Handheld electronic game
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Handheld electronic games are interactive
History
Early handheld games used simple mechanisms to interact with players, often limited to illuminated buttons and sound effects. Early handheld games include Mattel Auto Race (1976) and Mattel Electronic Football (1977),[1] which have simple red-LED displays; gameplay involves pressing buttons to move a car or quarterback icon (represented by a bright dot) to avoid obstacles (represented by less bright dots).
In 1978 the
The initial success of Mattel and Parker Brothers' entries spawned a wave of similar handheld devices which were released through the early 1980s. Notable among these were a series of popular 2-player "head-to-head" games from Coleco. Other games were miniaturized versions of popular arcade video games.
In 1979,
During the 1980s, LCDs became inexpensive and largely replaced LED displays in handheld games. The use of custom images in LCD and VFD games allows them to have greater detail and avoid the blocky, pixellated look of console screens, but not without drawbacks. All graphics are fixed in place, so every possible location and state of game objects has to be preset (and are usually visible when resetting a game), with no overlap. Illusion of movement is created by sequentially flashing objects between their possible states. Backgrounds for these games are static drawings, layered behind the "moving" graphics which are transparent when not in use. Partly due to these limitations, the gameplay of early LCD games was often even more crude than for their LED antecedents.
Some of the more well-known handheld games of the LCD era are the
Bandai LCD Solarpower
In 1982, the
The LCD Solarpower series are handheld electronic games powered by solar energy made by Bandai in 1982. The games in the Double Panel series feature two LCD panels[8] stacked on top of each other. This allows these games to progress in 2 stages for more variation in game play.
Games
It comprises the following games:
First series:
- Invaders of the Mummy's Tomb (謎のピラミッド, Nazo no Pyramid), ref. 16265 and 16813 for the re-release
- Escape from the Devil's Doom (天国と地獄, Tengoku to Jigoku), ref. 16264
- Sub Attack (激戦Uボート, Gekisen U-Boat) / (Sub Patrol in UK), ref. 16280
- Break Out (大脱走, Daidassou), ref. 16282
- Shark Island (恐怖の無人島, Kyofu no Mujintou), ref. 16281
- Nazo No Chinbotsusen (謎の沈没船, Nazo no Chinbotsusen), ref. 16288, released in Japan only
Second series (Double Panel):
- Amazone (秘境アマゾン, Hikyo Amazon), ref. 16815
- Terror House (悪霊の館, Akuryo no Yakata), ref. 16814
- Frankenstein (ミスターフランケン, Mr. Franken), ref. 16817
- Airport Panic (エアポートパニック, Airport Panic), ref. 16818
Other handheld games were built as flipcases and had two or even three LCDs with different foreground and background scenes, offering some variety in the gameplay.
Handhelds today
Despite the increasing sophistication of handheld consoles such as the Nintendo Switch, dedicated handhelds continue to find a niche. Among technophilic gamer subcultures like Akiba-kei, unique control schemes like that of the 2008 Tuttuki Bako have been proven salable due to novelty, however dedicated handhelds such as this are uncommon. Adult fads such as blackjack, poker, and Sudoku also spawn dozens of original and knockoff handheld games.
The Chinese/Russian Brick Game, popular in the early 1990s, include games using a 10 × 20 block grid as a crude, low resolution
At the lowest end of handheld game sophistication, there is also the "avoid/catch the falling objects" game. These games are controlled with 2 movement buttons, and sport a screen with a column of player positions, and rows of projectiles to animate towards the player. The player and projectiles could be any picture, from tanks dodging missiles to a dog catching sausages.
See also
- Calculator gaming
- Dedicated console
- Handheld game console
- Mobile game
References
- ^ DP Interviews. Digitpress.com. Retrieved on 2013-09-27.
- ^ "The Escapist: Searching for Gunpei Yokoi". Archived from the original on 2014-02-13. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
- ^ Pollack, Andrew (1997-10-09). "Gunpei Yokoi, Chief Designer Of Game Boy, Is Dead at 56". The New York Times.
- ISBN 978-0-9669617-0-6.
- ^ Buchanan, Levi (2008-09-08). "From Janitor to Superstar Gunpei Yokoi, inventor of the Game Boy, would have been 67 this week". IGN. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
- ^ The top ten retro gaming secrets (page 3) Archived 2012-01-23 at the Wayback Machine, PC Pro
- ^ The top ten retro gaming secrets (page 1) Archived 2012-01-15 at the Wayback Machine, PC Pro
- ^ two LCD panels
External links
- Electronic Handheld Game Museum - the largest handheld museum on the web
- Handheld Empire - collectors site cataloguing 70s' 80s' handheld games
- Handheld History - Collection of 74 emulations of electronic handheld games