For my debut blog, I figured I'd start with one of my more recent pickups, that being 1997's Game & Watch Gallery for the Nintendo Game Boy. A release pretty late into the original Game Boy's life cycle but also a celebration of Nintendo's early era of handheld gaming.
The Game & Watch was the brainchild of Nintendo employee and game designer Gunpei Yokoi. While travelling via bullet train, Yokoi noticed a man playing with his calculator, which sparked the idea in Yokoi's mind of creating a series of LCD games that could also function as a digital watch, hence the name Game & Watch. In 1980, the first Game & Watch game, Ball, was released and proved successful. Many other games followed, including ones featuring Nintendo franchises like Mario, Donkey Kong and even Legend of Zelda. Even licenses like Peanuts and Popeye would see their likenesses on Game and Watch releases. This would also lead to competitors in the LCD handheld market, including the often lauded Tiger Electronics who would release games based on every license under the sun.
Game & Watch was discontinued in 1991, however, that hasn't stopped Nintendo from bringing the series back on random occasions. Ball was rereleased as a Club Nintendo exclusive item for a brief period, and even in 2020, as part of the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros, Nintendo released a special Game and Watch that featured both Super Mario Bros and the original Super Mario Bros 2 as playable games along with several other extras. And, for several years, Nintendo celebrated the Game & Watch on their handheld consoles. The first being Game Boy Gallery in 1995, a game that was exclusive to Australia and and Europe. Two years later, the concept was brought back with the release of Game & Watch Gallery, the game we're covering today.
Game & Watch Gallery is a mini-game compilation, compiling four classic Game & Watch titles into one cartridge. Each of the four games are represented in two forms. A Classic Mode which replicates the original LCD game and a Modern Mode which updates the game with some new gameplay features and uses characters from the Super Mario series. Both modes feature an Easy mode and a Hard mode, with a third "Very Hard" mode being unlocked if you make it past 999 points in that particular game. The gallery part of the game's title is unlocked by collecting 400 points in any of the games. This unlocks a museum that shows screenshots of the various Game and Watch releases. To complete the gallery, one must pass 800 points in each mode to unlock two different gallery pieces. Sadly the Watch part of the game's title is misleading as the game does not feature an in-game watch. Probably for the best as the decision to keep a running watch battery would bite Nintendo with Pokemon Gold, Silver and Crystal.
The four games involved are as follows:
MANHOLE: The object of the game is to cover one of the four pits with a manhole cover as people walk over them, ensuring that they don't fall in the pit. It starts easy, but as the game picks up, you have to time your movements to ensure everyone gets across. In the updated Modern mode, you play as Yoshi. This mode gives the added advantage of keeping the manholes up without the need to hold them, but when a Toad, Donkey Kong Jr. or Mario passes over them, the manhole will fall and you have to re-raise it. After every 100 or so, Mario will also pass over the paths.
FIRE: The object of the game is to catch the people who leap out of a burning building with your trampoline and keep them bouncing until you reach the ambulance. The Modern mode doesn't change too much, now having Mario and Luigi controlling the trampoline to catch Toads and Donkey Kong Jr., each with their own different weights meaning that you have to time each catch a bit differently. Each level also contains a random egg containing either a star or a bob-omb. Each bounce for the star adds five points, while the bomb should not make it to the ambulance as it could lead to a lost life.
OCTOPUS: In this game, you have to make it to the treasure chest beneath an octopus. You can grab as much treasure as possible, but have to avoid the tentacles of the octopus which will lead to your doom. In the Modern mode, Mario plays the would-be diver and has to collect the treasure beneath the octopus and bring it to Princess Peach in the ship. You can collect as much treasure as possible, but the more you grab, the slower and easier to grab you become. However, when in a pinch, you can throw your bag of treasure at the octopus to stay alive. This one ended up being my personal favorite of the bunch as the added strategy involved makes it more addictive.
OIL PANIC: The final game in the compilation, the object in this game is to catch the drops of oil in your cup and pass them over to the person outside your window. You can only catch a few drops at a time and the person underneath shifts from left to right, meaning that you have to manage how much you fill the oil cup, when to pass it over and doing so without letting another drop spill or missing. The Modern mode updates things with Mario inside of Bowser's furnace having to pass the oil to Yoshi below. You get two cups in the Modern version which Mario can flip with the A and B buttons. It makes things a bit easier in comparison to the classic, but this one definitely feels like the trickiest one to master in the compilation.
On the graphical and audio ends, the game looks really good. The Classic mode gives off the feel of the LCD originals, complete with the bleeps and bloops of the original audio. The Modern modes look really nice giving off that classic Mario feel. The soundtrack is filled with peppy music fitting of the series, though not super catchy, it still works well in adding to the experience. The game also has a high replay value with both the pursuit of all the gallery works and the general fun of trying to beat your high score, making this feel fitting to the Game & Watch games they're emulating.
In the end, Game & Watch Gallery is a fun time. A simple time waster of a game that I have found has actually killed quite a few hours for me. Its value has depleted in an age of mobile gaming that can offer better options for these types of games, but the overall presentation is really what helps these stand out and make it still a joy to play 23 years later. And the cart is pretty cheap to find, meaning you won't break the bank. Oddly, the game is not on the 3DS Virtual Console currently despite two of its sequels being there. But however you end up playing it, you'll have a fun time. I give Game & Watch Gallery an A-.
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