The Game & Watch series of handheld consoles from Nintendo was first released in April 1980 with the release of Game & Watch: Ball. The last console in the original run was released in 1991. Special anniversary re-releases in 2020 and 2021 were later released. The Game & Watch console was designed by Gunpei Yokoi who had the idea for a miniature handheld console after watching a bored train passenger playing with a calculator's buttons to pass the time. The consoles also include a clock which display on the LCD screen, providing the watch part of Game & Watch. The original Donkey Kong version of the Game & Watch, released on 3rd June 1982, was the first console/controller to feature Nintendo's cross-shaped d-pad.

This example in our collection is the Mario Bros. model, which was released on 14th March 1983 as part of the Horizontal Multi Screen series. Despite its name, it has no similarity to the popular arcade game Mario Bros. Instead of plumbing, Mario and Luigi are working at a bottling factory and must prepare packages of bottles to load onto a delivery truck. The model opened like a book, and could allow for simultaneous two-player action, with one player controlling Luigi on the left half of the game and the other playing Mario on the right.

Manufacturer: Nintendo
Date: 1983

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH40320. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

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