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Game & Watch

495 bytes added, 06:01, 9 September 2020
Another previous edit didn't take. Also typo fix.Games
|generation = [[:Category:Second-generation consoles|Second generation]]
|release = 1980
|discontinued = 1991(2010 & 2020)
|successor = [[Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators|Game Boy/Color]]
|emulated = {{✓}}
|}
;'''[[MAME]]''':It was officially the 1st Game & Watch emulator, with support for almost all games. It started to comprehensively cover the Game & Watch games from around just before mid-2017 (e.g. [https://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/MAME_0.185 0.185] in May 2017) and emulated its first game in [https://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/MAME_0.186 0.186]. Since July 10 9 2020, MAME supports at least one version of each Game & Watch model.:* See [https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/hh_sm510.cpp MAME driver] which covers several all of the Game & Watch series of games and those of a similar ilk from other companies running on the LCD game handhelds with Sharp SM5xx family of CPUs (SM5A/SM510/SM511/SM512) (Other companies that released similar games included Konami, Elektronika, [[Tiger_LCD_Handhelds|Tiger Electronics]], Tronica and VTech).
:* [http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/lista_mame.php?game_sourcefile=hh_sm510.cpp&arcade_only=0&current_version=0 Arcade Italia's database] of compatibility records for games on MAME.
===Emulation issues===
Although Game & Watch emulation has recently become possible, it took quite a while to achieve due to the [http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=17884.msg259362#msg259362 lack of information] about the microcontrollers driving them and the high difficulty of dumping the ROM from a system. (To dump a game's ROM, the microcontroller often must be decapped, which is not only very costly and complicated but highly destructive to the system.) The lack of information on the Game & Watch's hardware leads to the false belief that it does not contain a CPU or ROM and therefore could not be emulated. Even though this was disproven after reverse engineering efforts of several MAME developers which led to support for a few all of the games being added to MAME, emulation . Emulation of additional the games is had been progressing slowly due to the high amount of time and patience it takes to dump their ROMs and recreate their graphics.
===Graphics===
Even when a Game & Watch game's ROM has had been dumped, one of the biggest challenges with accurately emulating it is was with how the Game & Watch displayed graphics. Rather than by sending output to an LCD display like most cartridge based handhelds do, Game & Watch games (as well as most other handheld electronic games from the same time) displayed graphics by lighting up pre-drawn LCD segments, like a calculator. In order to recreate this as accurately as possible, MAME uses .SVG files traced from high-quality scans of the LCD screen, allowing graphics in supported Game & Watch games to be displayed crisply at any resolution without the loss of any detail. While this is the most accurate way to recreate the LCD graphics outside of obtaining the original art from Nintendo, it is a difficult and time consuming process, as not only does the LCD need to be scanned at a high resolution with all segments lit up to capture all of the graphics, but the scans must be traced very carefully to faithfully recreate the original artwork.
==Simulators==
|-
|Balloon Fight
|{{✓}} NP ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|Blackjack
|-
|Donkey Kong Circus
|{{✓}} NP ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|Donkey Kong Hockey
|{{✓}} NP ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|Donkey Kong II
|-
|Super Mario Bros.
|{{✓}} NP ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|Tropical Fish
|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}
|}
 
Some games only appear as screenshots in the collection, those are marked as "NP" for "Not Playable".
From an emulation point of view, the 2009 re-release of Ball is a completely new game with a different CPU and a different program compared to the original Ball release.
The three Panorama titles listed here are completely different games than the standard versions despite the same names.
The table top version of Mario's Cement Factory is similar to the widesreen widescreen and panorama versions but has different artwork and slightly different gameplay.
The silver version of Fire has slightly different gameplay than the widescreen version.
 
The Telko Bassmate Computer (model BM-501) was produced for Telko by Nintendo as an OEM product and sold under different brands, i.e. Telko, KMV and Probe 2000.
The hardware is identical as G&W Multi Screen, but it's not part of the game series.
*CPU: Sharp SM511 label BM-501 556AA
*OUT: dual lcd screens with custom segments, 1-bit sound
==Games exclusive to some collections==
===SM5xx CPU games in MAME that are not part of the Game & Watch Series===
 
Produced for Telko by Nintendo
*Bassmate Computer (model BM-501)
Elektronika:
Anonymous user

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