While Nintendo's head of Research and Development
Gunpei Yokoi was busy overseeing the roll-out of the
Game & Watch silver and gold series, he still found time to create a follow-up to his very successful
Ten Billion puzzle: the Nintendo
Crossover (クロスオーバー
).
Unlike the
Ten Billion, which was sold in large numbers worldwide, only a small quantity of
Crossover puzzles was produced, making it one of the more rare and sought-after Nintendo items from the toys and games era.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDUEULkQdhwe7u9QuC1jnmOeCeg8mKTu_Ha9sGiR7SW-OAXyHj01roM7atYGq08YdLRpRaAD3UGZ-cUYyzEDBJveWUpp7-cujL_rcgVJjjRe3boXxMLg_7QVTFXf4ggQlfeIcW9dK9pAI/s280/nintendo_crossover_01.JPG) |
Nintendo Crossover (1981) |
The
Crossover was advertised using the phrase「偏光スクリーン」, which means 'Polarized Light Screen'. The official English sub-title was 'Polarized Light Puzzle'. Why this is, we will get to in a minute.
Crossover was released in 1981, in three color variants: green, red or purple. It cost the same as the
Ten Billion puzzle: ¥1,000.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9M3_YTIss6ce1ZD9FGj7Rx5fIW3yF7w6l5y4-Yc0Yrf51OcH6Ot4o3HKOW_IlnrrD5Amu1-4DzahsX3Drc-6dR3jZ-La4v_QClpsPn891uaMDELR3DeeF1yCggqR7jBCbmrb30f0RaM/s280/nintendo_crossover_01a.jpg) |
Television commercial for the Nintendo Crossover |