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 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* - Luigi must KO his opponents (Waluigi, Wiggler or Boo) before they KO him. A star is earned for every three KOs. This is a re-make of the Game & Watch game Punch-Out!!, in which Mario made a cameo appearance.
• 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. Also, in Hard Waluigi will occasionally move the lines around to make things harder for Mario.
• 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.
• 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. - Mario and Luigi try hard to make cakes in a factory while Bowser tries to stop them.
• Donkey Kong - Mario must avoid falling barrels and Koopas to save Princess Peach from Donkey Kong.
• Octopus - Mario must avoid octopus tentacles while he dives for treasure to give to Peach.
• Fire Attack - Wario must defend a giant golden statue of himself from Bob-ombs and Bullet Bills.

Tertiary games

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

• Manhole - Mr. Game and Watch must hold up manhole covers in order to prevent his friends from falling through holes in the floor.
• Tropical Fish - Mr. Game and Watch holds up fish bowls so that tropical fish can get from one fish tank to another by juming from the fish bowl. If a fish falls to the ground, it will be eaten by a cat.
• Mario's Bombs Away - Mario must carry a bomb from one person to another across a jungle. Soldiers hide in the trees and try to light the bomb, and one of Mario's friends throw a cigerette to the ground that they have finished smoking, and this caused a fire on the ground due to spilled oil, Mario must also avoid this or his bomb might light.
• Parachute - Mr. Game and Watch must catch his friends in his rowboat as they fall through the sky with their parachutes.
• Bombsweeper - A man goes inside a labyrinth-like sewer and tries to stop a bomb from exploding, if the man doesn't stop the bomb in time, the maze will explode and the player will lose a life.
• Climber - A player must make his or her way up 25 floors, if he stands on top of a non-platform floor, he will go back down a few floors and lose a life.
• Safe Buster - A policeman is preventing bombs from hitting his safe, the player must put bombs in either side. If the bomb catcher is full and the bomb touches the safe, the safe is blown open. The thief takes the money, and the player loses a life
• Lifeboat - Two men are trying to save the people from a burnt ship, the little raft can carry only four people, if the player tries to catch a fifth person, the person falls into the water and the player loses a life.
• Zelda - A port of the game Zelda Game & Watch in which Link must battle monsters (the main bosses are Dragons) in order to collect pieces of the Triforce. When he completes the Triforce, Zelda is freed from her prison.

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. Also many Game and Watch units' 'shadows' where not visible anyway. 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, with the exception of Donkey Kong 3 and Boxing, after getting above 1000 points in Modern Mode.
• 3-up Moons appear in the modern versions of the games Fire and Rainshower. in Fire, they would fall from the burning building at times, like Yoshi, Toad and Donkey Kong jr. would, but failing to bounce it to the cart would not count as a miss. In Rainshower, they can be collected until the 3-up Moon meter fills up, which causes Bowser to fall, and gives the player points.