Amazing Christmas Gift: Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros (Nintendo)

We Need To Talk About This Device!

This reasonably quaint (by todays standards) and quietly unassuming little hand held console made it's way into the our household this Christmas.. and the impact has been astonishing! :)

Backstory..

Was scratching around trying to work out what to buy the kids for Christmas, normally I don't get too involved in the presents situation and leave the details to my partner, but this year decided it was time to make an effort. I could vaguely remember from childhood receiving my first hand held, in and around the age of my kids and was weighing up the options.

The idea of handing over something like a Nintendo Switch hand held console, and then associated games on a semi regular basis just seemed mad for their age bracket!

The Hunt...

Decided there were a few concrete requirements if this purchase if it was going to go ahead:

• Cost has to be have sensible, under 3 figures a must
• Fed up looking at Touchscreen things, tablets etc. time to re-introduce the kids to 'buttons'!
• Had to be a throwback to my childhood as a failsafe, as the kids might not want it, so someone had to use it likely me

The Answer...

Surprisingly a quick search on Amazon served up what I was looking for which was rather unexpected.
The answer was a retro hand held device, color screen, buttons, with Super Mario I & II loaded onboard, even USB-C charging available, and the price.. borderline sensible.

That was it, had to have it.

Exact specification,
Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros (Nintendo Switch)
See:

The Outcome.. Amazement!

Had absolutely no idea how this little handheld console was going to go down with the kids, but to my amazement, it became one of the most popular items. I sat in awe, as they slowly deciphered the menu operation, game behaviours, and key combos.. watching both of the kids taking turns to play on it!

We have even reached the point were the parents are also directly competing on high score! So it's now a family device not just for the kids lolz.

This isn't a shameless plug, just wanted to share that in 2026 it would appear that you still don't have to break the bank to find something fun to play, no fancy graphics, no fancy controls, a game that is decades old, and yet somehow still as engaging for a kid todays as it was back then.

While I'm writing this there is someone in the back audibly shouting "no you need to get the mushroom first" - haha

Try it yourself if you get a chance, retro gaming is just as good as it's ever been :)