Game & Watch Gallery 4

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The Box Art of Game & Watch Gallery 4.

Game & Watch Gallery 4 is the fourth in a series of compilations of the classic Game & Watch games made between 1980 and 1990. Like the previous incarnations in the series, the featured games have both Classic modes, which attempt to recreate the look of the original unit as faithfully as possible, and Modern modes, which feature all-new graphics, music, and, often, gameplay elements. It is the first, and likely only game in the series to be on Game Boy Advance.

Stars

Like all other games in the series, Game & Watch Gallery 4 features a system to unlock bonus features. As before, every 200 points in the high score for a game earns the player one star, up to five per game. That is, a high score between 200 and 399 is worth one star, 400 - 599 is two stars, 600 - 799 is three stars, 800 - 999 is four stars, and 1000 and above is worth five stars. Each game counts its stars separately, (For example, the player cannot earn 150 points in one game and 250 points in another and earn two stars for the cumulative total.) and the total (Up to 220) is what unlocks new features in the game.

Gallery

The "Gallery" is where most special features are unlocked. These include a sound test, a Game & Watch timeline, the credits, and nine games (listed below). However, the games must, in essence, be unlocked twice -- the first time a game is unlocked, the player is treated to a short write-up on the game and a video of the game in action. Later on, the player can unlock playable versions. After all the stars have been collected Link becomes playable in the final unlockable game Zelda.

Games

Game & Watch Gallery 4 features a total of 20 games, though only 11 have Modern modes:

Primary Games

These games are playable from the beginning.

• Fire - Mario and Luigi must bounce their friends to safety after they jump out of the windows of Princess Peach's burning castle.
• Boxing* - KO your opponent before he KOs you. A star is earned for every three KOs.
• Rain Shower - Mario must move his friends away from the paint balloons dropped by Bowser in Modern Mode. He has to move sheets so they do not get hit by raindrops in Classic Mode.
• Mario's Cement Factory - In the Modern version, Mario and Co. are working in a cookie factory, with the cememt factory only present in the Classic Mode. Either way they have to move packages from one conveyer belt to another and put them in a delivery truck.
• Donkey Kong Jr. - Donkey Kong's son must collect keys to free his dad like he does in the game Donkey Kong II.
• Donkey Kong 3* - Unlike the original Donkey Kong 3, Mario (instead of Stanley the Bugman) must spray Bees (in Classic Mode only) or various other enemies (such as Boos) at Donkey Kong.

In the games marked with a *, the Hard mode (Game B) is replaced with a two-player mode. Each time a game is played with two players, a star is earned regardless of the winner.

Secondary Games

These games are unlocked by obtaining Stars. They are listed in the order in which they will be unlocked.

• Chef - Peach must cook food thrown into the air by the Mario Bros. and feed it to Yoshi.
• Mario Bros. - A re-release of the arcade game, Mario and Luigi must combat various monsters in the sewars.
• Donkey Kong - A re-release of the arcade game, Mario must save his girlfriend from Donkey Kong.
• Octopus - Mario must avoid octopi tentacles while he dives for treasure to give to Peach.
• Fire Attack -

Tertiary games

These games are unlocked in the Museum, can only be played in Classic Mode, and cannot earn you stars.

• Manhole
• Tropical Fish
• Mario's Bombs Away
• Parachute
• Bombsweeper
• Climber
• Safe Buster
• Lifeboat
• Zelda

Authenticity

Game & Watch Gallery 4 attempted to be the most authentic Gallery game in the series, and in the eyes of most, it succeeded. Somewhat controversial was the inclusion of "shadows" in the Classic mode. The places where unlit liquid-crystal units would be were filled in with a light gray to attempt to emulate the look of a Game & Watch unit. However, some thought that it was tacky to imitate what they saw as a defect in the original units. Also, many pointed out that several shadows were forgotten, such as Donkey Kong's mouth in Donkey Kong Jr. In addition, several games in the Museum had no shadows at all, creating an inconsistency some found bothersome. Nevertheless, Game & Watch Gallery 4 is still considered the most authentic game in the series.

Trivia

• "Game & Watch Gallery 4" also includes what seem like hearts. These appear after 200, 500, and 700 points in most games, and would replenish a life that was lost.
• A "Very Hard" mode called Star Mode is also included. It is unlocked for every game, after getting above 1000 points in "Modern Mode".