Nintendo’s Micro Vs. System series was the cutting edge way to enjoy multiplayer gaming on the go in 1984, combining the multiplayer fun of the Famicom with the portability of the Game & Watch line.
With (semi) detachable controllers for player 1 and 2, each unit only played one game, but quality engineering made the whole thing very cool.
Thirty three years later, the more things change, the more things stay the same. The idea has been reborn as one of the key features of the new Nintendo Switch.
If there’s anything Nintendo loves, it’s revisiting old ideas. Dual screens, stereoscopic 3D, and now on-the-go multiplayer have all made multiple appearances in the company’s history. The hybrid Switch has finally fulfilled the promise of the Micro Vs. idea.
Similarly, in the 80s, handheld Zelda was a massive compromise. Now there is no compromise.
In a sense, all of Nintendo’s gaming history has been pointing here. Exciting times.
Paying attention to eBay auctions can get your some cool stuff. This Famicom was listed with just a picture of the box as the main image. One tiny detail stood out to me, so I bought it (for a quite low price).
It’s an original model of the Family Computer from either 1983 or possibly early 1984.
It features square ‘squishy’ rubber buttons for A and B on the controllers, much like the start and select buttons, and the action buttons on an early Game & Watch.
The other difference of note is a shiny finish on the bottom, compared to the textured finish of all later models.
I’ve done some restoration and cleaning including a peroxide treatment, and it turns out after the yellowing is removed, the console itself is a slightly different colour to other Famicoms, it’s got a slight red tinge. This solves the mystery of the reddish Famicom on the front of all Famicom boxes not matching the whiteness of later models – they changed the plastic around the time of the button change, but didn’t update the picture.
As far as I can tell, the early models didn’t feature an expansion port cover or arrow sticker on the front right – hence them not featuring on the box either. So these are not ‘missing’ here, they were never there.
Nintendo recalled all early consoles because of a bug that could cause it to crash, and because the square squishy buttons damaged easily and could get caught on the corners. After playing a few games with these controllers for a few minutes, they’re quite solid, but definitely inferior as buttons the the hard round ones with membrane switch that replaced them (Nintendo also phased out this button style in later Game & Watch releases. They have a long travel distance, and while they work fine for holding or pressing sporadically, if you have a game that requires hitting a button in quick succession (e.g. a beat em up), it feels ‘slow’ as you have to do a more substantial press each time.
The manual has square buttons featured as well, so this set is all-original.
Here are the three generations of original Famiom. Square button, round button, and round button with Famicom Family ‘FF’ logo. Note the slightly different colors of plastic, my second gen Famicom is the only one I would actually call ‘white’, it makes the ‘normal’ beige colour one on the right look yellow.
Intesrtingly the console box was never updated to feature the ‘FF’ logo.
Managed to get myself one of the most awesome Game & Watch releases – Donkey Kong Jr. Panorama Screen version!
Originally released as a mini-arcade cab like ‘Tabletop’ Game & Watch, Nintendo re-tooled the basic tech of the Tabletop idea into a portable that folds flat to about the size of a Multi-Screen Game & Watch.
The top part is the LCD and a ‘light window’ which allows an external light source (like a lamp or sunlight) to shine through, displaying colour graphics. the image is then reflected on a mirror on the other half of the fold.
And the results are amazing!
It’s quite an involved piece of tech, and this version of Donkey Kong Jr. is easily the closest thing you could get to playing the arcade at home in 1982. There’s much more involved than the Widescreen Donkey Kong Jr. It even has a musical intro and interludes!
Here’s a screen of all the graphics lit up, so you can get an idea of how it plays.It’s easily one of the best Game & Watch releases. Great little game, and it would have blown my mind back in the early 80s.
Nintendo had such a classy ‘brushed metal on high quality coloured plastic’ aesthetic in the early 80s, carried over from their original ‘Color TV game’ console series, through the Game & Watch series, and on to the Famicom.
Nintendo Sega Japan! 