Game & Watch Gallery 3

"Wonderful games within a game itself!"

Game and Watch Gallery 3 for the Game Boy Color. The third in the series, and in my opinion, the best yet. It’s a little bit more challenging, longer, and overall much better than the first two. This game shined, but didn’t get much hype. I mean, they have a nice concept going with the arcade - like mini-games aspect. It ensures more and more time on this game, which really helps.

Story (NA)

Unfortunately, this game really doesn’t have a storyline. This is just an arcade like game in which you pick what games you want to play. The games you play don’t really have story, you just play them for points. More points the better.

Gameplay (9.2/10)

Gameplay in this game is excellent. Very clever idea on all the mini-games with the arcade style.The point of the game is to score the highest score possible on the mini-games in the arcade. Not much point in the game except to have fun. There are many secrets in this game. To unlock the secret games, you must play to get more stars. To get more stars, you must get more points. You can only get 5 stars per level per game. Kind of confusing. For each star you get in a game, you get 200 points. But you can’t just play it five times by getting 1 star each time through. You have to get 5 stars in the level all at one point to receive the 1000 points. So, let’s say there are 5 Levels in one game. The maximum points I could get for that game is 5000, while the maximum stars I can get is 25. Get it? Okay, good, because now we’ll see the games that are in this game. I’ll do the basic games- the ones you first start out with.

Egg

In this game, you control Yoshi. You have to move left and right to catch falling cookies. As they fall, they start to bake. Letting them over-bake is a bad thing! Sounds easy, right? Nope. The cookies fall and bake at different speeds, making everything difficult. Get all the cookies without letting them drop to the ground to get 1000 points for each level. Because once you miss three cookies that fall to the ground, you lose the game.

Green House

In this game, you also control Yoshi. Your objective: Protect the plants! Your enemies, Shy Guys and Monkeys run at you, trying to eat your plants. Spit watermelon seeds at them to protect yourself and the plants. Beat all the Shy Guys/Monkeys without letting any of them eat your plants to get 1000 points for each level. But, be warned. Once the occasion happens that the Shy Guys/Monkeys eat three of your plants, you lose the game.

Turtle Bridge

In this game, you control Toad. Make yourself across the changing path of seagulls to the other end where Princess Peach is. Oh, and did I mention you have to carry assorted objects with you to Princess Peach? Beware, the seagulls move. While moving the object and running across the path, be sure to collect the coins along the way for bonus points. Carry all the objects to the other side and get all the bonus points to receive 1000 points for each level. Watch out, though. Fall, or cross the path when the seagulls move, three times and you lose the game.

Mario Bros.

In this game, you are Mario and Luigi. Your objective is to push all the random objects up the conveyor belt without letting any of them touch the ground. You see, occasional parts of the conveyor belt changes so that there’s nothing there- meaning if you push the object up and it crosses along one of those spots, it falls down, counting as 1 fall. Push all the objects up the conveyor belt without any falling into the empty spots/holes to earn yourself 1000 points for each level. Don’t let too many fall down. If objects fall three times you lose the game.

Donkey Kong Jr.

This is one of the more fun games. In this game, you control Donkey Kong Jr. Your objective is to go through the level of enemies and rescue Donkey Kong. To do this, you need to collect keys to open parts of the cage. Keys are found throughout the levels after tough enemies or bosses. If you find they key in each level and don’t die, you are crowned with 1000 points per level. Unfortunately, if you die three times in a level you lose the game.

Before the game begins, you are given a decision whether you want to play the game on either ''Modern'' version or the ''Classic'' version. There is also two difficulty levels, Easy and Hard. Play more games and get more points to unlock more games.

Graphics (8/10)

Game and Watch Gallery 3 has good, sharp, vivid, and colorful graphics. Yes, there are better for a Game Boy Color, but this game still has good graphics for its time. The graphics aren’t choppy or blocky and can be seen well. The only part of the game with bad graphics is if you play through the games with ''Classic'' version on. But, those graphics are only to simulate the old Game and Watch games, to cherish that game so it would be remembered.

Sound (8.1/10)

The sound is done with proportionate effort. They did it like the other Game and Watch games, the music for each level would play faster and faster as you got close to each 100 point mark. The music played in each game and level is also pretty good, you should find yourself humming to it a few minutes after turning it on.

Hardness Factor (8.7/10)

As I explained in the Gameplay portion of this review, you can get a maximum of 1000 points for each level for each game. Now, on your first time through, you may get some where in the 400s. This seem hard, yet? This game is no where near easy unless you have mastered it after months of playing it. The Hardness Factor goes up as there are several games, so there is even more levels, and on top of this your goal is to try to get 1000 on each. A hard, yet fun task to complete. The Hardness factor is also rated this because of the possible length put into this game.

Replay Value (9.3/10)

The replay value is very high because of its simple concept: It takes a long time to get bored of this game, even though you are doing the same thing! The next time through the game, you may try to get perfect 1000’s for every level of every game. A tedious, yet fun task. The thing about the replay value is that after sometime you are bound to get bored of it. Also, for people who do not like the mini-games and arcade aspect, they get bored of it even quicker. I guess you have to decently like the genre for this replay value to be somewhat high.

Overall

Game and Watch Gallery 3 puts several games together with their extremely clever idea. I like all the different modes you can choose, for instance you can play Egg on Classic On Easy. Or, you can play Egg on Modern on Easy. Or,,, you can play Egg on Classic on Hard, vice versa. What this game lacks and only lacks is the storyline- there is no storyline! But this game proves that a game doesn’t need storyline to be a great game.

Buy/Rent/Not?

This is a definite buy unless you aren’t a fan of this genre. But this is a fun game, and I don’t see how it shouldn’t be for everyone. But others see it differently and don’t like this game. And trust me, it’s pretty un-common to not like thisgame.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/02, Updated 08/09/02