A while back, I saw an item like the one above advertised as a RARE 1980 JAPANESE CASTLEVANIA HANDHELD ARCADE LED GAME, and almost flipped out. I totally love the old early 80s LED handheld games that were shaped like miniature arcade games, and I'm a huge fan of the Castlevania series (particularly obsessed with the early games), so this seemed like a dream item for my collection. Of course, my spider sense should have blinked on at the fact that this item was made six years before the release of the first Castlevania game, but I guess I wasn't thinking straight.
Thanks, however, to a little research at The Handheld Game Museum, I found that the game was 1) Not associated with Castlevania in any way shape or form (it was released by Bandai) and 2) The game engine itself was a clone of Donkey Kong. Man, would that have been a hideous dissappointment when it arrived.
And now I know to keep an eye out for this guy:
And I also found out about this game, which I didn't even know existed (I have the Wizards and Warriors handheld):
