How the Segmented Game changed, through the Eyes of Golf

The 1980s were a period of slow decline for the segmented LCD or VFD game. At the start of the decade, companies like Coleco were putting out tabletop games that could compete with home console ports in quality. Even as consoles improved, portability and tricks like the Panorama Screen kept them going, and even the Soviet Union wanted in on it. But that all ended when the pixelated LCD game consoles like the Game Boy attacked, and by the 1990s, the situation and the games were a lot different. Let’s take a look at two examples, recreating one particular game.

Bandai’s Pro Golf

The 1984 Bandai Pro Golf is, I think, representative of what a high-end non-Nintendo LCD game looked like in the period. I was lucky enough to get it boxed, and the box promises a lot; this little LCD game should give me all of the pleasures of golf.

Inside, the game comes in a black plastic-pretending-to-be-leather case, which unfolds to reveal not only the game, but a course guide and all of the rules.

This tells us something about the target audience; they were imitating the gear of a corporate office worker, who might have leather bound agendas or similar objects to denote their status in the 1980’s.