Nelsonic made a ton of these watches, and the design was ‘borrowed’ by a number of other manufacturers including Zeon, Piratron, Armitron, Caravelle, Tomy, Microsonic, Artron, Majestron, Alfatronic, Jupiter and others under names like Cosmic Wars, Martian Wars, Space Invaders, Alien Attacker etc.
You’d think that with that many people making them they wouldn’t be all that hard to find today, and they aren’t even some 35 years later, but like all game watches they’ve been played hard so expect to pay big $$$$ for one in working condition, not to mention one with an original box or manual.
Of all of them, the Nelsonic is the one to get if you possibly can though because of the one not-so-subtle difference between the Nelsonic watch and all the others – the music.
On the bottom left side of the watch you can see the word Music – on non-Nelsonic watches this instead says (rather cryptically) LR.
And the music really lifts this watch from being very cool (as the game is fun and quite challenging) to super cool as the melody mashes up the theme of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek (possibly even a little E.T. in there too, although that might be coincidental). The music doesn’t play during the game and it’s a bit random that it plays the first few notes for the hourly chime, but you can hold the bottom left button in to hear the whole tune, or while playing the demo, or when the alarm goes off.
The watch features time & date, alarm, game (actually two – A & B), hourly chime, auto-calendar and a light. It doesn’t have 24-hour time but has a PM indicator in the saucer graphic alongside the alarm symbol.
The chip inside the module hasn’t been covered by the black emulsion that most watches are so there are a lot of exposed wires, thinner than a human hair, that are prone to damage by the unwary having a poke around inside their watch. Battery acid and clumsy repairwork are the biggest killers of these watches, hence why a lot are irrepairable. The usual scenario is someone rediscovers a watch they were first given in 1982 that’s been languishing in a draw for 20+ years and when they open it to change the batteries, find that they’ve leaked everywhere.
If the acid hasn’t made its way to the chip and other key components they watch can be saved, but amateur repairers often pull the module apart, dive in with a cotton bud and isopropyl (or worse, a fibreglass brush, and hit the exposed wires without realising they are there and that’s the end of the watch. On the plus side, it means you can often find a good case if you have a working module but banged-up watch, but that’s not quite as good as having more working Space Attackers in the wild.
So to the game.
There weren’t many dual-LCD watches around in 1981-82 which makes Space Attacker quite unique. Selecting game mode (or demo mode) switches the LCDs around.
You control a fixed-cannon with three shooting positions. Pressing the left button rotates the cannon clockwise through the three positions. Pressing Fire, obviously, fires.
Invaders appear at bottom left and fly (at varying speeds) in a semi-circle around an outer circle at the top of the screen, sometimes firing. Some disappear when they get to the bottom right of the screen, others then fly in a semi-circular pattern anti-clockwise in an inner circle of the screen.
It gets faster, harder quite quickly and it doesn’t take long for you to sustain three hits and your game is over.
Game B is the same, but harder.
Fun game, great watch. Buy one if you can, but prepare to shell out USD100+ for a good working version.
If you want a real challenge, look for the Monster calculator version of the same game!
Hi, I have the Artron cosmic wars game watch. I worked in a department store when I was 12 for one day to demonstrate them, and it was my payment. I cannot for the life of me remember how to set the date and time!☹️ Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Check out the manual at Handheld Museum. It should help you with setting time/alarm — not surprised you are having difficulty, it’s really unintuitive.
Thank you sooooooo much!!!! My watch is set and running perfect!! And yes, that was wildly unintuitive! Never would have gotten there without your help! Thank you again!✌️
No worries champ; it’s an awesome watch, have fun with it!
Hello, Does the Nelsonic version in fact play the first few notes of the music for the hourly chime? Or does it just beep twice? Can anyone post a video to confirm this? Please?
Just bought a working version from Piratron on Ebay..
cant wait to have it in my hands!
Wasn’t there a mute setting for quiet play
Hi! Thanks for your post! I have got a working “Piratron space game P-1999 shock protected”, made in Hong Kong. When I open the back side, I can read: a tag sticker wich says “9/81” (November 1981) and the motherboard says “Collins Industrial NOjewels unadjusted”. I had the problem with the acid of batteries, but a good watch-technician did clean it and now it works right. I think this is the first model of video game in a watch in the world, also before Casio or Nintendo. I did’nt find any older video game in a watch than this one.
I just found one of these in good working condition. David, in your post you said “November when I think you mean September since it’s 9/81. I’m wanting to sell this watch. Have any suggestions on where to do that?
eBay is your best bet for the largest number of potential buyers.
Can anyone tell me the battery size for this watch. I also have one but no batteries in it as they went dead years ago and removed them.
These take 2x SR1120SW batteries (also known as AG8, LR1120, 381, 391).
I’d like to buy it
Do you want to sell it, Brian?
I’m looking to buy one these if anyone has a lead for one for sale. Mine said Advance back in 81 as I recall.
I have the Nelsonic version. But can’t remember how to reset it.
I know it had to be reset after changing batteries (no corrosion in mine), and I sort of remember it was by touching two things at the same time in the back?
but like I said, can’t recall how or what exactly.
Any clues?
I loved playing with and using this as my alarm clock as a teen…
Oh, never mind I found the instructions online!
I had the Advance Cosmic Wars version (UK) and was the envy of all the school kids back in 81..
I constantly lent it to mates,who removed the back and put in blotting paper to mute the sound whilst in lessons.
Im no not where my OG went,I think I lost the back and binned it ?
But after watching many versions online for a few months just scored what looks like a mint version with perspex box and base. No instructions but easy to find It even comes with the protective face cover..
I can still hear those blips in my head !