“Game & Watch’s Russian Clone: How Elektronika Igra Na Ekrane Enraptured a Generation of Gamers”

Before the Game Boy made history, Nintendo had already entered the handheld market with Game & Watch. the madness of Gunpei Yokoi It showed that it was possible to enjoy video games, however small, on pocket devices. What Yoki surely did not expect was that this console, Nintendo’s first portable, would end up having a Russian clone that would be the sensation of an entire country.

The 1980s, the market for digital calculators in the midst of a race to emerge and the main manufacturers fighting to open up a niche. While Nintendo had already opened the season with the Game & Watch range, in the former USSR, Elektronika decided to take advantage of the large amount of calculator materials, and the simple design of the G&W, to make your own portable console.

This is how the first came Game & Watch rusasor Soviet, the Elektronika Igra Na Ekrane (Game On Screen). Devices with a processor made in Soviet territory, which was a carbon copy of the Sharp processor used in Nintendo laptops, a central screen and between 4 and 6 buttons to play, as well as an integrated clock.

The company dedicated itself to copying the game formula of the Game & Watch and adapting it to its territory. The best example of this is the case of the G&W EG-26, in which the player controls a wolf that has to catch some eggs. Elektronika decided to take advantage of the occasion to launch the Elektronika IM-02, an adaptation that changed that wolf for the one that appeared in a popular animated series of the region at that time, Well, Guess!.

The move was perfect, since millions were sold in the Soviet Union by then. Furthermore, the phenomenon was triggered by rumors that, upon reaching 1000 points, the IM-02 would congratulate the player by displaying an entire chapter of Nu, Pogodi! on the screen. Something totally impossible, but that only increased his fame.

This Russian clone of Nintendo’s first portable console, or rather a Soviet clone, marked a whole generation of gamers. Elektronika continued to launch consoles, like the VideoSport-3 in 1991 with a Pong for TV, or the IM-15 with a soccer game. But he did not last much longer in the world of video games.

Fuente