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Mr. Game & Watch

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For fighter info, see Mr. Game & Watch (SSBM), Mr. Game & Watch (SSBB), Mr. Game & Watch (SSB4), and Mr. Game & Watch (SSBU).
Mr. Game & Watch
MrGWGameWatchGallery4.png
Game&WatchSymbol.svg

The in-game sprite of Mr. Game & Watch from Game & Watch Gallery 4.

Universe Game & Watch
Debut Ball (1980) (as a juggler)

Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) (as Mr. Game & Watch)

Smash Bros. appearances Melee
Brawl
SSB4
Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance WarioWare Gold (cameos, 2018)
Console/platform of origin Game & Watch
Species Monochrome
Gender Male
Place of origin Superflat World
Created by Gunpei Yokoi
Designed by Makoto Kano
Article on Super Mario Wiki Mr. Game & Watch

Mr. Game & Watch (Mr.ゲーム&ウォッチ, Mr. Game & Watch) is a composite representation of various generic characters featured in Nintendo's Game & Watch products and video game series created in 1980 by Gunpei Yokoi.

Character description

Mr. Game & Watch as he appears in Ball.
Mr. Game & Watch's first appearance, in Ball.

Mr. Game & Watch is a man from Superflat World, a completely flat world, having no third dimension whatsoever. He is also monochrome, and due to the LCD display of the Game & Watch, he can only move in different frames, similar to the numbers on a calculator, or the Game & Watch games themselves.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Mr. Game & Watch in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Mr. Game & Watch's artwork from Melee.

Mr. Game & Watch makes his Super Smash Bros. series debut as the final unlockable character in Melee. Mr. Game and Watch can be unlocked one of four ways: completing either Classic Mode or Adventure Mode with all characters on any difficulty and stock or the Target Test with all characters, or playing 1000 vs. mode matches.

Mr. Game & Watch fights with a variety of items derived from the Game & Watch series. Chef, his neutral special move, launches sausages at random distances from a pan. At closer distances this pan can be used as a semi-spike; Judgment, his side special move, is a hammer with randomly chosen strength and effects, ranging from weak (1) to strong (9); Fire, his up special move, launches Mr. Game & Watch at a lengthy vertical distance, with the help of a firefighter team (note that this is the only up special attack which gets more distance when a character is big by getting a mushroom); Oil Panic, his down special move, allows him to catch energy based projectiles. Once three projectiles were caught, the contents can be dumped as a flow of oil, causing damage depending on the projectiles caught. This move can be used to cause the Kamikaze Glitch.

Mr. Game & Watch translated well into Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, this proves to become a severe disadvantage. His movement is choppy and sluggish, thus becoming dependent on wavedashing and dash-dancing as his primary method of movement. His moves, primarily his special moves, have very limited uses in competitive play and only two of his aerial attacks can be L-canceled. However, the few usable moves he has came equipped with high range and very large hitboxes, many of which are powerful finishers. Aside from his moves, Mr. Game and Watch's throws are very useful due to the fact they can all be used as to chain grab. Mr. Game & Watch's defensive game is arguably his worst property; with an extremely small shield (which leaves his hands and feet unprotected, even at maximum) and a very poor sidestep and roll, he has a very weak defensive game. This, combined with the fact that he is very light, causes him to die at very low percentages. Mr. Game and Watch players must therefore be able to read their opponents ridiculously well in order to simply survive and to have a chance in competitive play.

Trophies

As with the other playable characters, Mr. Game & Watch has three trophies. His main trophy reads:

Mr. Game & Watch
First appearing in 1980, the Game & Watch series is the father of all portable liquid crystal games. The main character is simple and monochrome but has a timeless individuality. There are 39 different games in the series and they've sold over 43 million units worldwide. Pictured at left is the particularly popular Fire model.

  • Game & Watch, 1980

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Mr. Game & Watch's artwork from Brawl.

Mr. Game & Watch returns as an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He has been heavily buffed, moving from the bottom tier in Melee to the mid-high tier in Brawl. Mr. Game & Watch's attacks have been powered up and quickened, and he arguably has the best set of smash attacks in the game. He has been given a new technique, called Bucket Braking, which lets him negate all knockback while midair.

Interestingly, in a DOJO!! update where Sakurai explained some mysteries about the Subspace Emissary, he says that Tabuu used Mr. Game & Watch's flat qualities to create Shadow Bugs, making Mr. Game & Watch the origin of Shadow Bugs, though Mr. Game & Watch is not aware of it himself.

Mr. Game & Watch clones in the Subspace Emissary

Trophy

Mr. Game & Watch trophy from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
The Mr. Game & Watch trophy in Brawl.
Mr. Game & Watch
The monochrome hero of the Game & Watch series, a fellow who oozes personality. First appearing in 1980, the series were the original portable game systems. The first games in the series were quite simple, but as time passed, technology evolved. The multiscreen series featured game play on dual screens. As the name states, the games also kept time.
Game Boy: Game & Watch Gallery

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Mr. Game & Watch as he appears in Super Smash Bros. 4

Mr. Game & Watch is once again an unlockable playable character. He was teased before release in a small appearance at the end of Pac-Man's reveal trailer to illustrate how the two are the oldest characters in Smash Bros. history (even older than Mario and Donkey Kong); in that cameo, he notably performs his down taunt from Brawl, which would eventually get replaced.

Overall, Mr. Game & Watch was nerfed in the transition to Smash 4. The removal of Bucket Braking is his most notable negative change, as it greatly hinders his ability to survive, notable considering his status is a lightweight character. Several of his moves also have added ending lag, such as his up tilt, down tilt, and neutral aerial, and some of his moves are weaker finishers, such as his forward aerial. However, his attacks possess high damage output, with some becoming more efficient, including his back aerial's multiple hits linking better, and up smash, which now includes invincibility on startup. His throws have also improved, as they are all now performed much faster, with down throw being especially great at starting combos. However, his nerfs are considerably enough to cause a drop in his tier placement, now ranking 39th out of 55 on the Smash 4 tier list, and has seen lackluster tournament representation and results.

Trophies

Mr. Game & Watch
North AmericaSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS Game & Watch was first released in 1980, making the series the father of the Game Boy and Nintendo DS. Or maybe an older sibling? Anyway...in Smash Bros., Mr. Game & Watch uses distinct retro moves to damage his foes. However, he's only two dimensional, so he's pretty easy to send flying.
North AmericaSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U Game & Watch was a series of handheld video games that started in 1980, which pretty much makes Mr. Game & Watch the father of the Game Boy and Nintendo DS. Or maybe an older sibling? Anyway...in Smash Bros., Mr. Game & Watch uses distinct retro moves to damage his foes. However, he only has two dimensions, so he's pretty easy to send flying.
Europe Game & Watch was a series of handheld video games that started in 1980, before even the Game Boy. In this game, you can play as the guy who starred in them, moving about in his quirky, oh-so-retro little way. He can string together some pretty powerful attacks but, unfortunately, being 2D makes him very easy to launch.
Mr. Game & Watch (Alt.)
Mr. Game & Watch's Oil Panic special catches shots and turns them into oil. After catching three, the bucket will be full and you'll be able to throw oil all over your enemies. Some shots, like Samus's fully powered Charge Shot, will fill the bucket in one go! Throwing the oil you get from a shot like that can KO your foes in a flash!

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Mr. Game & Watch in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Mr. Game & Watch is once more an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, alongside the entire playable roster of the series. His moveset is largely intact, though he now changes appearance depending on the game which the move he is using comes from. In addition, his Final Smash, Octopus, now carries and drags opponents offscreen.

Trivia

Mr. Game & Watch and Pac-Man.
  • Conceptually, Mr. Game & Watch is the only 2D playable character in the Smash Bros. series. However, in the technical sense, he is composed of a 3D model just like all other characters; this model is flattened along one axis to provide the illusion he is 2D. This flattening effect is applied to other characters in 2D stages such as Flat Zone and Pac-Land. The 2D illusion is broken somewhat when Mr. Game & Watch becomes metal or is a false character, as his body is no longer featureless and appears to be rounded.
  • Mr. Game & Watch is technically the oldest playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series, having debuted in April 1980 (Pac-Man would debut in Japan a month later).
    • Although the Game & Watch was first released in 1980, Mr. Game & Watch didn't conceptually exist until Super Smash Bros. Melee. This has led to some debate over whether or not Mr. Game & Watch should be considered the same entity as the playable characters from the original Game & Watch handhelds.
      • That said, Mr. Game & Watch, as a character in Smash Bros., is an amalgamation of different Game & Watch titles, so it's likely that he represents the entire Game & Watch brand rather than a specific game. This is further supported in Ultimate, where Mr. Game & Watch, for several of his moves, changes his appearance to resemble the character in the game from which the move originated.
  • Mr. Game & Watch and Falco are the only characters who appeared as unlockable in multiple Super Smash Bros. titles to remain as unlockable in both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4.
    • Counting the two versions separately, they, along with Jigglypuff, are also tied for the most unlockable appearances in the series, with five.