Now these lovely little things might still be around in some form or another. Tucked away in the back of some supermarket toy section or end capping some dollar store holiday gift isle. Just anymore they are harder and harder to find. Not that I can blame companies for not just going with the newest technology.

That tiny little arcade cabinet plays the full game and has a keyring on it. That is pretty neat but you know what it’s not?

Perfect, absolutely perfect little toy. Which is what it is. A toy, not a video game. Those blinky inky three frame LCD games have such a unique feel to them. A hand drawn look that still captivates me.

They went hand in hand with bus rides, timeouts in the bedroom, or just something else to do when the Saturday Matinee is on.

The controls are typically just right on the game’s face. You can’t really mess up, and even if you did you can just start over super quick. Think of them like tiny little tests of skill. Like Wario Ware, ya’ll like Wario Ware right? Now Tiger Electronics made the bulk of them. So much so that they became synonymous with LCD games. We are so quick to call them Tiger Handhelds and we all had atleast 3. Of those 3 atleast 1 was burnt out. The remaining two were probably from a sitcom or an equally unlikely tie-in.

Which doesn’t even touch on the master class in packaging they came in. It was little Haro’s kryptonite. I would want them so bad, like beyond any reasonable degree of desire. Even to this day flash one of these bad boys at me and just take my money.

Now Japan has their own collection of these games most notably the Game & Watch series from Nintendo.

I wonder if that is where we get the phrase “Wide Screen” from? I honestly never thought much about it until just now. Mainly because our Nintendo Game & Watches were Gamewatches.

I still never had that beautiful beast on my wrist, but I still just hold out hope I will one day. Honestly I don’t understand where all the hate comes from. Like it seems cool to make fun of something for being as good as it could be. They never claimed to be more than what they were. I never expected them to be good either. It’s like the McDonald’s of games cheap, fast, and good on the go. Speaking of McDonald’s…

Yup even there. Happy Meal LCD games of Sonic and other Sega All Stars?! That’s just like the best plastic toy they could toss at you, well no I take that back. Those food Transformers was the best use of plastic ever. These atleast got more than a car trip of play out of it.

It’s not all nostalgia mind you. I honestly think these games still have a place in our lives. Not just me mind you but Disney and Square do as well. In Kingdom Hearts 3 they have unlockable LCD minigames that scoring high enough on each can unlock better in game weapons.

Which have their roots in old Game and Watch titles from Disney as well. So if you are looking for something quirky and fun to collect that is game adjacent I recommend not Disney Game & Watch title as those are ridiculous, but definitely look into some LCD games. If only to rebuy those long lost treasures from your youth. Just don’t forget a big blister pack of AAs.

Oh right the Review. It’s okay, I don’t really know what’s going on but they seemed to capture the rings for spare hits mechanic with just a stunned cool down timer. It captured the aesthetics of Sonic well enough. I’m sure with a few attempts you would have it down to a science. The action is fast and frantic while you never feel like you lose control. I have definitely played worse Sonic games that weren’t even LCDs. I’d pay like 13 bux for it out of package. Perhaps like 25 or 30 bux in package. But you do you, there are way cheaper and better LCD games. Try Aladdin, it was solid.