Nintendo Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. - Not Machine Specific

My son absolutely loves this device. We wanted an updated version of the “game boy” without internet access. He particularly enjoys playing Mario in the car during road trips. The screen size is just right, and the device is slim enough to easily fit in his pocket. The screen is bright and easy to see, and the sound can be adjusted to suit his preferences. We tried a couple of cheaper versions, but they kept breaking after just a few days or weeks (we tried three). We considered getting the Nintendo Switch, but it was more expensive and complicated than we were looking for at the time. This device is perfect for an adult (my husband) who wants to relive his childhood gaming days, or for kids who need something simple and low-tech. We’re likely to buy a slightly different version for our daughter’s upcoming birthday. I wish it was a bit less expensive considering it only has a couple games offered, but the quality seems to be worth it. He’s been playing two months now with now problems. The rechargeable battery life is excellent and lasts through a long car ride.

If you didn't grow up in the 1980s with the old school Game & Watch devices and/or Super Mario Brothers, I'd find it hard to believe that you'd enjoy this device. In fact, even if you're a Super Mario Brothers fan, but didn't own one of the original Game & Watches, you might have a hard time enjoying this device. However, I personally did own a Game & Watch (Parachute) and played it to death when I was 7 years old (the buttons stopped working because I played it so much). I also spent countless hours on Super Mario Brothers starting at age 9. Because of these two experiences in my past, I knew I had to buy this Game & Watch when I first heard they were going to release it. Now that I've had it for about a week, I can say, for a fan like myself, it was worth the $50. Holding the Game & Watch in my hands when I first opened it brought a HUGE RUSH of memories of me playing Parachute as well as the memories of my grandparents searching all over the place to buy and gift it to me almost 40 years ago. Not gonna lie, I cried. This alone confirmed it was worth the purchase. And while I haven't been playing SMB1 too much, I've been addicted to the SMB2 as I never had a chance to play it when I was younger. The physics of Mario moving are exactly as I remember, which is something that can't be said for the versions of SMB1 and SMB2 included with Super Mario All Stars for the SNES/Wii, you know the brick breaking "bug". Ok enough of the nostalgia, let's quickly go over the device itself and the games. First of all, the LCD isn't bad. It's not great, but not bad. It is clearly a TN panel as the vertical viewing angles are pretty horrible. Luckily, it's so small that you probably will never be viewing it off angle in the vertical axis. Horizontally, it fares much better off angle. It is small, but not too small at 2.36". I haven't noticed any ghosting, but if I look closely, I definitely can see the pixels, so the DPI isn't the best either. However, it's perfectly reasonable for games that weren't high resolution to begin with. The display does seem to be stretched horizontally just a little bit, the screen probably isn't the exact aspect ratio of the original game as the blocks on the screen aren't perfectly square and the mushrooms look a little fat to me; this is a little annoying but does not affect game play at all. My 40+ year old eyes aren't what they used to be, but the display is big enough for me to play without any hindrance. The only thing I can complain about are the parts of SMB2 where there are leaves blowing on the screen to suggest there is wind; the leaves are very hard for me to see. But the audio gives cues that there is wind as well so it wasn't a huge drawback. Besides that, I have nothing to complain about with the display. The controls are great. While the DPAD isn't as big as the original NES controllers, it's plenty big for me and feels solid and responsive. The B and A buttons, in addition to the game/time/pause/set buttons, feel just like how I remember from my Parachute G&W. The unit was a little light on weight, but that feeling could be because I'm not 7 years old anymore. The biggest complaint I have is that the unit does not come with a kickstand like Parachute did so it cannot sit upright on my nightstand while in watch mode. The games, as mentioned before, seem to be exactly like the originals except for a couple really welcome additions. 1) While you can't save the state, you can pause a game and come back to it at anytime. This is on a per game basis, so you can have a paused SMB1, SMB2, and Ball all at the same time and switch between them to play any of them. 2) SMB1 and SMB2 has an option to have infinite lives. This feature was absolutely necessary for me to play and beat SMB2 as it is exponentially harder than SMB1 The watch is a fun addition, you can cycle through different backgrounds of the clock by repeatedly pressing the time button. There are also some other easter eggs for the watch with various button presses I'll let you figure out. And finally Ball, while it's not as exciting as SMB1 and SMB2, I love hearing the "tick tick tick" sounds each time an "LCD" animation moves, just like the original G&W games. The battery lasts FOREVER. Their estimated 8 hours of gameplay is not exaggerated. I charged it full, played for 2 - 3 hours and the battery meter still showed over half. Keep in mind, I kept the volume and brightness low. Speaking of volume, if you're alone in a quiet room, the lowest volume setting is already plenty loud IMO. And at the highest volume, it's still very clear. The inclusion of a high quality USB-A to USB-C cable was a nice touch, and it chargers pretty quickly. Overall, I can't recommend this little device enough, even at $50, BUT, with the big caveat that the Game & Watch plus Super Mario Brothers must hold a very dear place in your childhood.

This thing is just pure novelty for collectors. Sure, you can play Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels and the Mario version of Ball on it, but there are plenty of other (legit) ways to play those. Ball is the more difficult one to get hold of, but both Mario games are available for the Switch, as well as other platforms. But, this is still a fun unit with a really nice, although tiny, screen. This is the size of a Game & WAtch, so the screen is 2 inches by 1.5 inches. So, that makes Mario really tiny. But, it's still playable. The buttons and D-pad are nice, and the emulation is spot on, but that's what we expect from Nintendo's emulation. Aside from the games, you also get a nifty clock function with some cool animation. My only criticism is that it doesn't have the stand that the old Game & Watch units had, so you have to prop it up somehow to use it as a clock. Also, I don't believe it has an alarm function. The "instructions" it comes with are just how to charge it and then a bunch of warnings and warranty stuff. But, the functions are pretty much self explanatory. I had the clock set and had played all 3 games before I even looked at that sheet. Obviously, this is a bit pricey for a kid, but for an adult collector who just wants a cool novelty unit that works as intended, this is perfect. If you remember Game & Watch or just love Mario or collect Nintendo stuff, then this is for you.

It’s kinda smaller than I thought, I watched plenty of reviews but didn’t expect it was this small, not a bad thing tho, just surprised. Still, I got this for my dad who loves playing the first Mario in our old NES and since he spends a lot of time away I wanted to give him something that would make him feel like he is at home doing what he likes. Screen looks amazing, colors are vibrant, if you’ve been playing on those cheap Aliexpress famicon clone consoles, trust me this screen actually looks beautiful. Also the USB-C cable it includes (not on the picture) is really short but you can feel it’s quality. This console also has plenty of Easter eggs, one of them is the possibility of having infinite lives (my dad loved that but he keeps doing the old cheat in World 3-1, but hey, the option is there) If you’re looking to purchase this to add it to your collection is also a great choice, I’ll keep the box

Son loves it, simple and easy to take with him. Wish it was a bit cheaper, but made a great gift.

I bought it as a Christmas present for my wife and she loved the feel of it. The classic looks and the graphics were outstanding. It was great portable and holds long battery life. Brought back memories from childhood.

It's small but still an awesome piece

Right off the bat I'm gonna say this is a bit overpriced for what it is, but given the nature of the item being a limited collectible for the 35th anniversary, I guess it makes sense somewhat. The device itself is a bit smaller than I expected and pretty lightweight. It has a built in rechargeable battery and comes with a REALLY short USB type c cable to charge it with, but no AC adapter. All the buttons are rubber except for the d-pad and power buttons which are plastic, and all the buttons except the power button are the "mushy" kind and not the "clicky" kind which can make it a bit difficult to discern if you've pressed down the button hard enough for it to register sometimes especially the rubber ones. The screen is small and very crisp in displaying the pixels as a result, but the colors can look weird if you look at the screen from and angle, (but if you're playing it, why wouldn't you be looking at the screen directly to begin with?) You can adjust the brightness to your preference, (it can be made pretty freaking bright too), and the volume can also be adjusted to your liking. What the device offers is somewhat decent in my opinion with the exception of the clock which I'll get to in a moment. Super Mario Bros. and the Lost Levels both offer an infinite life mode if you find them to be a bit too difficult to beat, (just hold down the "A" button as you start the game from the title screen), and they save your progress if you pause and go back to the clock screen, but be careful not to select reset game as that will wipe all your progress and you'll have to start over. The Game & Watch Ball game is a neat little throw back with Mario and Luigi, (to play as Luigi just hold the "A" button down for 5 seconds as you start the game), in place of Mr. Game & Watch himself. Now on to the clock which I have a couple gripes with. It keeps time well enough, so it serves its purpose there, but the screen will turn itself off after a while of no inputs, probably to avoid screen burn-in, so you can't really have it set up as a little display with the time unfortunately. The clock also doesn't have an alarm function which would have been nice, but oh well. I don't know what the storage capacity is on the device, but if they were able to somehow fit in Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3 and maybe an alarm function for the clock then it would be a better device in my opinion, or if they sold this at a lower price as is. Overall though I'd still recommend this as a collectible item, although if you're on the fence about it you don't have much time from the time of me typing this to get one as Nintendo will stop producing these come March 31st, 2021, so hop on it now if you want one.

Unbelievable nostalgic unit! Perfect assembly! Worth of spent money.

Kids are enjoying with it

Mag er alstublieft een grotere versie van dit komen? Bijvoorbeeld als de xl Nintendo games console als vroeger. Veel speel plezier maar toch nog aan de kleine kant.Als de grote versie van dit uitkomt,koop ik die ook :-)

It's very light and works fine

Works well! Does what it says on the box for all you Nintendo cultists out there. I don’t have this long as I was hard up for cash and sold it off on eBay. Bought some food with it to stave off the hunger and depression. Wahoo