Nintendo Museum's 2024 Ultra Hand Remake: honors and improves the original

The Nintendo Museum has brought back the iconic Ultra Hand from 1966! But how does this new version stack up against the original classic? Let’s dive in and find out!

The Ultra Hand within the Nintendo Museum collection

The Nintendo Ultra Hand is an important product in the history of the company. It brought Nintendo its first million-selling success as a toy maker in Japan, similar in impact at the time to how, in the early 1980s, the Game & Watch series became a sales hit on a global scale.

Back in 2011, when I started this blog, some of the earliest posts focused on the Ultra Hand and its inventor, Gunpei Yokoi.

A few years later, when releasing the Before Mario book — like the blog, also about Nintendo's 'toys and games' period before the release of the Family Computer in 1983 — it was clear what should be on the front cover: the Ultra Hand.

Visiting the Nintendo Museum, October 2024

As you can image, when I visited the newly-opened Nintendo Museum a few weeks ago (a full report of which will follow later), I was curious to see how the Ultra Hand is covered there.

The second floor of the museum features a large exhibition of all of Nintendo's products, from its earliest days up to the present. I was glad that the Ultra Hand, along with many other vintage items, was on display here. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed in this area, so I can't show it here, but it was great to see that all vintage products from before the video game era were given the attention and space they deserve.

On the first floor is a large display called 'A Succession of Ideas' (アイデアの継承). And luckily, on this floor pictures are allowed.

This display visually demonstrates how the ideas behind some of Nintendo's key products have endured and evolved over time.

The Ultra Hand, shown in the top left corner, is one of these 'primordial' ideas, alongside the Ultra Machine (bottom left), Game & Watch (top right), and Love Tester (bottom right).

All four products, I should add, came from the minds of Gunpei Yokoi and his R&D team.

As an aside, the museum contains all sorts of little Easter eggs. If you look carefully at this display, you’ll spot Pikmin gathering objects—specifically, balls from the Ultra Hand set.

Nintendo Ultra Hand box from 1973

The Ultra Hand is an important part of Nintendo's history. It marks their start as a toy company and also was the start of the toy design career of Gunpei Yokoi.

Recently I was lucky to find a Nintendo Ultra Hand in the box version from the early 1970s. This had been on my wanted list for a long time. Although the one I found wasn't in perfect condition, these are so rare that I happily added it to my collection.

Nintendo Ultra Hand (1973 box version)

I had been on the lookout for more than fifteen years for this version, after first seeing a tiny picture of it online. As I could not find it in any vintage toy shop in Japan, nor on any auction site, I was beginning to wonder if it really existed.

Nintendo leaflet from November 1973 (front)

This box version was also featured in a 1973 Nintendo leaflet that shows the toy range that Nintendo sold in the early 1970s.

Nintendo leaflet from November 1973 (back)

On the back of this leaflet the Ultra Hand was shown in a new box design, next to other toys from that era like the Mach Rider and Ele-Conga.

The Ultra Hand was first introduced in 1966 and became Nintendo's first million seller. Seven years later this sales boom was long over, but Nintendo must have still believed in this product, or had surplus stock, when they introduced a new box design. As it was well past its hype days, it must have sold in small numbers at that time. Which would explain why it is so hard to track down in this version.

Nintendo toys in Animal Crossing New Leaf

As regular readers of this blog will know, Nintendo has a long and intriguing history that spans close to 125 years. Since the 1960s, the company has developed a culture that remains to this day: a strife for innovation mixed with an understanding and appreciation of its heritage. Nintendo as a company never forgets where it comes from and what went before, and this is passed on to new staff when they enter the company.

One of the ways that Nintendo honors and celebrates its past is by including references to it in new games. Most recently, this happened in the 3DS game Animal Crossing New Leaf (とびだせ どうぶつの森), released in Japan in November of last year and in the rest of the world in June of this year.

Animal Crossing New Leaf - Japanese box art

In this popular life simulation game, many items can be earned or won by performing certain activities at certain times. Included in the huge selection of items are five vintage Nintendo toys, that are great representatives of the entire "toys period" of Nintendo, from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s.

Some of the items that can be won in Animal Crossing New Leaf,
including the five vintage Nintendo toys (items D to H shown here)

The vintage Nintendo toys included in Animal Crossing New Leaf are:

• Ten Billion (テンビリオン) originally released in 1980,
• Love Tester (ラブテスタ) from 1969,
• Ultra Hand (ウルトラ ハンド) from 1966,
• Ultra Scope (ウルトラ コープ) from 1971, and
• Ultra Machine (ウルトラ マシン) from 1967

Although they may look a bit dated now, each of these was very innovative in their time.

Nintendo Ultra Hand (ウルトラ ハンド, 1966)

Around the mid-sixties, Nintendo had established a games department and was producing mostly traditional board games. Some of these were using a recently acquired license to feature Disney Characters as well as Japanese TV figures.

Nintendo was already well known as a card manufactured, but was a small fry in the general toy market when compared to other companies like Epoch and Bandai.

Nintendo needed something to put itself on the map in the toy area, and the first toy designed in 1966 by Gunpei Yokoi provided this much-needed recognition.

The Ultra Hand

The Ultra Hand - the first Nintendo toy by Gunpei Yokoi

Selling for ¥600, the Ultra Hand (ウルトラ ハンド) was a plastic toy that could be expanded and contracted by moving the handles.

The top of the box contained a drawing with a spectacular display of the fun to be had with this toy.

The toy came with three colored balls with stands, which could be used to practice.

Around the release of the Ultra Hand, Nintendo had not yet found its final corporate identity, and the logo still changed regularly. The Ultra Hand was released under the "Nintendo Game" brand; with the "NG" logo.

Besides the box, the toy also contains some further Nintendo branding.

The Nintendo name is stamped on the small weight that keeps the cord straight

The Nintendo name can also be found on the toy itself

Operating the toy is pretty much straightforward, though grasping an item in the claws requires some practice.

Instructions in the Ultra Hand manual

As explained in the manual, the “hands” at the end of the Ultra Hand could be closed to grab an item, by pulling the red string.

The Ultra Hand became a great success and more than a million were sold between 1966 and 1970, making it Nintendo’s first million seller.

The manual shows a happy 60s family

Box Versions

At least 5 different versions of the box design have been released in Japan over the years. Besides the three pictured below, a blue variant of the white box exist, as well as a design with the newer NG logo and a photo on the front.

The Ultra Hand has been released in different box designs

There are also some differences in the interior of the boxes. The nicest versions have silvery lining which provides a more luxurious and futuristic feel.

The white box reuses some of the art from the previous versions and introduces a new Ultra Hand logo on the side of the box.

Note the copyright: (c) 1966 by Nintendo

The white box has an alternative cover for the manual.

The blue box is a simliar to the white one, except for the background color.

This version does include an instruction booklet. Instead the instructions are printed on the inside of the box lid.

The rarest box is the one pictured below. This version from 1973 is the last incarnation of the Ultra Hand packaging. By this time the Ultra Hand's novelty had worn off, and sales slowed down. This would explain why it is almost impossible to find one of these remaining today.

Seven years after it's introduction, the price of the Ultra Hand had doubled from ¥600 to ¥1,200, as can be seen in this advert from a 1973 Nintendo brochure. [More on this version in this post.]

The Ultra Hand abroad

A final box variant is this Ultra Hand version released for the Australian market by an Australian company named "Hong Kong Handarts". Although the box does not mention this as an officially licensed product, the Ultra hand inside was produced by Nintendo.

This must be one of the first Nintendo toys to make it out of Japan. Until the 80s Nintendo did not distribute their own products internationally, but worked with international partners. However, until the release of the Ten Billion puzzle and Game & Watch, the items that were made available abroad were limited and the volumes low.

Ultra Hand sold in Australia by "Hong Kong Handarts"

The box art was changed using some local inspiration.

Swiping a baby kangaroo out of its mothers pouch may not be advisable in real live, but here it sure looks fun.

Grill-Off with Ultra Hand!

Recently, the Ultra Hand has been featured in a WiiWare game called “Grill-Off with Ultra Hand!” available to Club Nintendo members in Japan and the USA.

In this game the Wii Remote and Nunchuk are used to simulate the handles of the Ultra hand.

2024 update! Nintendo release a remake of the Ultra Hand, available for sale at the newly-opned Nintendo Museum. More info here.