Game & Watch
The Game & Watch series was a line of approximately 59 handheld video games made by Nintendo and created by Gunpei Yokoi from 1980 to 1991. They featured a game that could be played on an LCD screen, in addition to a clock and alarm. Some of the titles available in Game & Watch format were Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Mario Bros., Mickey Mouse, and Balloon Fight. For a more complete list, see List of Game & Watch games.
The Game & Watch games are getting a renewal with the Game and Watch Gallery series of games for the Game Boy. They feature not only the original games, but new, modernized versions as well.
Soon enough, every toy company was copying the footsteps the Game & Watch left behind - such as Tiger Electronics and their Star Wars themed games.
In 2001, the character in the Game & Watch games was given an official name, Mr. Game & Watch, in the GameCube game Super Smash Bros, Melee.
Rise of the Game Boy
Game & Watches were eventually superseded by handheld games such as Game Boy. The Game & Watches had one flaw - each unit was only able to play essentially one game, due to the LCD display being pre-printed with the characters necessary for one game. Game Boys and other successors were able to play many different games, using a more flexible dot matrix display and plug-in game cartridges.
