It seemed like a pretty quiet month for Japan - With just three VC games initially announced for a July release and this week having no WiiWare games at all it almost looked as if Nintendo was actually running out of games to release!
It seems like it was all a ruse to surprise us with today's news though - Starting next week in Japan, Nintendo will be releasing Game & Watch games on DSiWare! If you know your Nintendo history, you'll know that the Game & Watch games were the very first handhelds Nintendo ever made.
Released from 1980 all the way to 1991, the games were divided into 10 different "series," such as fairly standard Silver, Gold, Wide Screen and New Wide Screen games, Tabletop games, which looked like miniature arcade cabinets, and Multi Screen games, which were the direct inspiration for the look of the DS!
It seems like Nintendo will start from the beginning - The first 9 Game & Watch games to hit DSiWare will be from the first four series of games. To start off, next week, on July 15th, Japan will get four games from the very first series, Silver, from 1980:
Nintendo have also already announced five further games, but these won't be released until the end of July and August. They are:
- Chef (Wide Screen, July 29th)
- Donkey Kong Jr. (New Wide Screen, August)
- Helmet (Gold, July 29th)
- Manhole (New Wide Screen, August)
- Mario's Cement Factory (New Wide Screen, August)
All games will cost the very minimum DSiWare price - 200 points! No plans for western releases have been announced yet, but come on, Nintendo wouldn't let us miss out on something as awesome as this, would they?
[source nintendo.co.jp]
Comments 69
This could be cool!
YAY! First!
One step closer to GameBoy games...
Oh yes, this is fantastic news. Combined with Electroplankton, it's like they've been reading my mind of late regarding the DSi.
@ Arctic Friend: Keep in mind though we still haven't gotten the Club Nintendo Game & Watch Collection, so it might be that.
Sign me up for Mario's Cement Factory, I had that G&W as a kid and played it to death, Awesome!
Yes! I mentioned my want for this in the forum, maybe they read my post? Nah!
I still have my Mario's Cement Factory and Donkey Kong Jr. G&Ws. This is a great idea!
Come on Nintendo, make it happen here.
One step closer to a Portable VC indeed. Can't wait. I wonder if they'll release all the G&W games on the DSi
Gadd that almost makes we want to trade up from DSLite to DSi, Game and Watch are so awesome.
Ok Nintendo you finnaly you convinced me to buy a DSi!!!
Good news they don't release a G&W calculator for 200 points.
^^lol^^ i am getting them all when they come here im very happy they are releaseing someing worth my money also all those games arent on the G&W collection 1&2 right?
What great news!!
I still have my Zelda Game & Watch
Can't wait for it to get a Western release
@Kenny
You are correct, none of the announced games are available on either compilation.
@Nintendo
What so no emulation but you can sim G&W games? * pulls out hair *
Just let him release Intellvision Lives!
@Dazza - Lol OMG I still have mine. It's still in my room with the time running.
See, this is what kills me, Japan is getting the 1st 4 in the same week. When and if Nintendo decides to release this here, they'll trickle out at a snail's pace and we can get maybe 1 per month-if we're lucky. Japan just doesn't know how good they have it..............
Yay! We finally get a Virtual Handheld! (Although bboy29670-san might be right...)
Neat. Hopefully if these are successful we'll see some gb games too. Never played game and watch, so it will be interesting to read the reviews. I'll probably buy some if Club Nintendo releases something else besides Game and Watch Collection that I want before I hit 800 points.
@MarkyVigoroth
No, wrong! This is DSiWare, Game & Watch CAN NOT be emulated, no ROMs exist, the data is impossible to dump. They can only accurately remake them. It would be virtual handheld if they were emulated, but sadly no. But there is more hope now.
This is great news! I need to figure out how to connect my DSi to the internet ASAP.
OMG This LOOKS AMAZING. im going to need to stock up on dsi pointsa when this comeas out. ill probally get them all! ive never played game and watch games before r they fun?
By the way: Chef already is on the DSi. It's fully playable in Cooking Guide.
This is excellent news.
@Jerichoholic Josh, post #2: True...
Hopefully each game has a remake-version too, otherwise 200 points would be too high for me.
YES! Thank you Nintendo. Nintendo is finally listening and bringing us even more great first-party DSiWare titles.
Thats practically VC on DSi. Nice, can't wait until confirmation of other systems occurs.
Can't wait to play Zelda G&W again. I recently wasted a few bucks getting a remake of it on a key chain, but I don't think it works, or I don't know what I'm doing.
Bring on the G&W and Electroplankton, NoA. Wariowoods and I are waiting.
Edit: Actually I still have G & W Donkey Kong jr.2 and Bombsweeper packed away in the house. Both were good, but I remember Bombsweeper being very addictive. This could be the start of a DSi VC.(fingers crossed)
Both Bombsweeper and Dk jr. 2 were multiscreen games that look like an early DS
Huh..is the Game & Watch text the same as the Pictobits text?
This is the start of VC on DSi.
Oh man I hope they do this in Europe. Zelda and Mario Bros. 3 please!
@Adam: I got 2 of those. Little Gameboys with Mario on one and DK on the other. They're cool.
People seem more interested in this than I might have thought. Personally, I think I'll stick with the Game & Watch Gallery series. You can get G&W Gallery 4 on GBA for $5 at Gamestop, and it has more games on it, including a number of "modern" versions! If they put in the modern versions on these downloads, I might consider it. Otherwise, I view this as a waste of money, for me, anyway. I wouldn't dream of telling those who are excited about this not to download them, of course.
I do like the thought that this is one step closer to the Virtual Handheld, though. I guess we'll see, huh?
Now this is a MUCH better use of 200 points then the Clocks!
I had a couple of these in my youth but didn't know what I had, I just thought they were another electronic handheld and was blissfully unaware that they were made by Nintendo.
I had a Snoopy one where he played tennis and some sort of Donkey Kong one where you swung from branches avoiding crocs to collect a key, maybe Donkey Kong Jnr?
Great idea though, if it leads to a full handheld VC then I may well be tempted to take the plunge and buy myself my first DS.
First step towards a DSi VC
Also, why do all mods have grey boxes now?
lol i need to go get a dsi if this becomes a full on dsi vc
Well at least they're only 200 points.
Obviously this is also going to make a bit more sense once the dual screen games come out.
I new it! They were probably waiting for us to use all of are free points so they could acually get money from these, clever thinking Nintendo
metakirbyknight-san, even if they are re-created, they are still previous-system games on the DSi Shop, so a Virtual Handheld already came.
they should make some kind of package deal for those of us interested in buying all of them( like me and I'm sure many of you)
1) we save some money
2) saves us room on the DSi menu (one G&W box instead of 9+)
3) easier access to all games (rather than backing out to the DSi menu just to play a different game)
So what does this mean for that Game & Watch Collection Nintendo is offering in the Club Nintendo store? Will it become a rare collector's item?
Vermin is quite a fun game still. Some others have dated terribly.
So we have to spend 800 Club Nintendo Coins to get a three game compilation, but it's only $2 for each game here? Geez... maybe it's about to be discontinued? None of these games are in that compilation.
Now this is a separate clock app I could get into!
Zelda Game Watch
Zelda Game & Watch
The only two I really care about, but I might get some more after I've got all the collections. I had G&W Gallery 2 at one point, but I sold it for... reasons I've forgotten.
Good thinking Nintendo. I might get some of these.
feelin pretty dumb about my 800 point purchase....but then again, maybe it's still "rare" or something...I dunno...I'm kind of half-hoping they don't re-release Oil Panic, Donkey Kong, or Frantic Spray Bottle User so I can at least feel like I bought
Another perfect fit for DSiWare. I'll definitely be snapping up some of these once they get NA releases.
Oh a ploy to try to convince customers that theres going to be a Virtual Portable on the DSi without mentioning any sort of term for awhile yet .
I still not waist money on the DSi
Wow, I can't understand why everyone's so excited about this. The G&W games are shallow and get boring quickly. Now if they released Game Boy games....
Yes, they might be a bit on the shallow side, but that is exactly what makes them great for a portable device. If you only have a few minutes to play this fits the bill quite nicely.
Oh well. It's not Game Boy like we all hope for, but it's something at least. It's too bad they only get the original versions too. It would be awesome to have the updated versions from the G&W Galleries available as well.
EDIT: Now I might finally have the chance to play the original G&W Zelda! It's far too much work to unlock it in G&WG4.
Im pretty sure they already have an actual DS game that has tons of Mr Game and Watch remakes...But, i'll buy this!
Yes!!! I don't need a DSi VC quite yet if they release these outside Japan. Finally Nintendo is gaining some common sense!
I could just slap Nintendo of America - Why do Japan always get so much stuff and we don't - Not fair!
This...is...(sniff)...I can't...believe it...retro gaming has...(sniff)...it's finally come to Nintendo DSi...
To celebrate the occasion, I finally updated my avatar - it's the poster for the 'Game & Watch: The First Step to a Handheld VC' campaign...as portrayed by Mr. Game & Watch, the true 'poster boy' for retro gaming (at least in my opinion)! Next stop - Virtual Game Boy!
Woah that's amazing, i honestly can't wait for this
Nice. I just got the Game & Watch Collection and I'm hungry for more.
Im pretty stoked about this too. Maybe this is a small sign that a portable VC is in the making AND MAYBE the G and W games will have online leaderboards.
It's either this or I'm buying Game & Watch Gallery 4 used.
Very nice. My few Game & Watches are dying off, so this will be good.
@StarFox: IMO, you should just buy Game & Watch Gallery 4 used. It's awesome.
I want to gwet these and what i nthe world does IMO mean??
@Bass X0: "Vermin is quite a fun game still. Some others have dated terribly."
Vermin is awesome. One of the best G&W games.So simple, yet so addicting.
But yeah, there's definitely differences in quality here - Vermin and Donkey Kong Jr. being the only real must-buy titles, with Chef and Helmet being worth a look as well. Judge is great fun if you got someone to play with, but isn't too interesting in single player.
Ball is respected for being the first G&W game, but at the end of the day, it's rather dull. Flagman is just a collection of Simon and a "push the button that lights up" game, which is about as interesting as it sounds (ie not very). Mario's Cement Factory is slow and rather dull, and I have an intense hatred for Manhole and is ridiculously impossible challenge level. Evil game.
Woot! Game and Watch!!!
Lucky Japanese....
First Electroplankton, and now Game and Watch, I hope Nintendo releases it soon here!
Perhaps Nintendo will release the VH (Vitrual Handheld) soon, and an SD-card menu to save the games on it! xD
Why don't they make a new G&W gallery game? It would be awesome in the DS. The GBA and GB games were great, but a new one that actually takes advantage of the two screens both for the classic and modern versions of the games would be excellent...
still... I'd get these if they're released here....
This finally convinced me to upgrade to dsi yesterday.
Let's hope they get released in the EU.
AWESOME! Im buying every one! Whos with me!
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