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.
The Watch
By default, the Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. shows a clock (the “watch” part of Game & Watch). It’s a Super Mario Bros.-themed clock that displays the time as different blocks, with Mario running from left to right repeatedly, stomping on enemies as they fall from the top of the screen. A black square slowly ticks around the edge of the screen to show the seconds, while the blocks themselves get smashed and replaced when the minute and hour change over. The seconds are counted with a beeping “ticking” sound, but you can easily mute it, and adjust the screen brightness, with the Pause/Set button.
The clock is full of little Easter eggs and interactive bits. Pressing the A or B buttons makes more Koopa Troopas and Goombas fall from the sky, and pressing them both at once makes the time flash. The background shifts through different daytime and nighttime themes according to the time of day, and you can choose different styles for the “stage” Mario runs across by pressing the Time button. Luigi pops up instead of Mario from time to time, and animations for minute and hour transitions vary.
The Games
The “game” side of Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. is three playable games you can access by pressing the Game button. The little card has Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 (the Japanese version, originally released as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels on Super Mario All-Stars in North America), and Ball, the very first Game & Watch game.
Super Mario Bros. is exactly what it sounds like, the classic and groundbreaking Famicom/NES game from 1985. It plays well on the small screen, and even my big thumbs had no problems with the tiny controls. There’s little to say about Super Mario Bros. that hasn’t already been said; it was the first great Mario game, and started an empire. Yes, Mario existed before SMB, but this was the game that really kicked off the series, and arguably helped save home video games as a concept.
Super Mario Bros. 2 is the Japanese version of the game, not to be confused with the re-skinned version of a completely different game, Doki Doki Panic, that North America got. It’s almost identical to Super Mario Bros. in graphics and mechanics, just much harder. Its inclusion is a nice bonus, but it’s a shame to not see the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 or Super Mario Bros. 3 on the device, both of which are far superior to the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 in every way. Those sequels are also much more influential to the Mario series as a whole, establishing characters and concepts that remain in Mario games to this day. There’s a reason the American version of SMB2 was eventually released as Super Mario USA in Japan, and it’s the same reason Shy Guys and Bob-ombs are still seen in Mario games.
The third game is a Mario version of Ball, the first Game & Watch game. It’s a very simple juggling game where you move Mario’s (Mr. Game & Watch in the original game) arms left and right to catch balls as they fly over his head, with each catch earning a point. It’s simple, but entertaining. It’s also a good callback to a part of the Game & Watch’s legacy that hasn’t endured nearly as much as Mario in the public consciousness.
For Hardcore Nintendo Fans
Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. isn’t intended to be a comprehensive collection or even a particularly useful device for anything besides quick gaming sessions and telling the time. This is simply a fun, little device that calls back to Nintendo’s portable video game roots, and celebrates Super Mario Bros.’ 35th anniversary. You’re not getting it for a deep feature set; you’re getting it because its a Game & Watch with Famicom colors, and is loaded with Super Mario Bros. imagery. That’s just fine.
Nintendo fans should keep an eye out for the Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. It isn’t a must-have piece of video game nostalgia like the SNES Classic, but it’s an enjoyable trinket that celebrates Nintendo’s history.
