Editing Handheld electronic game (section)

==History==
[[File:TOMY LSI PACMAN handheld electronic game.jpg|thumb|A variant of [[Pac-Man]] by the Japanese toy company [[Tomy]] from 1981. It was sold as ''Puck Man'' in Japan, the original Japanese name of the game.]]
Early handheld games used simple mechanisms to interact with players, often limited to illuminated buttons and sound effects. Early handheld games include ''[[Mattel Auto Race]]'' (1976) and ''Mattel Electronic Football'' (1977),<ref>[http://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_mark_lesser.html DP Interviews]. Digitpress.com. Retrieved on 2013-09-27.</ref> which have simple red-[[light-emitting diode|LED]] displays; gameplay involves pressing buttons to move a car or quarterback icon (represented by a bright dot) to avoid obstacles (represented by less bright dots).

In 1978 the [[Milton Bradley Company]] entered the handheld market with ''[[Simon (game)|Simon]]'', a simple color-and-sound-matching game. Simon had no dedicated display, but featured four colored, lighted buttons; the original version was large enough to be used as a tabletop game or a handheld; later versions became increasingly smaller. The same year, Parker Brothers also released ''[[Merlin (game)|Merlin]]'', a more sophisticated handheld which could play six different games using an array of 11 buttons with integrated LEDs. Despite their relative simplicity, each of these early games was highly successful.  

The initial success of Mattel and Parker Brothers' entries spawned a wave of similar handheld devices which were released through the early 1980s. Notable among these were a series of popular 2-player "head-to-head" games from [[Coleco]]. Other games were miniaturized versions of popular arcade video games.

In 1979, [[Gunpei Yokoi]], traveling on a [[Shinkansen|bullet train]], saw a bored businessman playing with an [[LCD]] [[calculator]] by pressing the buttons. Yokoi then thought of an idea for a [[watch]] that doubled as a miniature game machine for killing time, a '''''game watch'''''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_87/490-Searching-for-Gunpei-Yokoi |title=The Escapist: Searching for Gunpei Yokoi |access-date=2011-01-26 |archive-date=2014-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140213213725/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_87/490-Searching-for-Gunpei-Yokoi |url-status=dead}}</ref> Starting in 1980, [[Nintendo]] began to release a series of electronic games designed by Yokoi called the [[Game & Watch]] games.<ref name="game and watch">{{Cite news | last = Pollack | first = Andrew | title = Gunpei Yokoi, Chief Designer Of Game Boy, Is Dead at 56 | work = The New York Times | date = 1997-10-09 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/09/business/gunpei-yokoi-chief-designer-of-game-boy-is-dead-at-56.html?n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FD%2FDeaths%20(Obituaries)}}</ref> Taking advantage of the technology used in the credit-card-sized calculators that had appeared on the market, Yokoi designed the series of LCD-based games to include a digital time display in the corner of the screen.<ref name="game over">{{cite book | last = Sheff | first = David | author-link = David Sheff | title = Game Over: Press Start to Continue | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0dK2AAAAIAAJ&q=Game+Over:+Press+Start+to+Continue | publisher = GamePress | year = 1999 | page = 28 | isbn = 978-0-9669617-0-6}}</ref>  For later, more complicated Game & Watch games, Yokoi invented a cross shaped directional pad or "D-pad" for control of on-screen characters.<ref name="IGN">{{cite web | last = Buchanan | first = Levi | title = From Janitor to Superstar Gunpei Yokoi, inventor of the Game Boy, would have been 67 this week. | publisher = IGN | date = 2008-09-08 | url = http://retro.ign.com/articles/908/908569p1.html | access-date = 2008-12-28}}</ref> Yokoi also included his directional pad on the [[Nintendo Entertainment System|Famicom]] game console's controllers, and the cross-shaped thumb controller soon became standard on game console controllers and ubiquitous across the video game industry as a replacement for the joystick.{{Citation needed|date=December 2015}}

During the 1980s, [[Liquid-crystal display|LCD]]s became inexpensive and largely replaced LED displays in handheld games. The use of custom images in LCD and VFD games allows for greater detail and eliminates the blocky, pixelated look of console screens, but not without drawbacks. All graphics are fixed in place, requiring every possible location and state of game objects to be preset—often visible when resetting a game—with no overlap. The [[Beta movement|illusion of movement]] is created by sequentially flashing objects between their possible states. Backgrounds for these games are static drawings, layered behind the "moving" graphics, which are transparent when not in use. Due to these limitations, the gameplay of early LCD games was often even cruder than that of their LED predecessors. 

Some of the more well-known handheld games of the LCD era are the [[Game & Watch]] series by Nintendo and the games by [[Tiger Electronics]], and many titles from other companies were also popular, especially conversions of [[arcade game]]s. New games are still being made, but most are based on relatively simple [[card games|card]] and [[board game]]s.

=== Bandai LCD Solarpower ===
[[File:Bandai LCD Solarpower.jpg|thumb|A Bandai LCD Solarpower]]
In 1982, the Bandai LCD Solarpower series were the first [[solar energy|solar-powered]] gaming devices. Some of its games, such as the [[Survival horror|horror]]-themed game ''Terror House'', featured two [[LCD panel]]s, one stacked on the other, for an early [[Stereoscopy|3D effect]].<ref>[http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/361591/the-top-ten-retro-gaming-secrets/3 The top ten retro gaming secrets (page 3)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123220944/http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/361591/the-top-ten-retro-gaming-secrets/3 |date=2012-01-23}}, [[PC Pro]]</ref> In 1983, [[Takara Tomy]]'s [[Tomytronic 3D]] series simulated [[3D computer graphics|3D]] by having two [[LED]] panels that were lit by external light through a window on top of the device, making it the first dedicated home video 3D hardware.<ref>[http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/361591/the-top-ten-retro-gaming-secrets The top ten retro gaming secrets (page 1)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115123926/http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/361591/the-top-ten-retro-gaming-secrets |date=2012-01-15}}, [[PC Pro]]</ref>

The '''''LCD Solarpower''''' series are handheld electronic games powered by [[solar energy]] made by [[Bandai]] in 1982. The games in the Double Panel series feature two LCD panels<ref>[http://www.handheldempire.com/game_instance.jsp?instance=3534 two LCD panels]</ref> stacked on top of each other. This allows these games to progress in 2 stages for more variation in game play.

==== Games ====
It comprises the following games:

'''First series:'''

:{{nihongo|Invaders of the Mummy's Tomb|謎のピラミッド|Nazo no Pyramid}}, ref. 16265 and 16813 for the re-release
:{{nihongo|Escape from the Devil's Doom|天国と地獄|Tengoku to Jigoku}}, ref. 16264
:{{nihongo|Sub Attack|激戦Ｕボート|Gekisen U-Boat}} / (Sub Patrol in UK), ref. 16280
:{{nihongo|Break Out|大脱走|Daidassou}}, ref. 16282
:{{nihongo|Shark Island|恐怖の無人島|Kyofu no Mujintou}}, ref. 16281
:{{nihongo|Nazo No Chinbotsusen|謎の沈没船|Nazo no Chinbotsusen}}, ref. 16288, released in Japan only

'''Second series (Double Panel):'''

:{{nihongo|Amazone|秘境アマゾン|Hikyo Amazon}}, ref. 16815
:{{nihongo|Terror House|悪霊の館|Akuryo no Yakata}}, ref. 16814
:{{nihongo|Frankenstein|ミスターフランケン|Mr. Franken}}, ref. 16817
:{{nihongo|Airport Panic|エアポートパニック|Airport Panic}}, ref. 16818

Other handheld games were built as flipcases and had two or even three LCDs with different foreground and background scenes, offering some variety in the gameplay.