Nintendo has definitely had its fair share of amazing consoles. Particularly the handhelds have always been remarkable. Not because they would have necessarily sported the latest and greatest, read Gameboy vs. Atari Lynx or DS vs. Sony PSP. One could say that technically and design wise they have been the “underdog”. But for some reason they have always come up on top.

One of the success factors for Nintendo is attributable to them bringing some new novelty into the market, like the touch screen on the DS. That alone though is not enough. The true insight is that they have also made their own titles, which have taken full advantage of the new technology. I think a brilliant DS example is Nintedogs. On the console side the Wii’s controller and Wii Sports is another great example. Simple ideas, simple games, simple graphics and intuitive controls. Not an obvious direction in the games business, which always aims for more complexity, but a true visionary statement.

I’ve picked a couple of less obvious products to talk more about in this post. My favorites, the Donkey Kong Game&Watch from 1982 and the Gameboy Micro. Why do I like these two in particular? First and foremost DK was pretty much my first experience with digital technology and “computers”. It’s a sentimental classic for myself. The Micro I like, because from the Nintendo handhelds, I feel it is the only one that has outstanding design (the DS lite and DSi come close). Additionally, they have squeeze it into such a nice package and made a significant improvement on the display quality.

Ironically, I never owned these two. So, I recently decided to buy them both. I had to fork out about 70EUR to score both, which is not too bad, I guess. The Micro was unused, which is still quite common. The DK is used, naturally. Depending on the condition you’ll end up paying from 20-100EUR for a Game & Watch. The most common defects are the lack of a battery lid and the breaking of the hatch (which is the case in my device).

As you can see form the picture, Nintendo has kept the same style of controls for the entire 20 year period that these two have in age difference. This is quite remarkable. It must be said that the buttons on the Game & Watch are still in extremely good shape. Additionally, the Micro in general has stunning looks, albeit the red light behind the start and select buttons, which is pretty tasteless. It’s got a bit of weight to it as well, which gives a nice quality feel.

To compare them a little more I’ve played the Game & Watch titles on Micro. Nintendo has release a whole range of retro Game & Watch games packages for the newer platforms. Also, they’ve made key chain size versions of the classics. Donkey Kong jr. is what I’ve mainly been playing on the Gameboy. I must say that the pixel screen doesn’t quite have the same charisma as the LCD. So, if I were to make a choice between the two, I would still go for the good old Game & Watch.