MAMEWorld Forums - MAME Artwork: Official - Re: Mego Time-Out Resources

Very good informative thread....and now it is time for a followup with one of the games now emulated.

>When Nintendo first came out with Game & Watch in Japan, they did not yet have a
>distribution network in the United States. (Nintendo of America would not be a "thing"
>until later that year).

>So in the beginning, they licensed Game & Watch to Mego Corp., which released it under
>its "Time Out" brand.

Back then, I only followed Mattel Electronics led games and Microvision stuff as well so this part is new to me.

>The first four Game & Watch games were released in America as:

-- Ball = Toss Up
-- Flagman = Flag Man
-- Vermin = The Exterminator
-- Fire = Fireman Fireman

>On the front of the game, the differences are:

-- Time Out logo replaces the Game and Watch Logo
-- Each game name was written in a different font (whereas each G&W game was the same font).
-- The Mego Corp logo was added to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th titles on the right middle.
-- Vermin released in a white case; The Exterminator was black... the other three games the US version matches the JPN version

>The back of the cases for the US version is identical to the JPN version, including Model
># and Nintendo trademark.

>The rom data for both versions is supposedly the same, but that is yet to be verified.

I don't see this happening since assumption will be, if it came imported from Nintendo's factory plant or licensed through Nintendo and manufactured in N. America with supervision from Nintendo, then data should be exact match. Any varying difference and there would have been 'hell to pay' courtesy of law firms representing Nintendo back then.

Ball = Toss Up

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https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=97003&page=319

https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=115448#Post115448

The one that I provided to Henrik was most assuredly the original 1980 version. The part number matched, as did the copyright date on the back of the case.
--

The only clone I see happening is if there was a bootleg variation that was made and the artwork case difference to support the Mego Time-Out versions.

>Below is front/back of all four games. Following posts are larger pictures of the front
>of each game, along with both the Time Out and Mego Corp logos. Hopefully this helps to
>create secondary artwork for these games when the time comes around.

And it looks like someone else gets to do the Mego Time-Out cases.

--
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=115445#Post115445

I'm probably not going to do any of the Time Out versions, apologies.
--

While comparing the lcd visual area of the Ball / Toss Up cases, the lcd on Toss Up displays visual color artifacts on the lcd display. Is that from the way the camera captured the angle of Toss Up display? Or maybe lcd of shown Toss Up model is starting to degrade? Or is there actually color artwork on Toss Up that is not done with Ball?

The other Mego Time-Out games appear to not show any artwork color, but I am not sure if Toss Up is an exception and does have color artwork that also needs to be done.

https://i.imgur.com/cS3Yzsn.png

http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/userfiles/382700-to_all.jpg