Donkey Kong Game & Watch
Maker(s): Nintendo
Date: 1982
On display: No
Object number: SHEVG.2024.13
Credit line: Gift of Garry Lawless, 2024
Donkey Kong Game & Watch
Back to exhibitionsGunpei Yokoi developed the idea for Nintendo’s Game & Watch handhelds while watching a bored commuter press buttons on his calculator on a train. The portable devices function as a clock and, from 1981, an alarm as well as a game. They were created as something for people to use to pass the time when not at home or at an arcade where someone would normally play games.
While the first Game & Watch games used a single screen, the Donkey Kong Game & Watch features two screens in a clamshell design. This design would later inspire the Nintendo DS line of handhelds. The Donkey Kong Game & Watch also marks the first appearance of the cross-shaped directional pad, or D-pad. Nintendo won a Technical and Engineering Emmy award for this D-pad in 2007.
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