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Game & Watch

539 bytes added, 20:38, 5 December 2021
Resources
|logo = gamewatch1.png
|developer = [[:Nintendo]]
|type = [[:Category:Handhelds|Handheld electronic game]]
|generation = [[:Category:Second-generation consoles|Second generation]]
|release = 1980
|emulated = {{✓}}
}}
The '''[[wikipedia:Game & Watch|Game & Watch]]''' is a series of self-contained handheld LCD games by Nintendo where the first one was released on April 28, 1980 and which are often seen as the precursor to the [[Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators|Game Boy/Color]], although new Game & Watch games were still released as late as 1991.
The '''[[wikipedia:Game & Watch|Game & Watch]]''' is a series of self-contained handheld LCD games by Nintendo where the first one was released on April 28, 1980, and which are often seen as the precursor to the [[Game Boy/Game Boy Color emulators|Game Boy/Color]], although new Game & Watch games were still released as late as 1991.  Despite their simplicity, Game & Watch handhelds were completely unemulated for a very long time due to a lack of information about their hardware and difficulties with dumping ROMs and accurately recreating graphics. After an [http://forums.bannister.org//ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=97003#Post97003 extensive reverse -engineering effort by several MAME developers], MAME became the first emulator to support many retro handheld electronic games, including Game & Watch systems.
==Emulators==
! scope="col"|Latest Version
! scope="col"|[[libretro|Libretro Core]]
! scope="col"|<abbr title="Free/Libre and Open-Source Software">FLOSS</abbr>
! scope="col"|Active
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
|-
! colspan="67"|PC / x86
|-
|[[MAME]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
|[http://www.mamedev.org/release.html {{MAMEVer}}]
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
|-
|[[DSP]]
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
|[https://github.com/leniad/dsp-emulator 0.18{{DSPVer}}]|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
|}
;'''[[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 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 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.
 
;'''DSP''':It was officially the 2nd Game & Watch emulator. Just before mid-June 2017, it also started to emulate a few notable Game & Watch "Thanks to MAME for the ROMs and the info." (as stated in the [https://github.com/leniad/dsp-emulator readme]).
===Graphics===
Even when a Game & Watch game's ROM had been dumped, one of the biggest challenges with accurately emulating it 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 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==
For those who don't want to use MAME, this is your only option outside of buying any unit used.
* Nintendo officially released virtual reproductions in the games and compiled them in the ''Game & Watch Gallery'' (and, later, ''Game & Watch Collection'') series of games. These games had both "classic" and "modern" variations of these games. While these collections have a loss of "authenticity" (especially in the collections that are running on earlier hardware), these collections are Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS games for which emulators are widespread. (A few games are from the difficult-to-pirate DSiWare series, though every game in the DSiWare series appears in another collection.) However, some of the games in the collection (notably ''Zelda'') may need to be unlocked before play.* [http://www.pica-pic.com/ Pica Pic] (by Hipopotam) is an online collection of Game & Watch games under an authentic presentation(using Adobe Flash). While there seems to be no way to play these games offline, there are a few games that are exclusive to the website.
* Madrigal wrote some [http://www.madrigaldesign.it/sim/ simulations] that give an offline, authentic presentation of the Game & Watch games, the collection of these games growing through time. Of particular note is that these are available to play through [[RetroArch]] through the gw-libretro core. There are also some that are not of the Game & Watch series.
* [http://bdrgames.nl/lcdgames/ lcdgame.js] is an open-source JavaScript library which that currently supports authentic representations of Donkey Kong II and Mario Bros.* [http://www.emulator3000.org/hq.htm Handheld Quake] is a free simulator that simulates some Электроника Elektronika and Nintendo handhelds.* Nintendo released the Super Mario Bros. 35 Anniversary Game & Watch that contains a version of Ball with Mario or Luigi as the character.
==Games==
|-
|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 tabletop 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 to G&W Multi -Screen, but it's not part of the game series.
*CPU: Sharp SM511 label BM-501 556AA
*OUT: dual lcd LCD screens with custom segments, 1-bit sound
==Games exclusive to some collections==
Elektronika:
*Autoslalom IM-23*Merry Cook IM-04 (same Chef G&W ROM)*Nu, pogodi! IM-02 (same Mickey Mouse G&W ROM)*Explorers of Space IM-13 (same slightly modified version of Mickey Mouse G&W ROM: adds a new game mode (by pressing A+B) where the player/CPU roles are reversed)*Space Bridge IM-09 (same Fire G&W ROM)
Konami:
* [https://www.gameandwatch.ch/en/game-watch-information/all-60-games.html All 60 Games list] detailing the Nintendo's Game & Watch series (Nice list with technical names and links to details and photos of 60 different Game & Watch)
* [https://www.mariowiki.com/Game_%26_Watch Super Mario Wiki] covering Nintendo's Game & Watch series (Nice wiki-style page with many photos of different handhelds)
* [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WLKcvynl0ky2mRL1UacA9yaiMTnNs4x5 Design, layout and artwork] (Made by Lee Robson (hydef). Storage of background art files for LCD handheld games from Elektronika, Gakken, Konami, Nintendo G&W, Tiger Electronics , and Tronica.)
{{Nintendo}}
[[Category:Consoles]]
[[Category:Handhelds]]
[[Category:Nintendo consoles]]
[[Category:Second-generation consoles]]
[[Category:Emulated By MAME]]
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