Awesome retro faceplate turns your New Nintendo 3DS into an old-school Game & Watch

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With its Super Famicom-esque face buttons, the New Nintendo 3DS is already rocking the retro in a big way. But if you’d like your portable console to look even more old-school, this fully functional Game & Watch-themed faceplate from Japanese gadget and accessory maker Colombus Circle is sure to do the trick!

Available to buy from online from September 30, the lawsuit-dodging “Retro Plate & Watch” faceplate for New Nintendo 3DS (no LL model, sorry!) mimics the aesthetic design of Nintendo’s classic Game & Watch portable LCD game devices, even replicating the original Famicom controller’s iconic gold-and-burgundy colour scheme.

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Those buttons and LCD screen aren’t purely decorative, either: just like the Nintendo handhelds of old, the faceplate has built-in watch and alarm functions. It also, somewhat curiously, has a thermometer (which I don’t remember the originals having, but there again perhaps mine was a knock-off since I did buy it from a market trader in Liverpool who sold them out of black bin bags…). Screen Shot 2015-07-30 at 12.54.42

Amazon JP is already taking preorders for the Plate & Watch, which costs 2,970 yen, or just shy of US$24. If you’re a diehard Nintendo fan, you may also want to stop by this page to preorder one of the same company’s snazzy (that’s snappy and jazzy) Super Famicom/SNES controller-shaped battery chargers for mobile devices. Sure, we’re suckers for anything Nintendo-themed, but we think it looks simply wonderful.

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