During the earliest days of console gaming, there wasn’t a handheld device that could provide a true arcade experience on the go. Even the GameBoy would be considered high tech compared to the LED and LCD games available as watches and much smaller recreations of the arcade cabinets. Those adaptations belong to a nearly forgotten chapter of video game history. But now, many of the titles are getting a new lease on life. Thanks to the Herculean efforts of MAME developers, you can play several classic LED games on your browsers.
Via The Verge, the Internet Archive has unveiled its Handheld History Collection, which features nearly 70 emulated handheld titles. The initial lineup includes Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Tron, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mortal Kombat, and even a handheld Batman game.
The games may look primitive, but putting them online was no easy feat. In order to bring these classic titles back to life, many of the LED, LCD, and VFD games had to be completely dismantled. For some games, that meant scanning each illustration created for the background and examining the circuit board to figure out when and where the onscreen characters should be illuminated.
Jason Scott broke down the process behind the emulation of these handheld games at the Internet Archive’s blog, and it’s well worth a read. More titles are said to be in the works, and it looks like this gaming era won’t be forgotten after all.
Are you excited about the chance to play these retro games? Press start in the comment section below!
Images: Internet Archive
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