Game Watches: Better than you Don't Remember | Nostalgia Nerd

Sign up to Morning Brew today for FREE: cen.yt/morning... ~ Game watches, game watches, game watches, legend has it, that if you say this 3 times into a mirror, one will magically appear on your wrist. Legend also has it, that you may become so infuriated with the game, that it gets smashed in seconds. However, there were actually decent game wrist watches, and the history of this gaming medium is both interesting and colourful. Join me, as we begin in 1977 and journey though the Casio Game 10, the GCE Game Time, Nelsonic game watches and of course, Tiger's offerings.
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[@lordsofkoble]

I had this tank game on my watch, back in the early 80's. Played it to death, literally, to the death of the watch anyway, I ended up dismantling it to find out where all the little tanks came from. 😭

[@c.l.7525]

I was 11 years old in 1982 and remember all these. I got a calculator watch for my 12th birthday and found out it had a decent side-scroll racing game, that was so cool.

[@ChillingCrowley]

It's amazing how in our life we've gone from LCD watch games to ps3 emulators in our pocket

[@sparkle935]

I still have the early eighties grand prix racing car calculater watch, it's amazing...

[@UberNeuman]

It's like Q made a watch that will make women avoid James Bond.

[@raycearcher5794]

"Now see here, 007, press just here and the watch will let you play American Football on a little screen." "This is lame, Q. This is for nerds." "Shut up, 007!"

[@biggiesmol]

Avatar checks out

[@manoflego123]

As someone who likes opening up and tinkering with simple LCD watches, the idea of a double layer LCD is simultaneously insanely cool and terrifying to fix.

[@stevenjlovelace]

I wonder why dual-layer LCDs never caught on? Seems like a cool technology!

[@Roxor128]

I find myself thinking about the possibilities for a colour display. Instead of having your subpixels side-by-side, stack them up.

[@qallincha]

@@Roxor128 Colors are tainted layers so you won't see them separately. LCD are just masking the light, activating 2 layers at the same time would show black blobs.

[@AnotherFreakingDude]

It kinda did, mobvoi uses a dual layer screen on their ticwatch pro.

[@spong667]

I know right!

[@mikebigelow561]

They also made a full color versions that I really liked alot... you had to be in a brite room or out in the sun to get the colors to scream out brite

[@SilverGreeneye]

I remember getting a My Little Pony watch as a child, and I felt so betrayed when I realized it didn’t have a game on it.

[@pieluvr7362]

The little pony took ya for a ride

[@m4n4mk1]

@@pieluvr7362 lol

[@joshuachristian5443]

The old game wrist watches from early 80s looked much better than the 90s offerings. They looked like watches whereas the later models looked like toys. In the year 2000, I had purchased a ink pen with a lcd game within it. That was pretty cool just do to its novelty.

[@TheRetroFuture]

Very enjoyable video. Doing the world a favour by documenting this history.

[@smt4090]

Where's the game AND watches

[@elijahowen1727]

A tip: watch series at kaldrostream. Me and my gf have been using it for watching loads of movies recently.

[@andresking6220]

@Elijah Owen Yea, I have been watching on kaldroStream for years myself :D

[@henrycannon4194]

@Elijah Owen yea, been using Kaldrostream for since november myself =)

[@genekwagmyrsingh9433]

Who the heck is this jerk!? Just kidding, hello Elliot!

I only realised yesterday that Game & Watch meant a clock, and not watch as in to look at something...

[@Azuris190]

haha you are not alone, it was also my simple mind thinking that it ment watch as watching.

[@holnrew]

I didn't realise until watching this

[@ciotay5469]

Fuck me side ways 😂

[@kenhammscousin4716]

Same I just thought that about ten mins ago

[@rgerber]

so that means WATCHING actually translates to CLOCKING, thats genious

[@jakebeetham1]

"In church whether satanic or normal" lol 😂

[@emperoroftheknownuniverse3475]

Ah the nostalgia....Thanks for this vid, brings back so many fond wrist gaming memories!!

[@sh2157]

Last time I was this early ET was being proudly advertised for the Atari 2600

[@mrdorf2784]

These were all the rage when I was a kid. That and watches that played melodies.

[@Feark]

I got the Tiger Super Mario Bros 3 watch and I actually thought it was coolest watch ever. It was so cool I decided it could probably be cleaned under a stream of water, and it died. However later the water dried up and it worked again so yes, just amazing.

[@marcusfridh8489]

My Super Mario Bros 3 was from Nelsonic not Tiger

[@holnrew]

Someone at school had one of those Mario watches, I was so jealous

[@JC-11111]

That's what I had! OMG! I couldn't remember any of the names of the ones I had until I read this 👌 Mario Bros was the first one I got!

[@Vokabre]

I wonder what came first, Nelsonic logo or Nescafe logo, because they sure do look alike

[@mikewheeler9011]

Nescafe logo is from the 60s I assume. Nelsonic from 80s

[@mikewheeler9011]

Ok Nescafe logo was designed in 1938, but had a line above and below the 'N'. The single line above design came about in 1968

[@Vokabre]

​@@mikewheeler9011 Someone behind Nelsonic perhaps rather liked coffee then

[@KLUTCHdot58]

I had mario 3 and Tetris! Wish I knew where they were now. I'm going to resist an eBay search.

[@Nostalgianerd]

This is a strong move. You have my respect.

[@snackplaylove]

I’ve got Zelda, turned down Tetris for £10 when Argos had it on sale for a GB game.

[@navibc31]

I remember having the Super Mario World watch that had a headphone jack

[@arostwocents]

They are surprisingly cheap if you get the most recently made ones, like £15.

[@theurbangentry]

This is AMAZING, an exceptional video, so much to talk about! But I will just thank you for putting such much fastidious the work into. Right, off to ebay to track some of these down! 😅😅 I totally forgot about those Tiger watches, wow. Best regards, TGV

[@KemmerlingKomputers]

I had a couple handhelds with the same vibe as these and i distinctly remember them being the "beeper" line. they looked just like pagers and beepers of the era with the belt clip and stuff and had some random lcd games on them similar to tiger games. but also had a couple hidden features. when the game was seemingly turned off and clipped on your belt, if you previously tapped the designated button it would add a min to the built in timer. little kid me thought i was so cool, because i would walk out of the room, tap the button a few times then clip the device my belt then go socialize, then act all important when my "pager" went off.

[@JonManProductions]

Nerd, gotta ask: how many minutes of backlog is there of you just staring menacingly into the camera before you get started on your script?

[@justinbussell7637]

Or staring into our soul!

[@Gadgetman1989]

The answer is simply; Yes

[@login0false]

*All* the minutes.

[@tearfulsmiles9901]

Well, with a stare like that, he is obviously eternal, so *ALL THE TIME*.

[@Barph]

Don't forget the Casio GM-40 UFO Pyramid Game Watch Module 245, I loved that game!

[@imranahmad2733]

Used to have one and now they're selling for silly money

[@beautyforashes2022]

I love all the old advertisements that you put in your videos, I always enjoy hitting pause to read them. They are like a little nostalgia time capsule back into my childhood in 80's and early 90's. Edit: "You'll have the most popular wrist in town!" That does sound pretty tawdry, lol.

[@arostwocents]

I know a girl with the most popular mouth in town 😂

[@KasumiKenshirou]

My brother had the Pac-Man watch (buttons version). It played Dixie for some reason. He would always stop it after the first few notes to match the horn from the General Lee on The Dukes of Hazard.

[@ShadowWingTronix]

I had one of the Super Mario watches, only mine was red. I think it's still around here somewhere. The beeping could get annoying after a while but as a short time waster it was fun enough.

[@ProctorSilex]

I never understood the watch and Tiger style games. I would say I was spoiled by my NES at home, but you had game systems too. Interesting to see a bit of how they worked.

[@ihateevilbill]

When I was about 11 or 12 (circa 1985) I bought several game watches because I needed to scratch that itch when I wasnt able to get at my Spectrum 48K (eg in school). They were all basically the same. By the time Id bought a few my school banned them because we'd all sit in class playing with our watches all day... good times.

[@christopherprementine5287]

I remember specifically having a StarFox game watch and I would play it religiously... Oh how I miss those days.

[@christopherkelly577]

I had the mario 3 one. I recall falling and being devastated it had been slightly scuffed.

[@johneygd]

Wooow that street fighter 2 & aladdin watches really really looks cool., they also give you the elussion as if the lcd screen was really color, if i got the money and know were to find all those watches, i would definitely buy them.

[@fssofdeath]

I had the "Nintendo" Tetris one. It was pretty awesome for the time. Fond memories. Tetris translated pretty well to a watch game.

[@vyperii]

I have the mario 3 unit. I don't remember who bought it for me, but I played it so much that I could beat it over and over. When you get to the end it loops.

[@FigmentHF]

This was a really great video, thanks for taking the time to make it :)

[@TheRugEmporium]

I remember having that Zelda watch, my younger brother had the Mario watch, I still have 2 Nintendo Game & Watch multi screen games, Donkey Kong (1982) and Squish (1986).

[@1930SeanConnery]

I actually had the Mario watch. I loved it as a kid. A long oil panic from game and watch. Memories...😊

[@heggy_69]

Fun fact, in a draft script for the breakfast club, allison has a galaxian wrist watch game

[@demonsorrows]

I remember being about four years old playing my older brother's Batman watch game. I thought it was the most boring game. I watched Fievel Goes West instead and then played Snake Rattle'N'Roll. I find it odd that a lot of people don't remember much of being a few years old.

[@BlastinRope]

We're better off not remembering

[@XrisD147]

Ahh Index 1990, where my video game journey began with a Game Boy and Super Mario Land and of course Tetris.

[@SonicAlpha]

I too had that Mario 3 watch, brilliant at the time :)

[@SwedishEmpire1700]

I remember wanting one of those Super Mario watches as a kid in the 80's, but i got the ordinary game & watch handhelds instead.

[@strayling1]

I just realised I never even considered playing games on my smart watch. I wonder if it can play Doom? Edit: one search later, duh - of course it can

[@Roxor128]

I think you'd be hard pressed to find something with a colour display these days that _doesn't_ have 386 levels of computing power.

[@wes788411]

@@Roxor128 i386?

[@Roxor128]

@@wes788411 Would you rather I have written the full "80386" instead? Still, you can't deny it's a better name than anything Intel or AMD have used in the last 20 years.

[@Kikker861]

@@Roxor128 ngl, Intel had a good thing going with the Core i naming scheme between 2011 through 2017. Core i -

[@mywifesboyfriend5558]

Toasters can run DOOM nowadays.

[@nacerdjaafri9919]

how come you're not having much more views, your content is really unique and entertaining, I mean when I first saw the, quote on quote VERY CREATIVE channel name I didn't expect much, but man you're doing great! thumb up from the other side of the planet!!

[@jacksat2252]

I remember when I was 8 I had pac man watch and one with a lot of melodies and Donkey kong JR game and watch and the famous digital red clock pen in the late 70 th. Ahh i am old now

[@ingeburgknotke396]

We need these back!

[@frankowalker4662]

In my late teens I had a Fishing game watch. I missed quite a few busses to work playing that.

[@TyphinHoofbun]

My sister and I got a pair of watches, the Mario and Zelda ones. I got the Mario and she got the Zelda, but I was constantly borrowing hers because it was a more fun game to play. Mario was just "step forward on the platforms that appear/disappear", but Zelda had you actually moving around, picking up items, placing bombs, etc. When I saw the video thumbnail, I commented out loud, "Oh wow, Nintendo game watches!" And then spent a bit explaining to my roommate what I was talking about. ^_^

[@FlyBoyEnterprises]

Man this video & watches take me back. I have a Zelda and Q-Bert. I even remember just the Calculator watches, I didn't have but a few kids in grade school got in trouble for using the calculator in class.

[@8wealthyone8]

They are really collectable now. cool episode . pls make more!

[@rennmaxbeta]

Awesome to see that Star Trek II game watch in action again after all these decades. It was my first digital watch back in 1982 and I loved it! Unfortunately I broke the sound somehow while opening it up to change the battery myself... I still remember it after 40 years.

[@leohuangchunwang]

I have an LG G watch - an Android Wear smartwatch from 2014 - and it plays Minecraft. My friends were pretty amazed, though when they did ask to borrow it they'd rather play something like 2048, which controls a lot better than Minecraft does on that tiny watch.

[@Left-Earth]

*"Now Behold, the rise in eBay prices for these watches !"* 💹⌚

[@Robbnlinzi]

They are not cheap as of now lol

[@imranahmad2733]

Have a look at the Casio Game-40 on eBay (eye watering prices), used to have one 30 years ago until it got pinched at school.

[@royp9344]

Tbh the price of the game and watch and tiger watches has been quite high and on the up for a while

[@bencheshire]

@@royp9344 really! Nostalgia for terrible things

[@gurgy3]

Don’t waste your money, these things are truly horrible. I threw out a bunch of lcd games about 10 years ago, never thought anybody would want these.

[@Kumimono]

"Watch with alarm." I will.

[@michaeldonovan305]

I remember getting the Super Mario World Watch. I loved that thing so much.

[@mywifesboyfriend5558]

I loved mine too. Damn teacher stole it and sold it at an auction.

[@joetalentoh]

Man, I remember playing my tiger games on the bus on the way to kindergarten in the early 90s.

[@pauliejay4161]

The Casio golf Game Watch was magnificent!

[@RobsonRoverRepair]

Had the super mario 3 watch myself, was brilliant way to pass the time in Sunday school

[@scotthughes7897]

I had donkey Kong on my watch, good times 😁

[@ddespair]

I remember when the super Mario world watch came out. That thing was the stuff of legend and when I finally got one I was very underwhelmed and never bout another game wristwatch again.

[@PhantomHarlock78]

I have a Casio Cosmo Flight. They were very cool. And are super expensive this days. They need to make a reissue.

[@JohnKelly2]

I never had one of these, but I had a boom box watch. It was shaped like a boom box and had AM radio plus a watch!

[@Monkey_SK]

Peter where can I get more details on the Sex & Watch? Asking for a friend.

[@richpickings2845]

You just need to make sure it is worn on the appropriate wrist leaving the other appropriate wrist free. 😂

[@alsatusmd1A13]

@@richpickings2845 why should there be an appropriate wrist to masturbate with though, especially when the image is nothing to look at compared to full-size pornography?

[@richpickings2845]

@@alsatusmd1A13 It is a joke in the non-literal sense, I'll include a disclaimer next time, thanks.

[@greenaum]

Try looking for "Sexum watch", that's it's actual name. One of the more unusual genres of sexiness on the Internet.

[@MatSpeedle]

I too got the SMB3 watch for Crimbo 92 and loved it! Still have it and still works great! I also got the Sonic Tiger watch.... never liked it :p

[@HikingFeral]

That Casio WR was no Gimmick, amazing watch, I remember my entire class at school being in awe of our teacher changing the channel on the TV with his watch lol - I plan to get one soon but I always forget. Thanks for reminding me.

[@jesusramirez4537]

Those tiger electronic games were great. I remember those times fondly from my youth. I wish I could turn back the clock (I would have freaked out if I saw a smartphone). Evading an LCD bullet in some tiger game was so exciting at the time. It was a perfectly reasonable way to spend precious minutes of life. Goodby forever sweet time. goodbye forever

[@drd2093]

I had street fighter, Star fox and Mario 3. And they were so excellent as a kid.

[@audrisampson]

I had the PacMan watch with the buttons in the late 80s. Loved playing that game. The watch even survived a fall into the pool. Just took a few days to dry out. Eventually the wrist band broke and it got lost in time.

[@briansenez7718]

I live in Asia and they sell knock off versions of these at the dollar store near my house. I've been tempted a few times because I grew up with these in the 80's.

[@Christopher-N]

(1:49) _Spaceballs_ the instant cassette: it's out in stores before the movie is finished.

[@CoachOta]

We had all three GCE watches as a kid: Game-Time, Arcade-Time and Sports-Time. I was worried they'd get damaged if I took them to school and we didn't really go anywhere where I would be idle. When I went away to summer camp I would take my Donkey Kong Game and Watch which was more fun and physically easier to hold & play. So, the GCE watches ended up being mostly novelty items.

[@livefreeprintguns]

I had the Super Mario Bros. Game and Watch and have nothing but fond memories of it!

[@DavidWonn]

13:07 My friend had that Zelda Game & Watch. It was oddly more entertaining to watch him play that instead of the NES version for some reason.

[@klax001]

18:07 Looks like Mario has had too many mushrooms 🍄 in that artwork on the watch.

[@BadgerOff32]

I had that Mario watch when I was a kid, but it didn't even survive the first day. I loved it so much that I didn't want to take it off, so when I got into the bath with it still on later that night, water got into it immediately because it had a headphone jack on the side, and it instantly died. Soon took it off when it didn't bloody work anymore lol

[@sinkingdutchman7227]

Was probably the worst day of your childhood

[@Icelink256]

I'd discovered that Nelsonic Zelda Watch just a couple of months ago! I've considered making a small game based on it, with more exploration-based gameplay. :D (With LCD limitations, of course.)

[@SpeccyHorace]

I actually really liked the Mario Bros 3 watch, and the game wasn't bad.

[@jeremysart]

I still have a Nelsonic game watch, it’s one of those virtual pets, came out in ‘97 after the explosion of Tamagotchi

[@davekennedy6315]

I owned a Casio gamewatch in the mid to late 80s. It had a game where you flew a helicopter and shot down baddies. We used to have contests during lessons at high school haha!

[@Datan0de]

As a kid I had friends with watches that played a bowling game and later a Space Invaders game, and that were the envy of us all. I never had a game watch, but I did get a few Tiger handhelds: Gauntlet, Mortal Kombat, and Terminator (my favorite). I still have them. May need to go fire one up for a few rounds now.

[@talideon]

I remember having the Super Mario Bros 3 game watch as a kid! Edit: I gave in an did an ebay search... wow!

[@rgstever]

You forgot Fossil They designed the first Palm OS on a wrist watch. Because it utilizes the m68K CPU you can run in realtime GB GBC and Amiga games. It was rather interesting playing pokemon yellow on a touchscreen watch back in 2003.

[@dj_paultuk7052]

Oh wow what a flashback. I had that Casio 10 game watch !. I had completely forgot all about it until you showed it here and the memory came back. They were all the rage amongst 80's school kids.

[@JamesR624]

7:43. Interesting cause we’d see something like this resurface decades later to provide a simplistic LCD screen for battery saving clock mode on top of a modern full color LCD or OLED in many smartwatches today, that’d switch between the two when the watch was put to sleep or in use.

[@XMguy]

I had a StarFox watch game in 1992. Sadly it broke and lost it long ago.

[@StarrDust0]

my dad got me a digital watch with a tank game. I was obsessed with it, it was lots of fun. I think I was about 10 yrs old at the time so around 1982. Unfortunately I somehow cracked the screen and it stopped working properly, pretty sad...but it was great for its time.

[@wallybazoum]

I had a Casio soccer watch around 1985,still have (somewhere !).

[@Theoriginalborgy]

Awesome video, a great trip down memory lane. I remember having a Pac man clone with the joystick. but I can’t find anything about it. Sold in England 1982/3 ish.

[@SylvesterAshcroft88]

I thought it was going to be a casio, i always remember casio digital watches when i was a kid!

[@cottonfoo]

Thanks enjoyed that. My mum bought me the Nelsonic Pac Man with joystick, and my brother had Space War. Wish I still had them, for sentimental reasons rather than the value.

[@Seiferboi]

I have a Star Fox game watch. Mine came in a box of cereal and it's decent quality for something so cheap. I have another one that's newer, but I forgot what it is, and I don't feel like searching around for it right now lol. It's a large chunky green watch, though.

[@cameronb851]

I actually had one of the 'cosmic war' watches (shown in this video) as a kid. That thing was awesome. It was entirely metal, unlike many of the later watches, so it actually looked like a decent watch as well. I remember one of my crowning achievements as a kid was clocking the score (looping back to zero). Liked the video just for the nostalgia bump, but great information too.

[@PopCultureFan_]

1977 was a few more yrs before i was born, in '85, but i love hearing about earlier era's. This would have been my siblings time. There is a 10 or so difference between us soo..lol well anyways..they deffo experienced this stuff in the late 70's, early 80's.

[@CatManDoom84]

Totally had the SMB3 watch in like 1st grade haha. It was so fun haha!

[@Disthron]

*Duel layered LCD* 8:08 OMG! I was wondering why no one did this for LCD games, this shows that it was actually possible!

[@MontyDotharl]

"Michael Zachary Burger" is a pretty awesome name.

[@Kamunchu]

Its baffling to me how this channel is only at 500k. It should be in the millions.

[@tremorist]

I was all about calculator watches back then.

[@kneel1]

we had the pacman and frogger one as kids in the 80s. And "firing squad" also looked like Hunt the Wumpus

[@benjaminkitaura498]

This was awesome to see all those nostalgic moments……really brings back those childhood memories.

[@Disthron]

8:08 *Duel layered LCD* OMG! I was wondering why no one did this for LCD games, this shows that it was actually possible!

[@runcmd8851]

Wow I had the same Mario watch for Christmas I loved it..

[@rolandkatsuragi]

I hate how long it took me to realize that "Game & Watch" is game and a watch.