| Publisher: Nintendo Co., Ltd. (1966) | |||
| Production Team Nintendo R&D1 |
Lead Designer Gunpei Yokoi |
Production Credits N/A |
Platform Misc. |
The Ultra Hand was a plastic mandible toy designed by Gunpei Yokoi and manufactured by Nintendo Company Limited. The Ultra Hand consists of several criss-cross-connected latticework of plastic elements. One end of the Ultra Hand had scissor-like handles, and when operated like a scissor, the Ultra Hand would extend when pinched together or retract when opened. On the other side of the hand were two bowl shaped grips, with which ball-like objects could be gripped, when the Ultra Hand was fully extended. Included in the Ultra Hand package were 3 colored balls with stands on which the balls would rest. The Ultra Hand was a large commercial success selling over a million units in Japan. At least five different versions of the box design have been released in Japan over the years. It is also the first major Nintendo product released world wide.
Important to the history of Nintendo, the Ultra Hand has made many appearances in games such as Wario: Master of Disguise, Mario Power Tennis, and the WarioWare series. More recently, a WiiWare game has been released in North America exclusive to Club Nintendo members on March 31, 2010 entitled Grill-Off with Ultra Hand!. The game features the Ultra Hand stretching out to grab cooked meats on barbecued grills. In single-player, the goal is to last as long as possible. There is also a Versus feature that has two players competing for the most points in 90 seconds.
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Related Series: Ultra Machine (1967) |
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Before Mario: The Ultra Hand
Author: Kyoto Ninja (13 April 2012)
Source: Before Mario Blog. Nintendo of Japan Website.