Relieve the handheld classics again, this time in color ! experience more Game & Watch games with 5 new games, right along the modern remakes ! the classic versions will take you back to the '80s with its simpler time in video games. while the modern versions feature your favorite Mario characters, bringing you to the present with improved play control, color and sound effects !

Story
This being a videogame compilation game... it has none, so no comments here...

Gameplay
Game & Watch Gallery 2 (also known as "Game Boy Gallery 2" in Japan and as "Game Boy Gallery 3" in Australia) is a videogame compilation that features 6 games (one that is locked in the beginning) and all of them have two versions of the game, the modern remake version and the classic version, the classic version is the original Game & Watch games that have been modeled for the game boy screen, and the modern remakes are an improved version of the games in terms of everything that are gameplay, graphics, etc.

All of these games have very simplistic gameplay, in fact, they're WAY too simplistic, since once you see the screen, that's all you will get, all the games take place in one screen and the main objective is to score as many points as possible by doing each of the game's objective, but there's going to be some obstacles that makes you get a miss and you can get a game over if you get three misses. But it's not just that, since there are ways to get more points by doing certain tasks while in the middle of the game, be it by collecting a special item or doing a secret trick. And both of the versions have a gameplay mechanic where when you reach a certain number of points, the game will be much more harder by either speeding up or send more troubles that can mess you up and get a miss, however, everything will slow down and go back to being easy if you've reach a hundred points, and you can earn an extra life and erase a miss if you reach a certain number of points in which are 200, 500 and 700 for the modern remakes and 200 and 500 points for the classics in order to erase all of the misses that you have (some classics however may vary in terms of earning an amount of points to erase the misses). And each of these games have two difficulties, Mushroom mode (easy), in which the game starts out slow and easy, and Flower mode (hard), in which it will be much more faster and more harder, for the modern remakes, and Game A (easy) and Game B (hard) for the classics version.

Here's the list of games that this videogame compilation contains:

Parachute



Modern version - In this game, you must rescue the falling parachutes and such to land on your boat and you only move left and right, and you miss if they land on the water, there's also a fish that can bounce a parachutes if you miss it, but it can only be on one space and it moves every time ! the parachutes however can depend on when are they going to open their parachute, making you to rescue them very quickly ! the toads are slow, the yoshis can be either slow or medium, but the DKs can be faster ! however, one toad can actually go to a cannon that's on the right and the cannon will shoot him back to where the parachutes are falling, making him the slowest to land. At every hundred points, the flying ship will spit out three eggs to go to the water, in which will break and contain a star, a ghost, and nothing, take the star and you will get extra points, you can get another star depending how long did you survive without any misses, but if you get the ghost, the cannon will spit out bombs, and rescuing them will make you lose a life.
This game can be a good time waster, but one problem that I had is that the game can be punishing since there's a moment where I must capture two parachutes almost at the same time ! in which that might lead into getting a miss !



Classic version - In this game, you must rescue all of the falling parachutes and you only move left and right, you miss if they land on the water, occasionally the one on the right will get stuck on a palm tree, making him the slowest to land, the easy version will have two parachutes, while the hard version will have three.
This one is pretty boring, and it has the same problem I had with the other version, but this time it's more worse due to how faster it is !

Helmet



Modern version - In this game, you must reach to the other door while avoiding getting hit by the objects that the paratroopa drops and you only move left and right, on the way there will be a P block where if you hit it, coins will appear on the ground and if you collect them and enter to the door on the other side, you will earn extra points depending on the amount that you have collected, but the problem is, the coins will slow you down depending on how much you have, there's also three different stages as well for every 500 point you earn ! but the gameplay doesn't change though.
This game is pretty challenging, but very great too !



Classic version - In this game, you must reach to the other door while avoiding getting hit by the objects that fall from the sky and you only move left and right. The easy version starts with four types of tools that will fall, but the harder version will have five types, and it’s much faster.
This game is not very great unlike the modern remake, and that's because it has this problem where if the tool is above your head, even though it's still not time for it to fall down to the next space, you will get hit, no questions asked, and this can become very annoying if you're not patient or very focused.

Chef



Modern version - In this game, you are peach and you must capture the falling food that mario and luigi will throw by feeding it with the yoshi that's below you and you move left and right and you can turn around as well, but it's not just that, you must cook the food by flipping it (in which peach will throw it at the air) more enough so that the food gets well cooked, since feeding the yoshi with uncooked food will grant you less points, but you must be careful not to overcook the food, because feeding the yoshi with it will decrease it's age to a baby, so if you feed the yoshi with enough well cooked food, the yoshi will make an egg and you earn extra points by this, feed him some more and the egg will hatch revealing a baby yoshi, and you will get more points and the baby yoshi will replace the yoshi, so feed him some more, and the baby yoshi will grow to a yoshi ! and if a food falls on the floor, you will lose a life. there are however different types of food and each depends on how much you must flip them in order for them to be cooked, like the egg just needs a few flips while the fish and the drumstick takes a lot !
This game is allright, but there's this little problem I had with it, the yoshi below you can be very slow ! making you miss a food that you cooked him because he didn't reached it in time as you're turning around, and this can become a big problem in a very fast paced moment !



Classic version - In this game, you must juggle the food so that it doesn't fall on the floor and you only move left and right, occasionally the cat on the left will pull out a fork and hold a food, and it will let go of it in a certain moment. The easy version starts with three foods, but the harder version will have four foods, and it’s much faster.
This game is ok-ish, it's very easy but forgiving unlike the classic version helmet, but the cat can be very annoying sometimes.

Vermin



Modern version - In this game, you are yoshi and you must protect the 8 eggs from the enemies that will try to break it, there are 6 spaces where you can defend them and you can move around the whole spaces, and since you have two hammers you can defend two eggs at the same time in one space, once the enemies reach the eggs and you don't stop them, they will start breaking it apart piece by piece, and once it's completely broken, you lose a life, and for every 200 points you collect and you don't have a broken egg, you can earn a few points, and each enemy have different speed depending on the types, like the paratroopas are very slow, the shy guys are very fast, and the boos move when you're not looking at them.
This game is good fun and very well paced ! the controls are kind of uncomfortable, but I was adapted to them later on !



Classic version - In this game, you must hit the moles with your hammer and you only move left and right, and since you have two hammers, you can defend two holes at the same time, you must wait for them to get their heads reach the surface and the dirt will help you see which mole will come out first. The easy version starts with four moles, but the harder version will have five, and they will go to another hole instead of their respective hole !
This game is also allright ! it starts out slow, but it can become great when an army of moles keep appearing ! however, they all have the same pattern so it can't be that hard unless you lose focus.

Donkey Kong



Modern version - In this game, you play as mario and you must rescue princess toadstool from donkey kong, by reaching to the door of the top next to donkey kong, the game is kind of like the arcade game you can move left and right, go up the ladder and jump, donkey kong is throwing barrels at you, by the barrels rolling in the way or by donkey kong throwing them at you when you are closer to him, the barrels even contain a koopa troopa inside ! they will only appear when the barrel crashes below the starting point and they will appear and go to the right, get hit by the barrels or the koopa troopas and you will lose a life, this game has three stages and has a different way to reach to the door, first you start out in the bottom and you can jump or hang on to an object to avoid the barrels and/or the koopa troopas, but watch out, hang on to these very longer and they will fall down ! so then reach to the middle room where donkey kong and the princess are, and then go up the ladder and then activate the switch in order for a platform below the door to appear, and then you must reach it by crossing the platform that can also fall down if you're standing or climbing on it for too long ! then when you reach the last platform that's next to the moving platform, you must wait for the moving platform to be closer to you in order to ride on it, jump too soon or late and you will fall, and once you're riding it, you must wait until the platform get in closer to the door or where you can reach the door and then jump, not doing this correctly will make you fall, and then you will destroy a part of the platform where donkey kong is, repeat this 4 times and you can knock down donkey kong from his platform and then go to the next stage, there's 3 stages in total, and each have a different way to reach the little platform below the door, in the factory the platform will rotate and it must be on the left in order to ride it and then on the top in order to jump to the door, in the jungle the platform swings left and right, and you must jump on it when it's on the right and then jump when it's on the center, and finally there's the snow stage where there's clouds instead of a platform, and these will deflate making you fall off if you're stepping on them, so you must be quick and precise when jumping on these, jump on these two to reach the door. and you can earn points by jumping on the barrels and reaching the door will give you a certain amount of points depending on how faster you got there. The harder version actually contains a paratroopa in the beginning of the game, bothering you in the middle room !
This game is not bad, but the controls can be kind of stiff if you're familiar with the mario games, but they can be a little stiff even if you don't.



Classic version - In this game, you play as some construction worker and you must rescue your girlfriend from donkey kong, by reaching to the hook by a crane on the top next to donkey kong, it's a simpler version of the arcade game, you can move left and right, go up the ladder and jump and you can press the B button to swap the viewpoint of the game, from big lower floor and small top floor, to big top floor and small lower floor, and in this game you must reach to the top all while jumping over the barrels in the beginning, that grants you a point for jumping over it, get hit by one and you will lose a life, then in the next floor you still need to evade the barrels, but there's a moving platform upward this time where if you hit your head on it, you will lose a life, and then when you've reach the stairs, you must climb on it to reach the top and in the top, on your left is a lever, pull it and then the crane with a hook on the other side of the screen will move, and so you must reach it all while evading the barrels donkey kong throws at you, and you must wait until the hook reaches closer to you and then jump at it, and it will remove a hook that's attached to donkey kong, miss it and you will lose a life, repeat all of this 4 times and you will make donkey kong fall, earning extra points and start the game all over again.
This is actually my favorite of the classics version ! it's simple, but very great to play and it has a great balanced challenge !

Ball (This one's locked in the beginning (more on that later on...))



Modern version - In this game, you are yoshi and you must juggle the eggs with the tennis rackets so that they don't fall down to the floor, you have three spots on each side to juggle, and you can cover one spot on both sides at the same time, where on the left will make the yoshi juggle the first spots of the left side and right side, and on to the right will make the yoshi juggle the third spots of the left side and right side, and staying in the middle will make the yoshi juggle the second spots of the left side and right side, but unlike the other games, if you miss once it's game over ! and another thing is, when you've reached a hundred points, the eggs will disappear and coins will fall down, granting you extra points if you catch them but not catching them won't get you a game over, catch them all and you will get more extra points. The easy version will have two eggs, while the harder version will have three.
While this game is pretty simple, it's one of my favorites of the modern remakes ! it's can be addicting to me sometimes ! and it feels great when you collect all of the coins !



Classic version - In this game, you must juggle the balls so that they don't fall down to the floor, you have three spots on each side to juggle, and you can cover one spot on both sides at the same time, where on the left will make the you juggle the first spots of the left side and right side, and on to the right will make the you juggle the third spots of the left side and right side, etc. and if you let one ball fall to the floor, it's game over. The easy version will have two balls, while the harder version will have three (but for some odd reason, juggling one ball in the harder version will grant you 10 points instead of one, making this the most easiest to obtain a great amount of points...)
This game is pretty boring, because it starts out VERY SLOW, but it's not bad when it gets faster, it's just that it didn't hold my attention long enough.

The modern remakes, to be completely honest, were actually more fun than the classics version, it's just that to me most of the classics version feel very slow and unsatisfying to me, not to offend anyone who respects the classics, this is just my opinion. The modern remakes just have a lot of things include that makes them more satisfying and more fun to me and the can get me interested in getting a high score on them.

Graphics
Believe it or not, this game has a major focus on graphics when it comes to be related to the gameplay, since you need to be focused and quick when playing these games ! and that means you must look at the game very closely if you don't want to miss... and this could've been good if some of the animation would've been more detailed, I mean they don't look that bad, in fact, it looks great on the menus, but there are some animation bits where it's very eye straining if you have the screen on very dim light, so if you must, you need to play this game on a very bright setting in order to get a better view, but as it is, I will say that the game looks great, the menus look nice, the modern remakes look great as well even if they have some few questionable designs (have you noticed that in the screenshot of the modern version of parachute, mario looks like it has a tanned skin ? that's what I'm talking about), and how the classics version were ported to the gameboy and I don't know if they made a good job or not (but I can say that there's no watermarks of where the animations are supposed to move to), they still look great in an old school way.

Music and Sound
The soundtrack in this game is mixed with some good and very few bad tracks, obviously the classics don't have any music whatsoever (except if you count the jingles that the sound effects make, like in ball for a great example), but for the modern remakes, the good soundtracks are very catchy (Parachute, Vermin) and some are even great and even memorable (Ball, Chef) ! the bad tracks have some very bad sounding quality in them (the title screen) and some don't represent on what's supposed to be doing (the museum where you look at a Game & Watch game demo), but still there's few bad track and the whole soundtrack is good thanks to some shining examples.

The sound effects are great in the modern remakes, but some almost sound the same, and the classics sound very appropriate and they can even sound catchy as I've mentioned earlier, but some can be very annoying, especially in helmet and chef.

Presentation
The game does a great job at presenting these games, first requiring you to select a game on the list and then on one screen, you can choose on a little menu on the top which version do you want to play and what difficulty do you want to play at the same time, all while explaining the controls for you in the bottom of the menu. The modern remakes have all the mario characters and take place in mario's world, but this obviously isn't cannon to the mario games, it's actually a spinoff of the Game & Watch games, despite it's appearance, although, the game does contain a certain amount of bad grammar in there, but it's not that bothersome.

This game also has one thing in there that makes it more replayable, in which it's the stars, where whenever you get 200 points in a Game & Watch game, you will get a star and you can get up to five stars on each variation (Classic or Modern; Easy or Hard) of the same game, meaning that if you have 400 points in one game, you have 2 stars, 600 points means 3 stars, 800 points means 4 stars and 1000 points means 5 stars ! and these stars can be used in the gallery mode, where there's 4 other menus in there, one which is the Note Board where you can look at new and old hints of the modern and classic versions of the Game & Watch games, and it can also notify you when you've unlocked something. Then there's the Music Room where you can listen to whole games' music, but you must have 5 stars to unlock it.

Then there's the Museum where you can unlock it by getting 10 stars, and in this mode you can see (not play mind you) demos of other Game & Watch games that were released in the early 80s, and you can unlock more if you gain a great amount of stars (for example you can unlock an Oil Panic demo if you have 20 stars). However, there's a problem with this one, you can only unlock 8 of these and there will be some more left, but that's because in order to unlock the others, you must get 1000 points in all the games in Game & Watch Gallery 2, then link up with another Game boy (one with Game & Watch Gallery and another with Game & Watch Gallery 2) to unlock all of the demos in Game & Watch Gallery 2, and since this is a 3DS VC title and the 3DS has very different hardware... yeah...

And finally there's the gift, where in the beginning it's just a question mark that does nothing if you select it, but it can give you something if you have a certain amount of stars, in which I will explain this later on !

As for the replayability, there is an overwhelming amount of things to do in this game ! you can waste some time with the Game & Watch games in order to get a higher score, but not only that ! as I’ve said before, you can unlock a great amount of stuff in here ! you can unlock more demos in the museum with a certain amount of stars, you can unlock the Ball game by getting 15 stars, and you can unlock different characters for the Ball game (35 stars for Mario, 45 for Wario and 120 for Bowser), and each of them have a different style of juggling (different enemies, patterns, environment, etc.), you can unlock the credits by getting 50 stars, and unlock the game's cast with 120 stars, and you can unlock star mode (very hard) in each of the Game & Watch games, where you must earn 1000 points in the respective modern remake version (but not on the classic version), so as you can see, you can spend a lot of time with this game !

Price
This game costs $3.99 on the Nintendo eShop, this is actually not a bad price since some of the games are good and fun, and also the amount of things you can unlock as well.

Overall
This is not a bad videogame compilation, it has a simple but great presentation of the games, and the modern remakes are fun, and there's a great amount of stuff to do in this game, but the problems such as the classics and some annoyances did wore me off, however this is just my opinion, so if you like to play the classics of Game & Watch and more or you just want something simple to waste time on, then go ahead and get this ! but if you don't like very simple games or you don't like the problems that I've mentioned in this review, then skip it, as for me this game gets...


a 7/10


7- Good This game may have a few flaws or may have somewhat shoddy controls, or minor sound/graphics flaws, but the game itself should be fun if you like the genre, and can overlook the potential flaws!