Nintendo’s new Game & Watch handheld proves the company goes its own way

It’s been a busy week for online game {hardware}. This week noticed the debut of two next-generation platforms, with the launch of the PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Sequence X and Sequence S gadgets. Every platform is constructed round new advances like ray-tracing and quick-loading SSDs. In the meantime, at the moment, Nintendo is releasing… a clock that performs Tremendous Mario Bros. It would look like unusual timing, nevertheless it’s additionally completely consistent with Nintendo’s historical past: it is a firm that nearly all the time goes its personal means.

The brand new Sport & Watch: Tremendous Mario Bros. is an exceptionally cute piece of {hardware}. It’s modeled after the traditional Sport & Watch handheld — the precursor to the Sport Boy — with a shade scheme impressed by the unique Japanese Famicom console. When it comes to performance, the system is extremely simple. It has three built-in video games, most notably the primary SMB sport. There’s additionally Tremendous Mario Bros. 2, higher recognized within the West as The Misplaced Ranges, a really evil sequel that remixes the primary sport with devious options like killer mushrooms. Rounding out the lineup is Ball, a simple-yet-surprisingly-fun model of the 1980 LCD juggling sport, this time starring Mario.

The video games are all strong ports, and the display is good and shiny whereas the hand-held has a terrific D-pad. I’ve discovered myself choosing up the Sport & Watch frequently to sneak in a degree or two each time I’ve a number of spare minutes. The dearth of frills is nearly good: I can actually concentrate on simply enjoying the sport. It even has save states, so you possibly can pause the sport and return again to the identical spot everytime you need. Outdoors of the video games, the Sport & Watch’s foremost operate is, properly, as a watch. One of many face buttons reads merely “time,” and pushing it’ll deliver again a Tremendous Mario-themed clock with the plumber operating and leaping throughout traditional Mushroom Kingdom locales. The in-game time of day even modifications together with the true world.

Picture: Nintendo

If I’m being sincere, the system is only a novelty. There are higher and simpler methods to each play Tremendous Mario Bros. and verify the time. However the Sport & Watch has the suitable mix of nostalgia and performance to make it price testing for me. I actually don’t want it, however I would like it. It’s just like Nintendo’s line of miniature consoles, which kicked off a surprisingly long-running pattern following the discharge of the NES Traditional means again in 2016.

Right here’s the factor: solely Nintendo would launch a kitschy, novelty handheld the identical week that its greatest rivals are launching formidable dwelling consoles. The scenario is indicative of Nintendo as an entire. Whereas Sony and Microsoft are centered on out-maneuvering one another, Nintendo is in its personal world, divorced from considerations like body charges or 3D audio or 4K graphics.

This isn’t all the time factor. Typically, Nintendo’s single-minded nature results in outright failures, just like the ahead-of-its-time Wii U. However proper now, the corporate’s distinct focus is a transparent constructive. Simply yesterday, Nintendo revealed that the Swap has been the top-selling console within the US for 23 straight months, and its international lifetime gross sales are quickly to eclipse the Nintendo 3DS. In the meantime, Animal Crossing: New Horizons — which solely launched in March of this 12 months — is already the Swap’s second-bestselling sport, transferring greater than 26 million copies.

It’s not clear how lengthy this momentum will final. Possibly at some point Nintendo will lastly launch a 4K Swap, as has lengthy been rumored. For now, although, the corporate’s present philosophy — that an underpowered pill with nice video games is one of the best expertise for most individuals — is working. And it seems that no quantity of intimidating next-gen consoles will change that.