Talk:Game & Watch

User:JCAW1/Evaluate an Article

Name of article: Game & Watch series

I chose this article because I found reaching into the roots of gaming history an interesting endeavor. As I do hold aspirations of becoming a game designer in my near future, I believe looking into the past of both consoles and games alike would be an insightful experience.

Lead evaluation

The lead does a good job introducing just what the pseudo-gaming system is, as well as a brief overview of its history; however, though the lead touches on practically all the topics later discussed within the article, it took me a second read through it to understand that. This is mainly because the topics themselves are mentioned in passing which, in some cases, is likely a good way to limit the number of words in the lead to more easily draw a reader's attention. It talks about its origin, how it was developed as a series between 1980 and 1991, its legacy of success as Nintendo's earliest gaming product, and... well, what the lead doesn't mention is "Mr. Game and Watch", a character who appears as a cameo throughout a variety of other Nintendo games and acts as an homage to the product series of the same name. On the bright side, all of the topics discussed in the lead are further discussed throughout the article, and, overall, the lead is concise without being overly detailed.

Content evaluation

While all the information within the article is relevant, I do see one glaring issue; funnily enough, it's again regarding the "Mr. Game and Watch" character. On December 7th, 2018, the latest game in Nintendo's highly-renowned "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" was released with Mr. Game and Watch as a playable character; the article doesn't mention that whatsoever. Therefore, while all the content proceeding this ending section is up-to-date, this is something of a missing issue. The section regarding his character does mention his involvement in the series, but gives information on his role in each of the games; it gives none concerning the aforementioned "Ultimate" game, though it does fall under the umbrella of "subsequent Super Smash Bros." titles mentioned in said section. There are also a few other Smash games he was involved in that this subsection doesn't depict his role in.

Tone and balance evaluation

The article maintains a neutral tone while also showing no bias one way or the other, as all articles should be; in a similar vein, no viewpoints are really over or underrepresented, and the article doesn't seek to persuade the reader to favor any position over the other.

Sources and references evaluation

While there are many instances where the article has proper enough sources to back up its information, it isn't perfect; for one thing, take into consideration the fact that, again, Mr. Game and Watch's appearance in Ultimate isn't stated whatsoever. For instance, if you look at the lead, literally in the first paragraph, there's a needed citation for the simple fact that the "Game and Watch" can function as both an alarm and a clock; if you need a citation before you're barely even three sentences in, then it doesn't look too well. The sources are somewhat current, if only a bit dated considering the fact that most them seem to have come from the early to mid 2010's. The links do seem recent enough that a couple of them work.

Organization evaluation

The article is fairly easy to read, as well as concise; it admittedly helps that the Game and Watch is so old a system that there isn't so much to be said about it, but thankfully that makes keeping things brief all the easier. There also don't appear to be any spelling or grammatical errors, and the sections are properly broken down into a good order with each section making for a good reflection of their corresponding topics.

Images and media evaluation

While I can't say the page will be winning any artistic awards, I can say that, where it does use images, it uses them well. It has three: an image of the "game and watch" itself (at least, one rendition of it), an image of its eventual "flip", multi-screened design (this image could have been more properly located where the text actually talks about how this version of the Game & Watch could be scene as a predecessor to other "flip" game consoles such as the Nintendo DS), and an image of "Mr. Game and Watch" as he typically appears in the Super Smash Bros. franchise. Each is well-captioned with just what the image is meant to represent, while also adhering to Wikipedia's copyright regulations. Aside from the image of the multi-screen design for the Game & Watch, I'd say the other two images are properly placed: the image of the single-screened (and likely more recognizable) "G&W" is towards the beginning where the lead is, and the image of "Mr. G&W" is towards where it talks about his avatar's appearance in other game media.

Talk page evaluation

The conversations within the talk page all seemed focused on rectifying and adding correct information to the article; all in all, pretty good. I honestly wasn't expecting this number of people to be committed to getting the facts straight concerning a not-so-well-aged video game console, but it was refreshing to see that that was the case. The article itself is rated as "Start-class" and is part of the "Video games" WikiProject. I'd say the way Wikipedia itself discusses this topic as compared to how I've generally learned them through classes isn't how I figured it; while I did understand that different WikiProjects had different, typically independent groups of people working together, I didn't expect there to be "a collaborative [group] effort to improve the coverage of video games on Wikipedia", as it describes itself. I did notice that people speaking in the talk section didn't seem as formal, though, such as not using proper indentation or capitalization in some areas.

Overall evaluation

I'd say the article's overall status is that, while it's fine, it could benefit from some more information and citations. While, if you look at the article, it only says "citation needed" twice, there are some instances where it does state some facts without backing them up with proper secondary sources. For instance, if you look at the "Legacy" section, there isn't a single citation to be had; I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I will say that, considering how the section introduces itself ("the Game & Watch made handheld video game consoles vastly popular. Many toy companies followed in the footsteps of the Game & Watch, such as Tiger Electronics and their Star Wars themed games"), I was suspecting a citation to back up this claim. The article's strength is that, where it does have the information, the information holds true, it's brief, and it's straight to the point. No words seem to be spared, all while maintaining a neutral point of view. Though, when it comes to improvements, I reiterate that I personally believe it could benefit from more cited sources, and more specific information in some areas (such as, with how I discussed earlier, how Mr. Game and Watch's role in Super Smash Bros. games after Brawl changed, and also how it literally opens the "Origin and design" section with "it is said" without an actual cited fact). All in all, I'd say it is well-developed, but could do with some improvements.

Optional activity

Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes.

Link to feedback: Talk:Game & Watch series ; specifically under "Game and Watch as inspiration for DS?" JCAW1 (talk) 02:44, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

There's info about it in 3 different places, all restating the same stuff. Which section should it go in? SpikyLlama (talk) 15:54, 29 May 2021 (UTC)