Sometimes it's all about the little things. Recently, Nintendo came out
with this little guy called the Game and Watch. What you might not know though
is that the Game and Watch series started coming out about 40 years ago in the 1980's.
There were about 60 of these little handheld game units that were precursors to the Gameboy
that came out in 1989, with it's removable cartridges. It's kind of fun to bring back a
little bit of history. And now I think we should have a little fun of our own. Let's get started.
[Intro]
They call this the Game and Watch, not because someone is supposed to watch you play, but
because it has a watch built in – a little clock that tells the time. Watches were more important
back in the 1980's when smartphones didn't exist and everything was in black and white.
This new version is a full color display – an improvement from the originals.
It also has a single speaker on the side.
There are 3 games on this version, the main one being Super Mario Brothers,
and it's a full recreation of the whole game right here in the palm of your hand.
I never really played this much as a kid, but the first level is easy enough that anyone can do it.
Kind of like storming the capital. Apparently you can just walk right in.
There's no physical volume buttons, but the sound can be adjusted electronically.
I think it's time we started the durability test, since this is a portable device.
We'll start with the scratch test. As we know, a plastic screen would scratch at a level 2 or 3,
glass would be a 5 or 6, and sapphire would be a level 8 or 9 on Mohs scale of hardness. Judging by
the way the liquid crystals look under pressure and the marks we start seeing at a level 3,
we can tell that this screen is made from plastic. It's recessed below the surface of
the Game and Watch so it won't ever be rubbing up against stuff or getting scratched on accident.
And this unit does only cost $50. So a plastic screen is to be expected.
Unexpectedly though, there's a layer of metal on the front. A shiny metal anodized aluminum layer
with it's red rubber A and B buttons, as well as the gray rubber menu buttons.
The black arrow pads are made from hard black plastic. Then if we make our way to the red
sides of the Game and Watch, we find that those are plastic as well, along with a more modern
USB-C port, and a gray plastic recessed power button. The rest of the sides are also made
from that same plastic. The back of the gaming system is plastic, but has a rougher texture.
I attempted a small Art Class with Jerry, but we're not off to a good start this year. With
every phone recently being made out of glass, I'm just out of practice. This was supposed to be one
of those Super Mushrooms from the game. Anyway, I'm probably going to get some heat for that one.
But speaking of heat, the LCD screen of the Nintendo Game and Watch lasted about 10
seconds under the heat from my lighter before the pixels overheated, went dark, and stopped
working. We haven't seen this in a while either, since most phones these days are using OLED
screens. But the pixels did come back on and mostly recovered after the heat was removed.
Structurally, the little system feels solid. And when bent from the front and the back
it maintains its structural integrity. Not bad for a $50 block of plastic. The screen has some
pressure marks during the bend, but does not crack or break. Nice work, Nintendo. Thumbs up for that.
With only 4 screws on the back, I think we should just take it apart while we're here.
Nintendo once again is using their own tri-tip screws on the exterior.
It's a pretty common screw and I'll link the toolkit that I'm using down in the description.
Separating the two halves reveals quite a bit, and the battery looks very, very familiar. It's
pretty much the exact same battery that's used inside of the Nintendo Switch controllers. The
same model up top, as well as the same 3.7 volt 525 milliamp hour and 1.9 watt hours. It makes
sense since the Nintendo has sold over 70 million Nintendo Switch consoles. I'm sure they have
quite a few extra joy-con batteries laying around, just ready to use for this Game and Watch system.
The internal battery lasts about 8 hours. There are 11 more Phillips head
screws holding down the main board and that plastic battery bracket.
I'll remove those. Nintendo's really good at keeping things simple. Like, they are probably
the best at it. A lot of companies would try to make their power button complex with little
springs and levers, but Nintendo just extrudes a funky shape and lets the plastic do all the work.
I'll flip the latch on the screen buttons,
unplug the battery just like a little Lego, and the whole board can lift away from the body.
The board is still attached to the speaker with its soldered wire connections.
The speaker has a clear plastic diaphragm like we saw inside of the AirPods,
and a USB-C charging port that's also soldered to the motherboard. The buttons are designed
just like we saw inside of the Switch and other game controllers, with the rubber underneath the
buttons doing most of the work, spring loading the buttons so it can be pressed a million times
without failure. The black pads on the back are conductive and touch certain points on
the motherboard when they are recessed. Same thing goes for the menu buttons and the A and B buttons.
Getting everything put back together is easy enough. It's kind of a fun little toy.
I'm glad Nintendo keeps making these gadgets. It got released alongside the new Xbox and PS5 gaming
systems. So Nintendo is just doing their part to keep the console wars alive. It's a great gift for
kids, adults, or anyone who might have lost their Twitter recently. Speaking of which, come hang out
with me on Twitter if you haven't already. And thanks a ton for watching, I'll see you around.