Game of the Week #24

[Metal Mario]

Game & Watch Gallery (GB, 1997)



Back in the early 1980s, Nintendo used to manufacture these keen little electronic gaming devices called Game & Watch units. They featured a single game - simplistic, yet insanely addictive - played on an LCD screen. In 1997, Nintendo released a Game Boy compilation of four classic G&W games, complimented by updated "Modern" versions featuring Mario and friends. The four games were Manhole, Fire, Octopus, and Oil Panic, and each of these games could be played in either Classic mode or Modern, Mario-themed mode.

For those who might be having trouble formulating a clear understanding of what I'm talking about, I've included the video examples below:

This video demonstrates the gameplay of the original Fire, in which a pair of firefighters must catch people jumping from various stories of a burning building and bounce them into a waiting ambulance.

Click to view video.

And this video demonstrates the gameplay of the updated remake of Fire, in which Mario and Luigi must catch Toad, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong Junior all leaping from a burning castle at varying speeds. (This guy has mad skillz, by the way.)

Click to view video.

See how that works? Here's Octopus for ya:

Octopus, Classic

Click to view video.

Octopus, Modern

Click to view video.

Nintendo would go on to release three more compilations of Game & Watch goodness in subsequent years.

[DJ Blue J]

Unfortunately, I never played G&WG 1, but I own both 2 and 3 and play them semi-regularly nowadays.

[Luigiman7]

4 is awesome, so many games