Nintendo nostalgia in your pocket
Long before the Nintendo Switch there was the Game Boy. And long before the Game Boy there were Game & Watch games. Nintendo has repeatedly pioneered portable gaming, and the Game & Watch series was its first big hit. To celebrate both the company’s legacy in handheld games and the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Nintendo has released the Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. It’s a $49.99 device modeled after the original Game & Watch games, but equipped with a color LCD screen and the ability to play Super Mario Bros. It’s a limited, but fun, little system that should please longtime Nintendo fans. Playing With Pocket Power The Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. is a cheerful, plastic card in Famicom red and gold, measuring 2.6 by 4.9 by 0.4 inches (HWD). It houses a 2.5-inch color LCD screen, with a NES-style black plus-shaped direction pad on the left and red A and B buttons on the right. The controls are tiny compared with an NES Classic’s controller, but still usable. Game, Time, and Pause/Set buttons sit in the card’s top-right corner. The Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros.’ right edge holds a USB-C port for charging (a cable is included), along with a power button. Nintendo doesn’t specify how long the battery lasts between charges, but the screen automatically turns off after a few minutes when not in use (it can be turned back on with a tap of the power button). The left edge of the card holds a small slot hole for the speaker to beep through. The screen is bright and colorful, two things that the original Game & Watch displays were not. The original 1980 Game & Watches used monochrome, un-backlit liquid crystal displays with preset graphics that would flash on and off as you play. The Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. basically has a small phone screen. Colors are rich when you look at it straight-on, but they wash out easily from off-angles. Still, it’s a huge upgrade over previous Game & Watches.
