The Gig Tigers, the pocket video games released between the 80s and 90s, are back. Here are the first four titles
The retrogaming craze is on, or at least that's what Hasbro hopes with the official announcement of the return on the market of Tiger portable video games. Distributed in Italy by GiG and for this reason known in our country with the name of GiG Tiger, these small pocket video games were very much in vogue in the late eighties and early nineties. The U.S. company plans to launch initially only four models that will be available from next fall, but for 2021 are planned new releases.
The first four models are The Little Mermaid, Transformers Generation 2, X-Men Project X and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Titles that at the time had great success and that now Hasbro hopes to repeat. Who are Gig Tigers designed for? For all lovers of retrogaming and pocket video games released between the '80s and '90s. A market that in recent years has experienced great growth, as evidenced by the release of the Super Nintendo and PlayStation Classic.
The return of pocket video games
The pocket video games will sport an old school design, very similar to the original ones launched more than 30 years ago, taking shapes and features such as colorful buttons, the monochrome liquid crystal screen consists of a pre-set background and a mobile and battery power. For now, there are only four titles that will be available next fall, namely: The Little Mermaid, Transformers Generation 2, X-Men Project X and Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
The GiG Tigers can already be reserved in the U.S. at GameStop for $14.99 each. In the 1980s they revolutionized the world of children and teenage gaming and now they're ready to return. A true cult object that could be the keystone of their success, a sort of "nostalgia operation", given that by now our smartphones can contain dozens and dozens of Arcade video games, but not only. Hasbro's plans are to test the ground and, in case of success, churn out new games in no time.
GiG: the company
GiG was founded in 1968 by entrepreneur Gianfranco Aldo Horvat, son of the founder of Horvat Toys. The company achieved success by becoming a licensee for famous brands such as Toy's and Nintendo. In 1994 it entered into a partnership with the Giochi Preziosi group, which took it over completely in 1999. GiG was the first to believe in the new electronic games, importing them into Italy. Above all, the Game Boy launched in April 1989 by Nintendo and distributed exclusively in Italy by Giochi Preziosi under the brand GiG Electronics.