General:

Date of Release: 31^st July 1980

Model Nr: RC-04
Acronym: ResCue
Rating: DC3V 0.0002W
Battery: LR43 (or SR43) x 2
Manufactured: Japan
Sold: More than 1,000,000 Worldwide
Nr. of players: 1
Lives: 3
Modes: Game A & Game B
Controls: Left & Right button
Other Buttons: Game A, Game B, Time & ACL

Game-Play:

is an old classic. Probably the first Game and Watch I ever played. You control the two guys left or right and try to help the falling men from the burning building into the Ambulance on the right by bouncing them on your life net.

Game differences:

In Game B the falling speed of the evacuees is always fixed, but the number of them who jump down is increased up to 9.

Trivia:

When Nintendo was planning to release this game the building on fire was supposed to be on the right and the Ambulance on the left. However they made a mistake and the game was mirrored. In the Game & Watch Gallery 3  for the Game Boy Color go to Gallery Corner, Enter Secrets 1 and it will explain it all. 

It reads: This is "Fire," introduced in Game & Watch Gallery 1. Don't you think something is wrong with it? The truth is, this "Fire" is reversed left to right. This version was planned to be released as is. The LCD designer happened to make it incorrectly. Nevertheless, the game was just as playable. It was released as it was. So far, it seems OK. This "Fire" is now hidden at Gallery Corner.

This picture is what a 'reverse' fire would have looked like and you can even try to play it at Secrets 2.

It has been thought that a few of these 'reverse' fire games had been released onto the market, but so far none have been seen......................

They re-released it on Wide Screen in 1981 as FR-27. Takes a long time to score as you only get a point for each man you get into the Ambulance (FR-27 gives you a point for each time you bounce a man on the trampoline).

Highest possible score is 999.

Cheats and tricks:

Every 100 points the evacuees reduce in number, before increasing again. Use this relief to take a little breather.

Points:

1 point for every evacuee you manage to get into the waiting ambulance. The lamp on the ambulance lights up.

Misses:

When the player fails in receiving an evacuee a miss is recorded. With 3 misses (shown by angles on the upper right side of the screen.), the game ends.

Other notices:

If you hold in Game A or Game B key the highest previous score will be displayed. If the unit is left as it is after game is over, time display will appear in about five minutes. A game is not interrupted even if TIME key or other game keys are depressed during game playing. Pressing ACL switch or removing batteries erases high score from memory.

Issue Differences (click to enlarge pictures)

The table will show how to tell the different Issues that were made:

The battery covers seem to have a number on the back, but they seem to vary a lot and I won't even speculate what the difference is.

Box Variations (Click to enlarge):

Game Variations:

Shipping Box:

Picture Wanted
Fits 10 games

Instructions (English):

Instructions (Japanese):

Instruction Variations:

Other Paperwork: