Well, it sure beats Animal Crossing trading cards.
Starting up Game & Watch Collection is probably the most entertaining part of the game, seeing as the title screen music is catchy and totally retro, making a rather enjoyable tune to listen to… while you aren't playing. The music stops during gameplay, sadly. The actual title screen itself makes it immediately apparent that calling the game a 'collection' is a bit of an overstatement, seeing as there are just three Game & Watch titles available to play.
Oil Panic involves players taking control of a guy collecting oil dripping from the ceiling, and it's the player's job to make sure the drops don't hit the ground by collecting them in their pail, then dropping off the oil to the collector roaming the bottom screen. It requires paying attention to both screens at once, but not intently so, which is somewhat interesting. However the game remains shallow with no variety throughout, and gets dull quickly.
Donkey Kong is similar to the Arcade/NES game that some of us like and some of us just don't care for, only by comparison the arcade version is about 10 times more complex. This game simply has you make your way to the top of the stage, jump onto the crane, and… that's it. The lack of free movement is what keeps this game far below the ranks of the arcade Donkey Kong game.
The best game on Game & Watch Collection is easily Green House. This one involves you taking control of a guy who needs to stop spiders and worms from reaching his plants in a frenzy that makes good use of the DS' two screens. Unfortunately this game suffers in the exact same ways as the other games: it's too shallow and uninteresting to keep you reeled in despite being the strongest offering on the 'collection.'
Authenticity seems to be something Nintendo was shooting for in this title, seeing as they have made no changes to the games aside from using both screens and there is even an alarm and time keeper on it similar to the Game & Watch devices, unless I'm mistaken. The authenticity even goes through to the sound effects, which are best described as grating and annoying with all the incessant beeping.
In the end, though, it must be recalled that Game & Watch Collection is free. Nintendo wanted to offer some kind of reward to their loyal customers, so they did. What can we expect of them, or anyone else, in a freebie, after all? The point of this game was to reward their loyal fans and give out a way to play these classics on a current platform. For those of us who weren't gamers or weren't around in the Game & Watch days, the 'collection' is short, uninteresting, and will undoubtedly collect a lot of dust on the shelf. It is a shame that Nintendo didn't include any kind of creative draw that they most definitely are capable of, but I suppose it's the thought that counts. It was a better thought than Animal Crossing trading cards, anyways.
Positive:
+ Title screen music is good
+ The extra screen suits the games well
+ It's better than Animal Crossing trading cards
Negative:
- Only three games
- No creative draw
- Grating sound effects
(The score isn't imortant)