Game & Watch ports and remakes

Game & Watch ports and remakes
Game & Watch games have had many different re-releases.
The Game & Watch Gallery series, known in Japan and Australia as the series, is a series of compilations of some of Nintendo's original Game & Watch titles first released in 1995. Five installments have been released, all for systems in the Game Boy line; four of these games have also been released on the Virtual Console for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. From Game & Watch Gallery onward, the games feature Game & Watch games in two styles: Classic, which features faithful reproductions of the original games, and Modern, which gives the games a different visual style using characters from the Mario series; however, not all Game & Watch games included in a particular game include a Modern style. Also, the titles often feature actual galleries explaining the history of the Game & Watch system and the various games released for it. The first four titles in the series also feature Super Game Boy borders which mimic the original Game & Watch casing designs. While originally released under the title Game Boy Gallery in Australia, the Virtual Console releases use the title Game & Watch Gallery.
Beginning in 1998, Nintendo licensed a series of small standalone LCD remakes of the original Game & Watch games called Nintendo Mini Classics.
In the early 2000s, several Game & Watch titles were planned for re-release as Game & Watch-e (a series of Nintendo e-Reader cards), but only Manhole was released.
The Game & Watch Collection series for Nintendo DS is a set of two games that were available exclusively from Club Nintendo.
Digital versions of the games were created as DSiWare which was released for Nintendo DSi in 2009 (2010 internationally) and for Nintendo 3DS in 2011.
Games featured
Game & Watch Gallery series
Game Boy Gallery
Game Boy Gallery: 5 games in 1 is the first game in the series and by far the simplest. It was released for the Game Boy in Europe on April 27, 1995 and in Australia in 1995. Unlike other games in the series, this game has neither Modern nor Classic modes; the looks are "Modern" with generic characters, but the gameplay is "Classic"-style. It is also the only game in the series in which highscores are not saved when the console is turned off. It features five games and is the only title in the series not to be re-released on Virtual Console. Players can choose between two difficulty levels: A (easy), and B (hard). The game sounds can also be set to Modern (music and original sound effects) or Classic (original sound effects only).
List of games
Ball
Vermin
Flagman
Manhole
Cement Factory
Game & Watch Gallery
Game & Watch Gallery, known in Japan as and in Australia as Game Boy Gallery 2, is the second game in the series in Europe and Australia and the first in Japan and North America. It was released for the Game Boy in 1997 for Japan on February 1, for the United States on May 5, for Europe on August 28, and in Australia the same year. It was released for the Nintendo Power for the Game Boy in Japan on March 1, 2000.
It was released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2011 for Japan on June 22, for North America on July 14, and in Europe and for Australia on July 21; while it was originally released under the title Game Boy Gallery 2 in Australia, the Virtual Console release uses the title Game & Watch Gallery.
This game features Game & Watch games in two styles: Classic, which features faithful reproductions of the original games, and Modern, which gives the games a different visual style using characters from the Mario series. It features four games.
List of games
Manhole
Fire
Octopus
Oil Panic
The game also includes a museum feature, where the player can view screenshots of several Game & Watch games, including Game & Watch games that cannot be played in this game. The games listed include:
Game & Watch Gallery 2
Game & Watch Gallery 2, known in Japan as and in Australia as Game Boy Gallery 3, is the third game in the series in Europe and Australia and the second in Japan and North America. It was released for the Game Boy in Japan on September 27, 1997; it was released for the Game Boy Color in the United States and Europe in November 1998, and in Australia the same year. It was released for the Nintendo Power for the Game Boy in Japan on March 1, 2000.
The Game Boy version was released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in Japan on March 21, 2012. The Game Boy Color version was released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console the same year in Europe and Australia on May 3, and in North America on May 24; while it was originally released under the title Game Boy Gallery 3 in Australia, the Virtual Console release uses the title Game & Watch Gallery 2.
This game features Game & Watch games in two styles: Classic, which features faithful reproductions of the original games, and Modern, which gives the games a different visual style using characters from the Mario series. It features six games.
List of games
Parachute
Helmet
Chef
Vermin
Donkey Kong
Ball (unlockable)
The game also includes a museum feature, where the player can view screenshots of several Game & Watch games, including Game & Watch games that cannot be played in this game. The games listed include:
The museum entries from the previous game can also be unlocked.
Game & Watch Gallery 3
Game & Watch Gallery 3, known in Japan as and in Australia as Game Boy Gallery 4, is the fourth game in the series in Europe and Australia and the third in Japan and North America. It was released for the Game Boy Color in 1999 for Japan on April 8, for the United States on December 6, in Australia the same year, and in Europe on February 1, 2000; It was released for the Nintendo Power for the Game Boy in Japan on March 1, 2000. While it was released for the Game Boy Color, it is also compatible with the Game Boy.
It was released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in Europe and Australia on September 25, 2014, and in North America on February 5, 2015; while it was originally released under the title Game Boy Gallery 4 in Australia, the Virtual Console release uses the title Game & Watch Gallery 3. In Japan, it was released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, but was only available to users who registered Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and one of Pokémon Omega Ruby or Pokémon Alpha Sapphire on the Japanese Club Nintendo between November 2014 and January 2015.
This game features Game & Watch games in two styles: Classic, which features faithful reproductions of the original games, and Modern, which gives the games a different visual style using characters from the Mario series. It features five games with both Modern and Classic modes, and six unlockable games with only Classic mode.
List of games
Fire is limited to Game A, does not save high scores, does not allow the player to earn stars, and cannot be paused. In this version of the game, the burning building is to the right, while the ambulance is to the left. Mario explains that the game was originally planned to be released this way, but due to an LCD designer issue, the game was horizontally reversed upon its final release.
The game also includes a museum feature, where the player can view screenshots of several Game & Watch games, including Game & Watch games that cannot be played in this game. The games listed include:
The museum entries from the previous two games can also be unlocked.
Game & Watch Gallery 4
Game & Watch Gallery 4, known in Japan as and in Europe and Australia as Game & Watch Gallery Advance, is the fifth game in the series in Europe and Australia and the fourth in Japan and North America. It was released for the Game Boy Advance in Europe and the United States in October 2002, and in Australia the same year. It is also the first title in the Game & Watch Gallery series to credit TOSE as a co-developer, after the company had gone uncredited in the previous installments.
It was released on Wii U Virtual Console in December 2015 for Europe and Australia, and in 2016 for Japan in March, and for North America in April. The Wii U Virtual Console release was the first time the game was available in Japan.
This game features Game & Watch games in two styles: Classic, which features faithful reproductions of the original games, and Modern, which gives the games a different visual style using characters from the Mario series. It features 11 games with both Modern and Classic modes and nine games with only Classic mode. This game facilitates multiplayer for Boxing and Donkey Kong 3.
List of games
The game also includes a museum feature, where the player can view screenshots of several Game & Watch games. In this version, the games could be unlocked as playable in Classic Mode. The games listed include:
Game & Watch Collection series
Game & Watch Collection
Game & Watch Collection is a Nintendo DS game exclusive to Club Nintendo.
For members of the Japanese Club Nintendo, it was available for 500 coins from February 2006. In Singapore, it was released at the AMK Hub in 2007. For members of the North American Club Nintendo, it was available for 800 coins from December 2008. For members of the Australian Club Nintendo, it was available for 2500 Stars from March 2009. For members of the European Club Nintendo, it was available for 5000 stars from November 2009.
This game contains three Game & Watch games from the Multi Screen series: Donkey Kong, Green House, and Oil Panic. The games come with both Mode A and Mode B as well as the alarm feature, which can be accessed on the start screen. Unlike the Game & Watch Gallery series, the games contained in this one are exact replicas of the original versions.
Game & Watch Collection 2
Game & Watch Collection 2 is a Nintendo DS game exclusive to Club Nintendo.
For members of the Japanese Club Nintendo, it was available for 500 coins from September 2008. For members of the North American Club Nintendo, it was available for 800 coins from March 2010. For members of the Australian Club Nintendo, it was available for 2500 Stars from December 2011.
This game contains two single-screen Game & Watch games, Parachute and Octopus, along with a new dual-screen game combining Parachute on the top screen with Octopus on the bottom screen. The games come with both Mode A and Mode B as well as the alarm feature, which can be accessed on the start screen. Unlike the Game & Watch Gallery series, the games contained in this one are exact replicas of the original versions.
Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten DS
Four Game & Watch games are also hidden as Easter eggs in the Nintendo-developed Kanji training software Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten DS.
List of games
Ball
Manhole
Judge
Flagman
DSiWare
A handful of Game & Watch games were released on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo 3DS as DSiWare in 2009 and 2011 respectively. They had extras like a highscore board, demo screen, and score select screen.
List of games
Clones and unofficial ports
In the Soviet Union, clones of some wide-screen console games appeared by mid-1980s; they were sold under the universal Elektronika brand. The choice of titles included Octopus (renamed Mysteries of the Ocean), Chef (renamed Merry Cook), Egg (renamed Nu, pogodi! with the Wolf resembling the main character from the animated series), slightly different variants of Egg named Hunt (featuring a hunter firing at ducks) and Explorers from Space (featuring a space ship being fired upon), and many others.
Before the Game & Watch Gallery series, the G&W Mario Bros. game was the only game ported onto a different system. In this case, it had been unofficially ported over to the Commodore 64 system. Since the arcade game Mario Bros. had also been ported over to the same system, the similarly titled Game & Watch version had to be rebranded as a sequel, entitled Mario Bros. II.
Programmers have also unofficially ported G&W games to many platforms, most notably Microsoft Windows, mobile phones, web browsers (usually through Adobe Flash Player), and others.
See also
List of Game & Watch games
Notes
References
Game Boy games
Nintendo Research & Development 1 games
Nintendo video game compilations
Video game remakes