Boasting two game modes where you must see how many tosses you can manage between either two or three balls, Ball was last seen via a Club Nintendo re-release to celebrate Game & Watch’s 30 th anniversary some years back, so it’s nice to see it back in a nicer package.

2: The Lost Levels, and an updated Mario-themed version of Ball, the first Game & Watch title ever released.īall also, though incredibly simple by today’s standards, remains a fun way to spend a few minutes chasing high scores. Here, however, we have a device that makes some sweeping modernizations, packing in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. It used to be that each Game & Watch unit came pre-packed with a single title played on a basic, two-tone LCD screen. It tells the time, lets you play games in mere seconds, and is small enough to fit in your pocket but with a large enough screen that you can always keep up with the action. is a new and improved version of the classic handheld device. Luckily, this anniversary edition Game & Watch excels in all three aforementioned areas, so much so that it has quickly become my preferred way to play Mario’s original NES adventure.Īt its core, the Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. Despite making three of the mustachioed plumber’s best platforming adventures in Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy playable on Switch for the first time, the remastered compilation felt incredibly slapdash due to the absence of special features, unwieldy controls, and all around lack of detail. I was one of many this year who came away disappointed with Nintendo’s poorly put together Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection. is the unabashed love letter to Mario of 2020. Now lovingly brought to life on a crisp 2.36-inch, LCD color screen, the aptly named Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. for the NES has been released countless times over on various platforms through the decades, but it’s been expertly rendered again here in this neat and nostalgia-fueled package. And what better way to celebrate such a special occasion than with the game that practically started it all? It’s true that 1985’s Super Mario Bros. 40 years after it was first introduced, Nintendo’s vintage line of Game & Watch handhelds has come full circle in honor of Mario’s 35th birthday.

Original super mario brothers game