Star Fox came out at a time when the Game & Watch no longer existed. At the same time LCD games were still a thing and Nintendo had a partnership with Nelsonic to make Game Watch games and because of this we did get a portable Star Fox game in December 1993 just called Star Fox (Game Watch). Originally I meant to talk about lesser known Star Fox titles but I couldn’t help rave about this little game that it deserved its own little tribute.
Nintendo did not manufacture the watch directly as that was the role of Nelsonic Industries that developed and published it. They had a history of making games on wrist watches and had began publishing licensed games like Pac-Man for their game watches line. This is what allowed them to show Nintendo they were able to do it and they got licenses from different Nintendo franchises. One of their later releses was Star Fox based on the 3D polygonal Super Nintendo game.
While Game Watch might seem simiar enough name to Game & Watch, this was not using anything related to that brand. It was its own thing and the gimmick was you could put it in your wrist. The rights to the game seem to be hardwired logic physically printed onto a circuit board, so the design seems to be owned by M.Z. Berger who acquired Nelsonic and might not even know they own this. At the same time it could be that Nintendo does own these rights but that seems less likely, as any chance of re-release. Even if Nintendo has done reverse-engineering to do it for Game & Watch before.
Gameplay & Story
The objective is simple swince it’s an LCD game with no actual sprites. You control an Arwing, most likely piloted by Fox and you have to defeat all the Attack Carrier while you dodge obstacles. There are four levels all set in Corneria. A simple game for simple hardware. The Story is just that you are in corneria and have to defeat the enemies. Perhaps being set in the original Lylat wars.
There are diferent releases for this watch, athough the game was the same. It’s mostly either cosmetic looks or packaging that is different. Certain versions featured a headphone jack and headphones to go along so you could listen to the beeps it made since there’s no music and only noises that watches of that era could make. Although they do recreate the intro music of corneria. The headphones are generic and don’t have anything special about them.
You could get it physically as a release but there was also a cereal promotion where you could get it by mailing to proof of purchases Kellogg’s Cereals like Corn Flakes, Apple Jacks and Frosted Flakes. They indluded some mazes, cards and even game tips. There was also a promotion where you could get a Star Fox Cap. The It’s at least interesting to see the stuff they printed on the back of the box since it gives the game watch Star Fox a bit more of an identity. There are a couple of variants for the game, this includes how they physically look. The one sold in stores has what appears two more spaced out buttons on the sides and the up and down ones, red buttons for the bombs/lasers and yellow movement buttons, the strap has the nintendo and start fox logos.. The one from the cereal promotion is thinner and has the standard Nelsonic four buttons controller one on each side all together, the straps besides the logos also has little stars which make it better looking and the face plate has star fox artwork, it can either be have blue buttons and red laser/bombs buttons or red buttons and blue bombs/lasers buttons. There is no definitive version, The retail version is a more original design but the strap and faceplate of the cereal one are better. Packaging varies but even if one might be bigger none of them are that interesting.
There is a fangame that remakes the game StarFox Game & Watch Restrapped. This fan game is basically a love letter to this little device, Featuring a Star Fox 64 inspired menu. 3D model of the watch, a museum with info about the watch. You can play the original game as it’s an accurate representation. And it includes a remake mode where it has music and upgraded graphics and QOL features. It even includes a sequel quest with more content.
So that’s pretty much all there is to say about this little game, I got to play it and it’s a simple game that perhaps not the most addictive LCD game, it isn’t broken and recreates the Star Fox world rather well in such a primitive system. Not quite as unofficial like the CDI Zelda’s but also not as official as Star Fox Assault, this is still an official Nintendo approved Star Fox game.