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Those fun, quirky Game & Watch games get their due in this colorful collection

Game & Watch was a series of handheld LCD games released by Nintendo in the 80s. Each one starred that little stick figure-like guy which we've come to know as Mr. Game & Watch. A total of 60 games were released over a span of 11 years, which is an impressive run. For a while, Game & Watch just disappeared, as if Nintendo had just left it in the past. Then, in 1997, Nintendo released Game & Watch Gallery for the Game Boy. It was a collection of four G&W games with the addition of Mario characters, giving it much more personality. The four games, Manhole, Fire, Octopus, and Oil Panic, were simple and addicting.

In 1998, Nintendo released the sequel, Game & Watch Gallery 2, on the Game Boy Color. Like its predecessor, G&WG2 offers fun mini-games, but this time there are six games and they're in color. The games include Parachute, Helmet, Chef, Vermin, and Donkey Kong. There is also one unlockable game, Ball. There are two main modes on the title screen, Play Game and View Gallery. As in the previous game, you can play each game in either modern (Mario characters) or classic mode (Mr. G&W). You can also choose to play Easy or Hard difficulty. In all of these games, if you mess up three times, you lose.

In the game Parachute, you play as Mario in a rowboat. Your job is to catch characters in your boat who jump from an airship. There are three positions in which you can move. Characters fall at different speeds; Toad comes down very slowly, Yoshi a little faster, and DK Jr. doesn't even open his parachute until he's nearly at the boat (that daredevil). This game reminds me a lot of Fire from the previous game.

In Helmet, Mario tries to avoid falling hammers (from a flying hammer bro) while collecting coins on the ground. You'll have to jump on a P block before the coins will appear. At certain times, Mario will start slowing down in his movements for some reason, make the dogding aspect more difficult. I'm not sure why this game is called "Helmet," but Mario sure needs one!

Chef is probably the cutest game in the bunch. You play as Peach, who holds a frying pan, ready to fry all kinds of food. Mario and Luigi are on each side of her, throwing out stuff for her to flip. As Peach, you need to catch each food in the pan and continue to fry each one until they burn to a crisp and disappear (you don't want to go to this restaurant!). Should you miss any food, Yoshi is waiting below to eat it; I guess he'll eat anything. This game also feels a lot like Fire. 

You play as Yoshi in Vermin, a game in which the dino must protect his nest of eggs from pests by moving around and bopping them with a hammer. I know, it sounds a lot like Whack a Mole, but it's more like Whack a Vermin. This one is very simple; you don't even need to press any buttons, just move around and Yoshi will automatically bop those sneaky vermin. After awhile though, they start coming from everywhere, so you have to be fast.

We also have a game called Donkey Kong. Like the original, Mario climbs a construction tower to reach DK while the big ape throws barrels. This is easily the trickiest of the bunch. Mario's movements are quite sporadic, making it difficult to know when to jump or when to grap a handle above his head. He needs to hit a switch and then jump onto a moving platform, but it's very easy to miss that platform because of his sporadic jumping. With patience, you can learn this one, but it's not as fun as the others.

In the unlockable game Ball, Yoshi bounces several of his eggs into the air using tennis rackets in each hand. This one can be a little tough because you need to use the d-pad and the buttons at the same time. The d-pad controls the left racket, moving it in or out, while the two buttons move the right racket. It looks tricky, but it quickly becomes fun and addicting. Also, this game has alternate versions; you can also play as Mario, Bowser, and Wario, but you have to unlock them. 

While it's nice to be able to play each of the games in Classic Mode, it's really boring, having Mr. G&W move around in stiff movements with no music to brighten the experience. I imagine the only people who would enjoy classic mode would be those who have nostalgia for the original G&W games. But the modern games are wonderful. Each game is simply perfect for short play sessions, making G&WG2 a great game to just pick up and play at any time.

Finally, if you want to take a break from playing games, you can go to View Gallery on the title screen and read the notebook, get hints for games, and look at stuff you've unlocked. It's a fun diversion, but nothing spectacular.

Final Verdict--4 Stars: Recommended

Easy controls and simple gameplay make Game & Watch Gallery 2 a fun set of mini-games which you can experience anywhere. Even better, you can download the game for just a few bucks on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. If you enjoy fun mini-games, you'll love the G&W Gallery games. Game & Watch Gallery 3 is also on the 3DS VC, and it's equally as fun. It's great that these classic Nintendo games can live on and be better than ever thanks to Mario and friends.

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.