The ultra-rare Game & Watch build, which debuted long before Nintendo's trademark hardware, was auctioned off.
While Nintendo and the Game & Watch handheld series are the same these days, the first Game & Watch machines were built by North American toy company, Mego. The unit you see before it was made by Mego and actually served as a dealership to demonstrate the power of traditional Game & Watch machines; because the sales units are so small, the shows are hard to see, so this larger screen does a surprising job.
This unit actually plays a fully functional version of Vermin – one of the 60-or-so Game & Watch games that were available at the time. You can see it working and hear more about it in the video below.
The machine is up for auction now at Heritage Auctions – exactly this place recently sold the Nintendo PlayStation. Bidding ends during the 16 days as we write this, with the current top bid standing at $ 575. You can see for yourself here if you are interested.
It's not often you see something like this pop on sale. Have you ever seen one of these before? Let us know in the comments.
