The Game & Watch are handheld electronic video game units created by Nintendo in the 1980s, consisting of a video game on an LCD display, and a clock (the “watch” part in the name). The first game, Ball, was introduced in 1980, and the last original Game & Watch was Mario the Juggler in 1991. These handheld games were a big hit in the 1980s and were popular all around the globe.
In 2020 Nintendo surprised the world with a new Game & Watch: Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. This new take on the device looked similar to the original models, but with a modern colour LCD replacing the black and white LCD of the originals, and celebrated the 35th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros. In 2021 Nintendo released another new model – Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda. This too celebrated the 35th anniversary of that franchise.
Both devices were commercially successful, and it looked, at the time, like we might be getting a new Game & Watch every year. Unfortunately, Nintendo so far has shown no signs of releasing more models. Here, I’d like to propose a new model for Nintendo to consider.
The History of Donkey Kong
First, a little about Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong was released in the arcades in Japan in 1981. It was a vertical screen game (portrait mode for those used to talking about phone displays), and had two arcade sequels: Donkey Kong Jr. (1982) and Donkey Kong 3 (1983). Donkey Kong was a massive hit in its day, introducing the world to Mario himself and inspiring entire series of games based on Mario and Donkey Kong.
The Original Donkey Kong Game & Watch
One of the most popular Game & Watch entries in the 1980s was the dual screen Donkey Kong, released in 1982. Growing up in Australia, this was the ultimate electronic game; a unit every kid dreamed of owning at the time.
The device consisted of two LCD screens with similar gameplay to the wildly popular arcade game. It also was one of the first Nintendo products to utilise their soon-to-be-famous D-pad.
Donkey Kong 45th Anniversary
2026 will be the 45th Anniversary of Donkey Kong. Given Mario and Zelda got 35th Anniversary Game & Watches, it seems fitting that Donkey Kong also receive some love. Happy Birthday Donkey Kong!
Given this coming event I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for Nintendo to release a new Game & Watch; one based on the Donkey Kong franchise, in the style of the classic Donkey Kong Game & Watch.
The Proposal
So, the proposal is to release the first new dual-screen Game & Watch, that is visually similar to the original, but using the new screens and hardware. The unit would be even more sought-after by collectors because of the dual screen and is sure to be a big hit for Nintendo.
The device would play the arcade games (emulated original ROMs):
- Donkey Kong
- Donkey Kong Jr.
- Donkey Kong 3
And include a bonus:
- Faux-LCD version of the original Game & Watch Donkey Kong.
The vertical arcade games could be split across dual screens, as their vertical layout closely matches this aspect ratio very well as they were vertical.
So in total there would be four games. There could even be a 5th hidden game of Game & Watch Donkey Kong II:
A New Game & Watch
A new Game & Watch, the first new dual-screen device, would be inspired by the original gold and orange colour scheme, though toned down to give it a more modern look. Here’s a mockup of the device running the original arcade version of Donkey Kong.
Here’s a mockup with Donkey Kong Jr.
Here’s a mockup with the lesser-known Donkey Kong 3.
The bonus game with faux-LCD would look as follows:
The faux-LCD game would use exactly the same graphics converted from LCD, but changing Mario’s head, inspired by a similar change made in the 2020 Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch.
On the unit itself the single button would be labelled as the “A” button instead of “Jump” as in the original, as Donkey Kong 3 has a “Fire” button instead of “Jump”. Apart from this, controls would be very similar in keeping with the original device.
Not shown in the mockup is the hinge mechanism, and the screens would need appropriate indentation and moulding to let them close without colliding with each other.
What About The “Watch” Part?
Game & Watch devices are also about keeping time, so a new interface would be created including the clock. One possible clock here would be the time being shown as part of the Donkey Kong building scaffolding (bottom screen), with barrels sliding down and hitting the digits to change them. Perhaps Mario can run around and jump over barrels and climb the numbers themselves to make the watch component more interactive. Basically play the first level of the game, climbing over the numbers.
Is This Technically Feasible?
Dual Screen Resolution
The 2020 model had a resolution of 320 x 240, which is fairly low.
The original Donkey Kong arcade game had a resolution of 224 x 256. This was often stretched however to fill a 3:4 screen (CRT on its side).
If you split the original arcade games in half, so that half appears on each of the two proposed screens, “pixel perfect” will look similar to this.
This looks a little squished and wastes a lot of space.
If you stretch the game out to fill both screens you get this.
This looks too stretched and I think would annoy purists who love the arcade machine.
However, as I mentioned, if you assume a 3:4 screen and stretch appropriately, you get something that looks like most arcade games of the era.
This seems a good compromise. So I believe splitting the arcade games across two LCDs would work for this device. Mockups shown above all show the game stretched for a 3:4 screen.
The Processor
In terms of the processor, the chip used in the 2020 model should be powerful enough to emulate these older arcade games, given it could emulate a Famicom/NES. So I don’t believe processing power is an issue here.
What Problems Would Nintendo Face?
The obvious issues I can see here are:
- Cost: With two screens, the cost would likely be double that of the 2021 model. I’ve assumed similar hardware, so the LCD screens may be cheaper now than they were then, but obviously there is more engineering on the actual device required here. This might make Nintendo feel the product is too expensive to produce.
- Engineering: The 2021 Game & Watch was very similar to the 2020 model in style, so Nintendo could use the engineering of that first model on the second and save a lot of development time and cost. This is a new design, with hinge, and dual screen. So there is more engineering required. Nintendo may not have the appetite to engineer a completely new design.
- Demand: I personally think the demand would be high for this device, because of the dual screen nature; there is a lot of nostalgia for this particular Game & Watch model. However, Nintendo may feel there wouldn’t be enough demand for the product and may not want to risk a failure.
Conclusion
I’d love to see Nintendo bring out this product. This would be a fantastic new Game & Watch, and something that would be in high demand by collectors all over the world.
If anyone from Nintendo is reading this, I hope it gives you some inspiration.