Introduction
Watara, a relatively obscure electronics company, made a notable attempt to penetrate the gaming industry during the early 1990s, a time when the video game market was fiercely competitive. Despite its brief stint in the gaming world, Watara's efforts are remembered for their bold attempt to challenge the dominance of established giants like Nintendo. The company’s most significant contribution was the Supervision, a handheld gaming console aimed at providing an affordable alternative to the Nintendo Game Boy. This article delves into the history of Watara, exploring its origins, its foray into the gaming industry, and its lasting impact on the market.
The Origins of Watara
Founding and Early Years: Watara was founded in the late 1980s in Hong Kong, a hub for electronics manufacturing during that era. The company initially focused on producing various low-cost electronic devices, including educational toys, calculators, and other consumer electronics. Hong Kong's electronics industry was booming at the time, and Watara capitalized on the growing demand for affordable gadgets.
As the video game industry began to explode in popularity, particularly with the success of Nintendo's Game Boy, Watara saw an opportunity to enter the lucrative gaming market. Leveraging its experience in low-cost electronics, Watara aimed to create a budget-friendly gaming console that could appeal to consumers who found other systems too expensive.
Development of the Supervision: In 1992, Watara launched its first and most notable gaming product, the Supervision. The Supervision was a handheld gaming console designed to compete directly with the Nintendo Game Boy. It featured a similar design to the Game Boy, with a monochrome LCD screen, a D-pad, and two action buttons. However, Watara’s console was larger and had a slightly bigger screen, which the company marketed as a key selling point.
Watara’s strategy was to offer a more affordable alternative to the Game Boy while still providing a comparable gaming experience. The Supervision was priced lower than the Game Boy, making it an attractive option for cost-conscious consumers. Watara also emphasized the console’s larger screen and adjustable display, which allowed players to tilt the screen for better viewing angles—a unique feature at the time.
Watara’s Foray into the Gaming Industry
Challenges in the Market: Despite its ambitions, Watara faced several significant challenges in the gaming industry. The most formidable obstacle was the overwhelming dominance of Nintendo’s Game Boy, which had already established a strong foothold in the market. The Game Boy’s extensive library of high-quality games, strong brand recognition, and solid relationships with third-party developers made it a tough competitor.
Watara struggled to attract major game developers to create titles for the Supervision. As a result, the Supervision’s game library was relatively small and consisted mostly of simple, arcade-style games that lacked the depth and polish of Game Boy titles. This limited game selection was a significant drawback for the Supervision, as it failed to offer the variety and quality that gamers expected.
Global Distribution and Branding: To maximize its reach, Watara employed a global distribution strategy, partnering with various companies to market the Supervision under different brand names in different regions. In the United States, the console was sold under the QuickShot Supervision brand by Bondwell, while in Europe, it was distributed by companies like Hartung and Videojet.
The decision to use different brand names in different regions was intended to appeal to local markets, but it also created some confusion and fragmented the brand’s identity. Nevertheless, Watara managed to get the Supervision into stores across the world, albeit with limited success. In many regions, the Supervision was perceived as a lesser alternative to the Game Boy, and it struggled to gain significant market share.
Technological Limitations: Another major challenge for the Supervision was its technological limitations. While the console’s screen was larger than the Game Boy’s, it suffered from poor contrast and ghosting, which made it difficult to play in certain lighting conditions. The build quality of the console was also lower than that of its competitors, leading to a less durable product that did not inspire long-term confidence among consumers.
These issues were compounded by the lack of exclusive, high-quality games. The Supervision’s hardware, while adequate for basic gaming, was not powerful enough to support more complex or graphically intensive games, further limiting its appeal to serious gamers.
Watara’s Decline and Legacy
The Fall of the Supervision: By the mid-1990s, it was clear that the Supervision had failed to make a significant impact in the gaming industry. The console’s poor sales, limited game library, and lack of strong brand support made it difficult for Watara to continue competing in the increasingly competitive handheld gaming market. As Nintendo continued to dominate with the Game Boy, and new competitors like Sega’s Game Gear entered the market, the Supervision was gradually pushed into obscurity.
Watara eventually ceased production of the Supervision and shifted its focus back to producing other low-cost electronics. The company’s brief venture into the gaming industry had come to an end, leaving the Supervision as a curious footnote in the history of video games.
Legacy and Impact: Despite its commercial failure, the Watara Supervision remains an interesting example of the challenges faced by smaller companies trying to break into a market dominated by larger, more established players. Watara’s attempt to create an affordable gaming console highlighted the demand for budget-friendly gaming options, even if the execution fell short.
The Supervision has since gained a small but dedicated following among retro gaming enthusiasts and collectors. Its unique design, global distribution strategy, and the story of its creation have made it a topic of interest for those studying the history of video games. The console is often cited as an example of a “what could have been” scenario in the gaming industry—an ambitious project that was ultimately unable to overcome the challenges it faced.
Conclusion
Watara’s role in the gaming industry, though brief, is a testament to the innovative spirit of smaller companies trying to carve out a niche in a highly competitive market. The Supervision, while not a commercial success, represents an important chapter in the history of handheld gaming. It serves as a reminder of the difficulties faced by companies trying to compete against industry giants and the importance of a strong game library and technological innovation in achieving success in the gaming world.
While Watara may not have been able to dethrone the Game Boy or establish itself as a major player in the gaming industry, its efforts are remembered by those who appreciate the diverse and rich history of video games. The Supervision, with all its flaws and quirks, remains a symbol of the ambition and creativity that characterized the early years of the handheld gaming market.