Octopus (Nintendo Game & Watch, 1981)
Octopus was one of the thoroughbreds in the Game & Watch stable and certainly for me, one of the most addictive. Created by game designer Gunpei Yokoi for Nintendo, this game was released as part of the widescreen series, being slightly wider than the previous ‘silver’ and ‘gold’ editions. The single Game & Watch consoles, such as Octopus, had a small metal stand which allowed it to be displayed upright. Each of the games had a clock and an alarm, which was the basis for the title, Game & Watch.
Octopus Game & Watch by Nintendo, 1981
The goal of the game was to scoop the gold coins from the sunken treasure into your bag and get back to your boat, while evading the Octopus’ probing tentacles. Each dip into the treasure chest to fill your loot bag earned you one point and upon return to the surface you were awarded with a bonus three points for your efforts. At 200 or 500 points, additional lives can be gained which equated with significant scooping and evading action. If you were unlucky to be caught, a life would be lost and those remaining divers in the boat above would be deployed until none were left, at which point it was Game Over.
The interface for this game was very simple, with two buttons ‘left’ and ‘right’ to navigate. The Octopus had only 7 tentacles on display, where only 4 were used at any time to try to grab you. The game steadily increases in pace over time however there was a brief respite at every 100 points when it momentarily slowed down.
Without doubt one of my favourites from the 80s Game & Watch dynasty.
Janson Hews
I love Game ‘n Watches… The most amazing one I played was called ‘Climber’ , part of the crystal series which had a see-thru screen. It was a continuous vertical scrolling platformer.
Mint examples can fetch a lot of money with collectors.
Madrigal has simulated many of the games for windows, still lots of fun. http://www.madrigaldesign.it/sim/dnload.php
i used to have the fireman game i can’t remember what it was called and i had another one as well. fantastic games, kept me amused for ages.
Hi Jess – You had ‘Fire’ which was a great one too. q
I still have my copy of this classic! Well, erm, that is, if my parents haven’t gone and cleared out another draw that is.
Donkey Kong Jnr and Balloon Fight were two other greats from this series. There was even a game & watch Zelda (two screens!) and Super Mario brothers… pretty cool, esp. since I never could twist my parents for the original Gameboy.
Incidentally, I make lofi pixel art designs now, you can see some of my work here: http://www.zazzle.com/dead_pixel_designs*
I still have one of these in working order!
It would be great to get more of them though, I always wanted one of the ones with a dual fold out screen.
I had the ‘fire’ game and watch I dont know what happened to it
I have one Octopus game & clock almost like the one pictured from 1981.
It has been well used but the buttons are all in good condition is still working and has a built in swing out stand. It also doesnt have the logo below the nintendo name. I enjoyed playing it in the 80′s and my kids have played it now and then.