Handheld electronic game by less bright dots). In 1978 the Milton Bradley Company entered the handheld market with Simon, a simple color-and-sound-matching game. Simon had no dedicated display, but featured four colored, lighted buttons; the original version was large enough to be used as a tabletop game or a handheld; later versions became increasingly smaller. The same year, Parker Brothers also released Merlin, a more sophisticated handheld which could play six different games using an array of 11 buttons with integrated LEDs. Despite their relative simplicity, each of these early games was highly successful. The initial success of Mattel and Parker Brothers' entries
Gauntlet (1985 video game) accommodate up to four players, the control panel is wider than other standard uprights. Each player has a joystick and two buttons, one for "Fire" (ranged attack), and one for "Magic". The Magic button also starts the game. After "Gauntlet"s release, other games started using this design, so it was a popular conversion target for newer games after it had its run. Originally called "Dungeons", the game was conceived by Atari game designer Ed Logg. He claimed inspiration from his son's interest in the paper-based game "Dungeons & Dragons" and from his own interest in 1983's Atari 800 home computer