Nintendo is leaning hard into nostalgia this year, and its latest retro gadget takes it all the way back to 1980.
The Japanese gaming company announced it would re-release Game & Watch, the handheld sensation that put Nintendo on the map 40 years ago.
First introduced in 1980 and produced until 1991, Game & Watch was a series of handheld games -- 59 in all -- that Nintendo sold before the Game Boy took over the world. Unlike the Game Boy, the black-and-white Game & Watch games could only play a single game each.The new Game & Watch, made to look like the original with all its 80s styling, is decidedly more modern -- it has a color LCD screen and a rechargeable battery with a USB-C connector. It will play three games: "Super Mario Bros.," "Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels" and "Ball (the Mario version)."
Like every Game & Watch device that came out after 1981, the new one can also become an alarm clock with the tap of a button. This time, the clock features 35 different screen-saver scenes of Mario interacting with the clock.Although Game & Watch wasn t Nintendo s first video game attempt, it was its first successful one, paving the way for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985 and the Game Boy in 1989.
The Game & Watch isn t as celebrated as some of Nintendo s other game systems, but it was the first system to feature the + shaped directional pad, first found on the 1982 "Donkey Kong" Game & Watch. Its success also gave some legitimacy to handheld gaming, which was a niche that video game manufacturers were unsure of in the 1970s.
Nintendo has dipped into the Game & Watch nostalgia bucket before by releasing a version last decade and putting Mr. Game & Watch -- the anonymous character who appears in many of the early Game & Watch games -- into its "Super Smash Bros." games.
The company has been on a re-release tear lately. In recent years, it sold classic versions of the NES and Super Nintendo, complete with a couple dozen games and the original controllers. Now, Nintendo is in full celebration mode: It s the 35th anniversary of Mario. The company announced a ton of Mario fun, including a new battle royale game and the re-release of "Super Mario 64," "Super Mario Galaxy" and" Super Mario Sunshine."
Now it s Game & Watch s turn in the spotlight. The 40th anniversary edition of the Game & Watch will go on sale November 13 for a limited time.
