G&W Clones FAQ

by Slash

(edited by Gawaleus)


(Elektronika)

F. What are Game&Watch Clones?
A. These are reproductions (copies) of the Game&Watch games. The Nintendo Game&Watch series had such a huge success, that it was worth to reproduce the games. The clones were manufactured in Russia.


Q. What logos appear on the games?
A. As far as I am aware there are 8 types or logos that may appear on a russian clone, as well as the blank clones. Of the logos below at 3, 4, 5 & 6 are all believed to be from the one manafacturer Angstrem.

Q. Who or what is Angstrem?
A. Angstrem is believed to be the larger manafacturer of the games in Russia, they primiarily worked with calculators and the like during the 70's and 80's but decided to cash in on the G&W frenzy. Intrestingly their calculators were also clones of the casio series, particually the PB-100.


Q. How come there are so many variations?
A. It is believed, because of the Cold War issues in Russia, Nintendo G&W was banned from import, this leaving multiple Rusian companys trying to cash in on the G&W populararity by producing their own stock.


Q. What Games are there, and what do they look like?
A. Please View Table 1.1


Q. What do the Boxes or packing look like?
A. Please View Table 1.2


Q. When were they produced?
A. Around the same time as G&W, early 80's up until the 90's.


Q. Why are there so many Mickey Mouse of Egg variations?
A. As dicussed above, only small companys produced the games, and they could not afford to produce many circuit boards with different logic, so most produced only 1, which only required a screen change between models. Some screens were also released as an add on or "pack", and the end user could change the screen to play a new game. (see below)


Q. Did some of the games come out with a gold metal plate?
A. Yes, most were silver or a dull metalic finish, but a few were released in gold.


Q. Were there any games produced that were not a G&W Clone?
A. Yes, there are a few. For example "Auto slalom" and "Merry arithmetics".


Q. What Instructions came with the games?
A. Most game has basic instructions, some had a generic instruction booklet that was used with multiple games, as seen here for Mickey, Fowling and Hockey:

F. Can I play the games anywhere?
A. The following download called "Pocket Quake", covers quite a few of the games as an emulator:

http://www.emulator3000.emuita.it/hq.htm


Q. Were any games produced from G&W logic, but in a different format?
A. Yes, Here is a Mickey Mouse / Egg clone:

F. I hear you could change the screens on some games?
A. Yes, that is true, some games you could buy replacment screens for, they came in a protective pack, along with any screen designs required:

Tabelle 1.1 (die Spiele)

Other games not listed, but possibly G&W clones: Soccer, Basketball, Biatlon, Loves or doesnt and Aerial shooting range.

Table 1.2 (the Boxes)

REQUESTS:
If anyone has some pictures I do not have, or they know the origional russian name as well as the translation I'd be happy to know about it :-)

THANKS TO:
Taki, for use of some pictures from http://www.gameandweb.com/