Nintendo’s Game & Watch Titles: Proust’s Madeleine for Gamers?

For some people, a particular song can trigger fond, long-forgotten memories. For some, it’s a certain smell that conjures up images of a favorite time or place. And for others, food is a link to the past, as depicted to wonderful effect during the climactic critic’s visit in Pixar’s “Ratatouille.” So what is it that sends me hurtling back in time on waves on nostalgia? This:

I have a happy memory of being eight or nine years old, home from school with the flu, feeling terrible, and having my father return from work bearing a gift for my suffering, third-grade self. It was a Nintendo Game & Watch handheld game. I admit the details fail me a bit, but I’m almost certain it was the same title shown in the photo above: “Mario’s Cement Factory.” (Mario, apparently making a name for himself in more than just the plumbing world, though his Italian background and string of contractor businesses are starting to make me a little suspicious.)

I loved this game. I played it incessantly, until one day when it was stolen from my school desk during recess. And although its rules were ridiculously simple — basically, press the button at the right time, or you die — it had its hooks in me to the point where, now, 25 years later, I’m getting misty over a video game.

Now Nintendo of Japan has announced plans to release nine old Game & Watch titles via the DSi Ware download service. So far, the titles are only confirmed for Japan, but you can watch some really awesome footage of the games on Nintendo’s Japanese site. Check out “Judge,” the one with the two guys with sledgehammers, and “Chef” with the little dude with the frying pan. Fun!

Publishers have learned there’s a whole market in video game nostalgia. Compilations of classic games have become big sellers, and while I’m no computer coder, I’d have to guess that these titles represent some quick money without the time and effort spent creating vast virtual worlds. Meanwhile, computer emulators like MAME and sites like Virtual NES let gamers relive the best, most beloved and just plain bizarre games of yesteryear. (If, like me, you’ve read more than few issues of Nintendo Power in your day, you will easily waste entire weeks of your life on Virtual NES. You have been warned.)

I’m still at a bit of a loss to explain exactly what it is about classic games that get me. But isn’t that part of nostalgia? Having your memory jolted by the unexpected? The fact that something seemingly unimportant can later have such meaning attached to it? All I know is, you can have your 80s music weekends and your mom’s famous tuna casserole. My best childhood memories are in LCD.

Any good classic gaming memories to share? Leave a comment and let us know which titles can still bring a tear to your eye.

Image:  ”Mario’s Cement Factory” by Nintendo Game & Watch, 1983; photo by Hedning