A Pretend Game Console With a Light-Up Screen
Fisher-Price styles the Lil' Gamer on a grown-up handheld console, with a D-pad, A and B buttons and a light-up screen, but it is a pretend console with no moving picture. Pushing any button, or pressing down on the cartridge, sets off lights, songs, sounds and phrases, so a baby gets an instant response to every press. That imitation is the appeal: babies want the thing the adults and older siblings are holding, and this gives them their own version with nothing to watch. The screen lights up rather than playing anything, which can disappoint a parent expecting animation, but babies do not seem to mind.