the commodore 64 called "Sleep Walker" sees you as a dog frantically putting bridges over gaps and doing whatever it takes to stop your friend from getting hurt whilst sleep walker...... very similar to the classic ManHole!

[Jorpho]

The G&W games were some of the most expensive items I saw when browsing a used game store in Japan recently, but even there they were only selling for something around $100 US each.

I think I might still have a 2-player Donkey Kong 3 somewhere.

[MegaDrive20XX]

One of these days, I would love to have the Zelda Game and Watch.

I remember my first one was the wrist watch of "Tetris" back in 1991.

[Ryaan1234]

I have Donkey Kong Jr., Zelda, and Popeye game & watches. I got Donkey Kong Jr. off ebay in a lot of some toys for $16, I got my Zelda at a flea market for $.50, and a recently found the Popeye one at a garage sale for $1. I look everywhere I go for these things. I think I would've missed the zelda game & watch if I hadn't spotted a mario doll and a armatron in a box of toys and decided to look though the box for more 80's toy goodness.

[diskoboy]

I never knew there was a Zelda G&W!

My favorites were always Donkey Kong, Epoch Man (the best of all the pac clone handhelds), Spitball Sparky, Manhole, and a game and watch called Runaway.

I think it was made by Gakken, around 82-83. The object of the game was to make it through a yard full of spotlights to escape from jail (in a nutshell, you just had to get your character from one side of the screen to the other). The cool thing about Runaway - Color LCD :)

[InsaneDavid]

Ah yes, the Game & Watch, Gunpei Yokoi's greatest invention. (it introduced the freaking gamepad - that's like inventing the next evolution of the joystick, and we still use it to this day!!) On the contrary to many other posts, Game & Watches were one of the few toys I DIDN'T have as a kid. It was always "you already have an Atari and Nintendo, you don't need that." Except for the wristwatch version of Donkey Kong I was still Game & Watchless until last month when I picked up Mario's Cement Factory ($1) and Mario Bros ($7) from the local flea market. Great, another collection to begin that I can't afford. LOL

[unbroken]

I had the donkey kong one, it was a fun game, especially back then, i wish i still had it. ive also been meaning to find a zelda G&W for my zelda collection, but ive had no luck. they were definetly fun games, alot better then the old tiger lcd games.