When one thinks of Hasbro, the first thought is often of some of the most beloved toy brands of the 80s and 90s, with a legacy that extends into the current day. However, the company's video game crossovers are more numerous than most consider. With Ubisoft's version of Monopoly becoming very popular, and Nerf Blasters based off Fortnite being released two years ago, Hasbro's products have crossed into video games as often as video games have branched out into Hasbro's products.

Other Hasbro products seem like they were tailor-made for video games and have made the crossover multiple times, including Transformers and, more recently, the Power Rangers fighting game Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid. Over the years, the company has accrued other toy brands as well, and it is currently set to unleash something on the market where toys and video games meet that has not been seen for years.

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Hasbro currently has the rights to a series of handheld games formerly produced by Tiger Electronics, which Hasbro is the parent company of. These were small, plastic handheld systems that played exactly one game each. They used a static background with LCD lights that created characters and objects in a very small number of fixed positions, creating repetitive, simplistic gameplay loops that resembled a slightly more detailed Atari stuck on loop. Now, perhaps to supplement Hasbro's push into the digital market, the company is bringing the Tiger Electronics handhelds back to stores.

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It must be stated that these are not exactly the same games as the previous Tiger Electronics handhelds: only four are scheduled to be released at first, these being remakes of previous titles with minor changes. They are Sonic the Hedgehog 3Little MermaidX-Men: Project X, and Transformers Generation 2. It must also be stated that these updates do nothing to address the limited functionality that made Game Boy games the far more classic, if expensive, option at the time of the original Tiger handhelds' release.

While this move is doubtlessly being made to capitalize on the nostalgia of those who would have grown up playing the Tiger Electronics games, it is important to remember that simple, limited means of entertainment, such as toys like these, often lead to genuine creativity. These days, people can look at a LEGO recreation of The Last of Us 2's trailer and consider it a work of art rather than a downgrade that did not need to be made, and there is more potential for these handhelds than when they were first made.

That said, nostalgic revivals do not always work well, especially when they highlight the flaws in the original product. It should not be forgotten that Tamagotchi, a similar LCD driven, relatively simplistic handheld, was brought back not long ago. With its failure to recapture the public interest, it is now relegated to neat, pointless appearances in Call of Duty games, and with the history Tiger Electronics and its products had with the video game industry, it remains to be seen if these new/old handhelds will even warrant that illustrious position.

The Tiger Electronics Handheld remakes are currently available for pre-order at GameStop.

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Source: Gizmodo