This Game & Watch romp has nothing to do with the original Super Mario Bros. (1985) and everything to do with a bottle factory. Hurray!

Mario Bros. on the Game & Watch

Nintendo missed a trick here. With the far clearer Mario’s Cement Factory, if you bought Mario Bros. expecting the arcade title you’d be sorely disappointed.

Mario Bros. on the Game & Watch (1983) is set in a bottle factory.

Set on a dual-screen, you control Mario and Luigi. The goal is to shift crates of bottles onto conveyor belts and get them into a van.

As the workload ramps up, so does the pressure to get all of the crates. If you do, they smash on the floor and you get a bollocking from the boss.

So, simple stuff. It’s all about aiming for the highest score humanly possible. But we remember thumping a lot of hours into this one as kids.

It’s a strange feeling. The memories of it in the early 1990s. A game we haven’t played since around 1992!

But although it looks simple, it was damn good fun. And merely remembering the thing transports us back to our ancient history. Merci, Nintendo.

The Game & Watch Series

The NES didn’t launch in America until October 1985. Prior to that, Nintendo was making a name for itself with arcade games such as Donkey Kong.

Nintendo’s creative genius Gunpei Yokoi came up with the Game & Watch series as a time killer for commuters etc.

Whilst a game at heart, the little machines also featured an inbuilt clock and alarm.

The first one launched on 28th April 1980 in Japan. An immediate hit, in total Nintendo created 60 of the things.

For clarity’s sake, Nintendo set different types across series. Such as:

• Silver
• Gold
• Dual-screen
• Widescreen
• Micro Vs. System
• Crystal screen

Shifting some 43.4 million units worldwide, it’s fair to say they were all popular.

Nintendo is also bringing Game & Watch back for a limited run. You can pick one up from November 2020 with two full NES Super Mario titles in playable form.

Well, we’re pretty sold on that. “Time for fun!” As Nintendo puts it. Yep. There’s no news on the price yet, but we’re bagging one.

And why? As we’re slaves to Nintendo’s brilliance. Also, that NES game from 1985 is still damn good fun.