Nintendo Donkey Kong Game and Watch (1981) & Nintendo DS Lite (2006): Proof that Good Design is Timeless

Among my collection of video games and toys are a number of handheld games from a number of manufacturers and one of these companies is Nintendo. Nintendo released a line of handhelds back in the very early 1980s called Game & Watch. These units had a game, and a clock (the “Watch” part of Game & Watch). While most of them were a rectangle with an LCD screen and simple controls, there were a number of them that openened up (clamshell like) to reveal two screens. I have managed to find two such dual screen units: Donkey Kong (shown) and Firefighter (not shown). The first thing that came to mind was how much it looks like the design of the current Nintendo DS.  This just goes to show that a good design is timeless!

Take a look yourself and decide for yourself:

 

 

 

 

 

While writing this, I was listening to “Freewheel Burning” by Judas Priest