CPFace presents a guide for: ====================== Game & Watch Gallery 4 ====================== Version 0.45 TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Introduction and Credits 2. FAQ History 3. A tour of the gallery 4. Basic Tips 5. The Headliners a. Fire b. Boxing c. Rainshower d. Mario's Cement Factory e. Donkey Kong Jr. f. Donkey Kong 3 6. Hidden Games a. Chef b. Mario Brothers c. Donkey Kong d. Octopus e. Fire Attack 7. Q & A 8. Special Thanks ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Introduction and Credits Well, here it is, my third game guide ever! I've loved the Game & Watch Gallery series since the first time I tried it, and Gallery 4 is pretty much an answer to everything I ever wanted from the series. After racking up a couple hundred stars and a few thousand points, I thought I'd rise to the occasion and make a guide for it, if only to round out G&WG4's entry at GameFAQs. Since it /is/ an arcade collection and all, there's really no way I can make a "walkthrough" for the game, so here there will be tips for each game in the collection, from the six headliners to the Nifty Nine, as well as some odds and ends about the collection in general. Unless otherwise noted, this entire document was written by me, Edward Griffiths, and is copyright 2003. It may be freely distributed, but you are not allowed to sell a copy of it in any way, nor are you allowed to use any material in it for any purpose unless I'm credited as the original author. Contact me at cpface@execpc.com with questions, comments, and suggestions. ------------------------------------------------------------ 2. FAQ History (01/07/03) v0.45 First version -- Gallery tour, basic tips, The Headliners, Hidden Games, and Q & A added. ------------------------------------------------------------ 3. A tour of the gallery When you start up the game for the first time, your gallery will be quite bare. You'll have six games to choose from and a Gallery Corner that contains nothing but a Message Board. However, as you play the games and improve your scores, you'll earn stars, which will open up new games and other amusements in the Gallery. Here's some of the stuff to look forward to: Message Board ============= From time to time, messages will pop up containing information about G&WG4. They're stored right here, if you ever need to review them. Game rules pop up whenever you play a game for the first time, and tips pop up whenever you fail to earn 100 points before you get a game over. Music Room ========== Here you can listen to any song that you encounter in the game, be it music from the Modern modes or incidental tunes played while browsing the menus. Gift ==== You're automatically taken here whenever you meet the requirements to unlock a new game. Selecting it in Gallery Corner doesn't do anything except show you a message from Mario and Mr. Game & Watch encouraging you to gather more stars, at least until you unlock the ending... Game & Watch History ==================== This is a time line showing the title of every Game & Watch game ever made. It's a nice handy reference for the curious, even if they got Mario the Juggler wrong. Museum ====== Just like the last three Game & Watch Galleries, you can unlock a few bonus titles (the Nifty Nine), which start out as being view-only, teasing you with a short demo of what the games look like. Unlike previous Game & Watch Galleries, you can actually play them if you get enough stars. ------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Basic Tips Here's a few general tips to keep in mind for just about any game in the collection: -- For games where you only move left and right (Fire, Chef, Octopus, etc.) you'll often have the option to move left and right using the B and A buttons, respectively. It's usually a good idea to use Left on the control pad to move left and the A button to move right. These games require lightning-fast reflexes, and having one thumb dedicated to each direction will improve your reaction time. -- Practice, practice, practice. Having so many games on one cartridge makes it easy to move on to something else if you're frustrated by a game, but the only way to master these things is to play them over and over until you've learned how they work. -- In Modern mode, nothing -- I repeat, NOTHING -- is worth risking a miss over. Not even the hearts that clear misses for you. (After all, what good will it do if you just get a miss again right away, especially if you don't even reach the heart before you get another miss!) You'll get a lot more points just by staying alive than you'll get by risking your life for bonus items. -- Most Classic versions don't display the thousands place in your score. Many times, if there's a bonus that you can get at a particular score, you get the same bonus every 'lap' around the dial. That is, if you get a bonus at 300 points, you'll probably get the same bonus at 1300, 2300, 3300, etc. -- With few exceptions, you'll move faster by repeatedly tapping a directional button than by holding it down. -- On the game select screen, leave the cursor on a title without pressing any buttons for a while. You'll be treated to a cute little animation based on that game. ;) ------------------------------------------------------------ 5. The Headliners And here they are, the first six games you can play: ======================= a. Fire (1980) Game & Watch Gallery ======================= Classic Difficulty: Hard Overview People leap out of a burning building, and you have to catch them and get them safely to the ambulance. They bounce every time you catch them, and you have to catch them again as they come back to Earth. In Game B, people will sometimes leap out of a lower floor of the building. Scoring Catching people: 1 point Misses are cleared at 200 and 500 points. Tips -- Learn to spot which person is going to hit the ground first. As soon as you catch someone and hear the beep, move to catch the next guy. This is a game of rhythm more than anything else; learn to move with the beat. -- Get good at moving two spots quickly. One way to do that is to tap left and B or right and A almost simultaneously; the game will register two movements and take you directly to the other side of the screen. However, if you're playing with left and A, you might lose some reaction time by moving your thumbs, and it can be a risky maneuver to begin with -- if you tap the buttons at exactly the same time, you'll only move one space. Figure out what works best for you. -- There's never a case where two characters fall at exactly the same time. If it looks like they are, watch carefully and see which character is being updated first; that's the one you have to catch. -- The people fall in recognizable patterns. Learning these patterns is essential to surviving at the higher speeds. If, for example, you see people falling in all three positions and notice that the one in the center has a slight lead, you know that you can catch them all if you catch the middle, then quickly tap left, A, A. -- Don't watch the bottom of the screen; learn to use sound cues to figure out when it's time to move. Keep your attention around the middle of the screen, where it's easiest to figure out who's going to land first. -- The screen doesn't clear when you get a miss. As the miss animation plays, you can still move the rescue workers. Use this time to size up the situation and move into position to catch the next guy. -- In Game B, the man on the lower level can be hard to predict. However, if someone's leaping out of the level above him, you can be certain that he won't leap until that guy passes him and bounces up about halfway to the top of his bounce. Even when he does jump, he has two spaces to go before he hits the pavement; it's usually not necessary to drop what you're doing just to catch him. -- Play somewhere warm. It's amazing how much cold thumbs will affect your reaction time. ;) My high scores Easy: 900 Hard: 862 Modern Difficulty: Moderate Overview Toads, Yoshis, and Donkey Kong Juniors leap out of a burning castle. Mario and Luigi have to bounce them to the safety of the wagon on the other side of the screen. Watch out for Bob-ombs! Scoring Catching people: 1 point Catching an egg: 2 points Catching a moon: 5 points Catching a Bob-omb: 0 points Every 200 points, the background will change. If you have any misses, Peach will throw a heart onto the screen at 200, 500, and 700 points. Catch it to clear one miss. Tips -- Most of your strategy from Classic Fire will work here. Unfortunately, the bouncing people don't move in quantums anymore, so it'll be trickier to judge who's closest to the ground. Keep an eye on the bottom of the screen; characters tend to pull ahead of each other suddenly as they reach the drop point, especially the ones falling into the leftmost position. -- Yoshi and Donkey Kong Junior don't necessarily fall faster; they just don't bounce as high to begin with. The game is still about catching the guy who's closest to the ground; try not to play favorites. -- Avoid catching the Bob-omb, but don't risk dropping someone to do so. It's safe to catch it after the first bounce, as long as you don't catch it a second time! My high scores Easy: 1173 Hard: 938 ========================= b. Boxing (1984) Game & Watch Gallery 4 ========================= Classic Difficulty: Easy Overview Two boxers square off in a ring. Hit your opponent to bring down his stamina, then deliver a KO blow to finish him off. Watch out; you can throw punches high or low, and your opponent can block them or even duck back out of the way. Three KOs earn you one star. This game can also be played two-player with one cartridge; win or lose, each match you play and finish earns you one star. Scoring Hitting your opponent removes 1 point from his stamina and one bar from his energy meter. Forcing him to the other side of the screen by clearing his energy meter removes 3 points. Knocking him down on the left side of the screen by clearing his energy meter again removes 5 points the first time, 6 the second, etc. Knocking him down on the left side of the screen when his score is 0 results in a KO. Tips -- The CPU opponent is a cinch. Throw a punch that he isn't going to block (low if he's guarding high, high if he's guarding low), then time your next blow so that you'll hit him as he recovers. If he manages to hit you, fade back immediately as you recover, then drive forward with another punch. My high score: 15 Modern Difficulty: Easy Overview Luigi's in the boxing ring, going up against Wiggler, Boo, and Waluigi. Use your punches to eliminate all their hearts and knock them out. Three KOs earn you one star, and each two-player bout earns you another star. Scoring Hitting your opponent removes one heart from his energy bar. Clear all of his hearts to knock him to the left side of the screen. Clear all of his hearts on the left side of the screen to KO him. Tips -- The CPU opponents are pushovers. Fade back and take a look at where your opponent is guarding. While you're still dodging, press up or down to aim where he's vulnerable. Throw a punch as soon as you return. Whether you hit or miss, immediately fade back again, and repeat. My high score: 24 ========================= c. Rainshower (1983) Game & Watch Gallery 4 ========================= Classic Difficulty: Moderate Overview You've just put your laundry out to dry, and it's started to rain! As the rain drops fall, move your clotheslines back and forth to keep your shirts out of the way. In Game B, watch out for the crows; they'll move your clotheslines when you're not looking. Scoring Avoiding a raindrop: 1 point Every 100 points, raindrops stop falling. When all of the raindrops on the screen are gone, the sun comes out and you can take a quick breather; you also get a 10 point bonus. This stops happening when you reach 1100 points. If you have any misses, they're cleared at 300 points. If you have no misses at 300 points, you earn double points on everything until you get a miss. Tips -- I count the columns that the drops fall in from 1 to 4, starting from the house, on both sides. So, from left to right on the screen, you have 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4. The parity of a column is whether it's even or odd. -- Get comfortable with working the lines and knowing how they need to be set up to avoid raindrops from each position. Note that the lines with one shirt don't need to be tended to as often; out of the four possible raindrop positions, only one will be dangerous to the one-shirt line at any given time. Don't play with the one-shirt lines if you don't need to. -- The action always goes back and forth, from the left side of the screen to the right and back again. When you see a drip come, set up the shirts on that side of the screen, then switch your attention to the other side. -- Hang out at the top of the screen; you'll need to get the lines at the top out of the way of falling drops before the ones on the bottom. -- Note that when the shirts are lined up one over the other, you'll dodge all raindrops of a certain parity, either even or odd. When you have raindrops of differing parities falling at the same time on one side of the screen, first make sure the other side of the screen is safe, then set up both lines to miss the first drop. As soon as the first drop falls past the top line, switch the top line and move down to the bottom. As soon as the drop falls past the bottom line, switch it and move back to the top. Repeat as needed until all of the drops have the same parity again. If you get good at this to the point where it's automatic, you can keep an eye on the other side of the screen to make sure you aren't missing anything. -- In Game B, a crow will land on a line. Then the drops on that side of the screen will move forward one space. Then the crow will switch the line. Then the drops will go forward one space again. Remember this and plan accordingly when a crow is swooping down. If you know a crow will move a line into a position that will get a shirt wet, move it yourself before the crow gets there, and he'll move it into a safe position again for you. If you aren't sure, stand next to the line and wait for the crow to make his move. If he moves a shirt under a drop, quickly move it back to dodge it. Be careful that the rest of your shirts are safe while your attention is diverted! My high scores Easy: 1402 Hard: 1088 Modern Difficulty: Hard Overview Bowser is throwing paint balls at Mario's friends. You've got to pull the lines they're hanging from back and forth to keep them out of the way. As time goes on, more friends join, making things even more hectic. Catch five falling moons without getting a miss to turn the tables on Bowser. In Hard mode, Waluigi pops up from time to time to mess with your lines. Scoring Missing a balloon: 1 point Catching a moon: 2 points Filling your moon meter: 20 points Every 100 points, the game will stop and Mario will hit a P switch to turn all the balloons on-screen into coins. You'll get 10 points regardless of how many balloons there are. At 200, 500, and 700 points, if you have any misses, Lakitu will drop a heart in one of the four positions. Move Mario onto the heart to clear one miss. Tips -- A lot of the strategies you used in classic will be important here too, but there can be as many as three paint balloons on each side of the screen at a time, and the parity changes more often. Each color will fall in a particular column -- green is 1, red is 2, black is 3, and blue is 4. Get in the habit of spotting the color as it's being thrown to tip you off, then switch the characters on the lines to the safe position immediately. -- A character is safe from a paint balloon as soon as it's past their head. Get in the habit of switching them as soon as possible; you'll have to do a lot more quick switching than you did in Classic. My high scores Easy: 2585 Hard: 1085 ================================ d. Mario's Cement Factory (1983) Game & Watch Gallery 4 ================================ Classic Difficulty: Easy Overview Mario's working at a cement factory, and he has to keep the cement from spilling. Cement drips into the tanks on the top level, which have to be emptied into the tanks on the bottom level. The tanks on the bottom level then have to be emptied into the waiting trucks. Don't let any of the tanks overfill, and be careful riding the elevators -- don't hit the bottom floor or get stuck against the ceiling! Scoring Draining one level of cement from the upper tanks: 1 point Draining one level of cement from the lower tanks: 2 points If you have any misses, they're cleared at 300 points. If you have no misses, you earn double points until you get a miss. Tips -- Be patient and play conservatively. Don't go racing for an elevator; if you keep all of the tanks empty on a regular basis, you can afford to wait for the next one. In general, it's safe to dash two spaces before the elevators move again, but don't count on them to stay put long enough to make a dash all the way to the other side of the elevator shaft; ride up or down until another elevator appears in the next space over, then ride it back to the level you wanted to get to. -- Try to visit all of the tanks, one after the other, and get rid of any cement they may be holding. It's easiest if you visit them all in a counterclockwise circle. The game moves slowly enough that you should be able to spot any situations that need special attention long before they become a problem. For example, if you notice a tank on the other side of the screen is about to receive its third level of cement, you should be able to get over to it and empty it long before a fourth one arrives. -- If you need to cross to the other side of the screen, make sure you step onto an elevator before the elevators on the other side of the screen 'click' -- that is, as soon as possible after an elevator arrives. If you make a point of always doing this, you'll find that there'll always be an elevator on the other side of the shaft that you can safely hop onto without hitting the ceiling or the floor, and you'll never have to use the safety spot at the bottom of the left shaft. I'd advise against using it anyway, especially in Game B; it can be very tricky to plan it so that you can hop onto the next up elevator to take you out again. -- If you've emptied a tank on the top level and you see another load of cement coming toward it, it's a good idea to wait for that load to arrive and dump it before going on to the next tank -- it's harder to control when cement will arrive in the top tanks, so it's best to keep them as clear as possible. Of course, if the tank below is full, you should drop everything and empty that as soon as possible first. ;) And don't hesitate if there's an emergency on the other side of the screen that needs to be addressed; you should be able to take care of it and return long before that empty tank gets all filled up again. My high scores Easy 1224 Hard 1010 Modern Difficulty: Easy Overview Mario's working at a haunted cookie factory. Empty the cookie dough from the tanks on the top floor into the ovens below, then drop the finished cookies to the ground floor for Yoshi and Toad to take care of. Be careful on the elevators, and watch out for mischevious ghosts who'll hide in the ovens! Scoring Dropping dough into the oven: 1 point Dropping dough onto Yoshi or Toad: 2 points If you have any misses at 200, 500, or 700 points, a heart will appear. Grab it to clear one miss. Tips -- The things you learned in Classic mode still apply -- keep regular rounds, and watch out for sudden emergencies. The vats seem to fill a bit faster, but Mario has a little more mobility to make up for it. -- Mario can fall safely to a lower level in Modern mode, so take advantage of gaps when you need to get to a lower level quickly. Just make sure there's an elevator to catch you; you can still die by slipping to the bottom of the shaft. Also, you can switch elevators between stops. Hop off the elevator as soon as you can. -- Be a little more conservative and cautious in Hard mode -- gaps between elevators appear more frequently, and the elevators don't stay put as long between stops. -- The ghosts add a new wrinkle to the game, but it's generally not worth the trouble to go out of your way to get rid of them unless they're mixed in with some dough. You never get more than one ghost on a side, so having a ghost is at least a guarantee that nothing unexpected is going to happen to the oven on that side. Your focus should still be on making sure the vats on the upper floor stay as empty as possible, taking quick excursions below to clear out the cookies. Ghosts only appear on the opposite side of the screen, so at least you don't have to worry about one sneaking in while you're dumping dough. My high scores Easy 1011 Hard 1024 ========================= e. Donkey Kong Jr. (1982) Game & Watch Gallery 3 ========================= Classic Difficulty: Hard Overview Mario has kidnapped Donkey Kong, and now it's up to Donkey Kong Junior to rescue him. Make your way up to Donkey Kong's cage, avoiding the snapjaws and birds along the way. Time your jump carefully to grab the key and use it to unlock the cage. Scoring Jumping over a snapjaw: 1 point Hitting a snapjaw on the top level with a fruit: 3 points Hitting a bird with a fruit: 6 points Hitting a snapjaw on the bottom level with a fruit: 9 points Snagging the key: 15 points or less (varies by how long you take) Freeing Donkey Kong: 15 points If you have any misses at 300 points, they're cleared. If you have no misses at 300 points, you earn double points until you get a miss. Tips -- Make the transition to the upper level as quickly as possible, then jump up to the safe spot on the vine. You're very vulnerable while going up the double vines; you have to wait for the snapjaws to pass and hope the birds don't come after you. -- On the lower level, try not to jump up into the spots where you can't hang from the vines; you can't control when you come back down if you're just dangling in the air like that, which makes the birds a big risk. -- On the lower level, if snapjaws are coming one right behind the other and there are birds overhead, it's generally safest to retreat until the birds pass overhead, then jump up to a vine until the snapjaws leave. -- There's a very cheap way to earn stars in this game: just get to the upper level and jump over snapjaws one after the other. It's slow, but infinitely easier than trying to maneuver through the lower level at the higher speeds. My high scores Easy 1006 Hard 820 Modern Difficulty: Moderate Overview Mario has kidnapped Donkey Kong, and it's Junior to the rescue. Find the key somewhere on each level, then make your way to Donkey Kong's cage to unlock it and release him. Watch out for the goombas, nipper plants, and Bullet Bills. Scoring Stomping a goomba: 1 point Jumping over an enemy: 1 point Bringing the key to Donkey Kong's cage: 15 points and down (varies depending on how long you take) Freeing Donkey Kong: 15 points If you have any misses at 200, 500, or 700 points, a heart appears. Snag it to clear a miss. Tips -- Give the enemies a wide berth; this game is absolutely cruel about collision detection. Slightly grazing an enemy will give you a miss. If you see an enemy emerging from a pipe, it's generally prudent to retreat and get ready to dodge it. Trying to sneak under an emerging enemy to leap to Donkey Kong's platform is a bad idea. Even if it's not touching you when you're standing still, chances are it'll touch you when you make that leap. -- The enemies vanish whenever you get a key to Donkey Kong's platform. Take advantage and dash as quickly as you can through the beginning of the stage before more enemies show up. -- Unlike most Game & Watch games, you can continue to move just by holding down a direction; you don't need to tap for each quantum. Also, Up on the control pad doubles as a jump. Take advantage as necessary. -- In the first stage, dash as fast as you can and climb up onto the second level right away. Watch out for goombas as you climb the vine to the third level; you're only safe from them when you're at the very top, which is a full four quantums from the ground; the third and fourth positions aren't very far apart, but they make all the difference. (I told you the collision detection was cruel.) -- In the second stage, the quickest way to the key is to hop up one quantum, slide all the way to the left, go up one quantum to get the key, slide back down one quantum, then slide all the way back to the right, all the way to the top, and hop onto the nipper plants' platform when the coast is clear. In other words, stay low until you're sure you know what those plants are going to do, then book it to the top when you see your opportunity. And beware the Bullet Bills, which seem to be everywhere in this stage. Note that you are /not/ safe from the nipper plants at the very top of the double vines on the right side of the screen. -- The third stage is very similar to the first, complete with the misleading length of the vine that leads to the third level. The biggest difference, and the thing you need to watch out for, is the one-two punch of nipper plants and goombas on the second level. If they both come at you at once, retreat a bit. Usually the nipper plant will stop and take a dive, giving you the opportunity to stomp the goomba in peace. If the goomba gets there first though, you can stomp it and avoid the nipper plant as usual -- stand next to it and watch it dive, or else go under it as it jumps. My high scores Easy 1130 Hard 1266 ========================= f. Donkey Kong 3 (1984) Game & Watch Gallery 4 ========================= Classic Difficulty: Easy Overview Stanley the Bugman and Donkey Kong square off in a greenhouse full of bees. Catch drips of insecticide and use them to blow the bees at your opponent. The game can be played with two players as well, earning you one star for each match. Scoring Hitting a bee with a cloud of insecticide: 1 point Getting Donkey Kong stung: 10 points Tips -- The bees move too erratically to reliably aim for them. The best strategy is simply to keep as many clouds of insecticide moving toward Donkey Kong as possible, and the best way to do that is to fire one shot, lean back to catch a drip, fire another shot, and repeat endlessly. Don't ever completely empty your tank; there'll be times when you'll need an extra shot for an emergency. My high score: 1001 Modern Difficulty: Moderate Overview Mario and Donkey Kong face off in a haunted house. Catch drips of bubble solution and blow bubbles at the ghost and fireball hovering in the center of the room to push them toward your opponent. Watch out, because Boo will come after you if you turn your back too long! This is another two-player game, and you earn one star for each game. Scoring Hitting Boo or the fireball with a bubble: 1 point Getting Donkey Kong hit by Boo or the fireball: 10 points Tips -- The exact same strategy applies. The fact that Boo will travel towards you of his own volition actually doesn't make a difference as much as you'd think it would. He doesn't start moving the exact instant you turn your back. If you get a good rhythm going, you can spit a bubble, catch a drip, spit a bubble, catch a drip, etc. and he'll never even have time to start moving towards you. Just keep that stream of bubbles moving. My high score: 1616 ------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Hidden Games Rack up the points in the first six games, and you should have these five classics available in no time: ========================= a. Chef (1981) Game & Watch Gallery 2 ========================= Classic Difficulty: Hard Overview You're a short-order chef, and you're trying to cook three pieces of meat at once. Flip them in the air repeatedly with your skillet, and don't let them hit the floor. Keep an eye out for the cat on the left side of the screen; he'll grab a sausage and drop it when you aren't looking. In Game B, you have to keep four pieces of food in the air at once. Scoring Flipping a piece of food: 1 point Misses are cleared at 200 and 500 points. Tips -- This is one tough cookie, no matter how you look at it. Your best weapons are going to be practice and experience. Like Fire, you have to watch for which piece is going to land first. Unlike Fire, the heights they flip up to are random, and you never know when a piece is going to start coming back to earth. You need to get a feel for when the pieces are likely to change direction and what you're going to do about it when they do. -- When in doubt, favor the left-hand side of the screen. Pieces are updated from left to right. -- Since the flip heights are random anyway, the cat on the left hand side of the screen is mostly a psychological annoyance; what difference does it make if the piece of food gets held in the air for a long time or if it just has an especially long flip? Of course, you should be on your guard and ready to catch it when it drops. Favor the piece of meat on the right-hand side of the screen over a piece being held when it comes within two quantums of the bottom. -- The lowest possible flip is two quantums. Use that to your advantage, if you can. :) My high scores Easy: 1109 Hard: 1012 Modern Difficulty: Moderate Overview Peach is flipping up a small banquet, and Yoshi is eating it. Catch food in your skillet to flip it and cook it, then let Yoshi catch it. Don't let anything hit the ground! Scoring Flipping a piece of food: 1 point Feeding Yoshi raw food: 1 point Feeding Yoshi cooked food: Varies Feeding Yoshi burnt food: 1 point Hatching a Yoshi egg: 20 points If you have any misses at 200, 500, and 700 points, a heart is thrown out into the game. Catch it to clear one miss. Tips -- Don't trust Yoshi to do a lot of quick maneuvers for you. If he's growing up or laying an egg, he'll stay in one spot instead of following you. (He'll still eat anything that lands on top of him; he just won't move.) If two pieces of food are falling for your skillet almost on top of each other and you want Yoshi to eat the second but not the first, it's safest to just flip them both anyway; it takes Yoshi a split-second to move, which may be just enough time for the second piece of food to hit the ground if you try and switch directions in between. Don't let him eat burned food (he'll be temporarily stunned) and don't let him catch your hearts (he'll stand still for a moment and look cute). -- If a piece of food burns, keep flipping it until it disappears. -- Make good use of the A button to turn around. A lot of the time, all you'll have to do is stand between two columns and flip back and forth to catch everything. My high scores Easy: 1129 Hard: 4456 ========================= b. Mario Brothers (1983) Game & Watch Gallery 3 ========================= Classic Difficulty: Easy Overview Mario and Luigi have to work together to move the parts up through a series of conveyor belts and pack them up on the truck for delivery. Scoring Catching a part: 1 point Filling a truck: 10 points If you have any misses at 300 points, they're cleared. If you have no misses, you'll earn double points until you get a miss. Tips -- You need to get the controls down pat if you want to do well in this one. It helps me to remember how A and B work if I realize that the B button is slightly lower than the A button on the face of the controller. -- If nothing's moving in Mario's direction, put him at the bottom of the ladder; the part that comes off the first belt doesn't have far to go before Mario has to snatch it, so it's good to keep him prepared when you can. Favor a new part entering the game over just about anything else. -- Use the break time between trucks to figure out where Mario and Luigi have to go when things get moving again. -- Watch the center of the screen -- the ones that emerge first are the ones you have to worry about first. -- Whatever pattern Mario does to catch the parts, Luigi will have to repeat on the other side of the screen. -- The action tends to move from one side of the screen to the other. When you've got one brother in a situation where it's safe to leave him and he'll do his thing automatically (if he's lined up with the only belt that's moving things to his side at the time), focus your attention on the other brother. Of course, this turn-around comes faster and more frequently at higher scores and in Game B. -- Play with a friend! The Game Boy Advance is wide enough to give two people a grip and still let them see the screen. ;) My high scores Easy: 1010 Hard: 1014 Modern Difficulty: Easy Overview Mario and Luigi are in a cake factory, and Bowser's the foreman! Move the cakes up to Wario's truck, but take heed when the chimes sound -- Bowser's about to reverse the conveyors. Hit a switch to put things back to normal. Scoring Catching a cake: 1 point Getting a cake to the van: 3 points Filling up the van: 10 points Getting five van marks: 20 points If you have any misses at 200, 500, or 700 points, a heart appears. Snag it to clear a miss. Tips -- Since the cakes' movement isn't quantized, you'll start to get some cakes that arrive at very nearly the same time. Take advantage of the fact that they can safely hang for /just/ a second at the end of the conveyor -- grab the first cake, wait a split second, then grab the second. Their arrival will be spaced out a bit more for the rest of the trip, which should give you a break. But don't wait too long! -- If there's a cake near the edge of the conveyor belt -- either about to be put on or about to be taken off -- when Bowser changes the directions, it may be a good idea to let things back up a bit before you hit the switch, to give yourself time to get readjusted when things get back to normal. Cakes moving in the opposite direction will be picked up and returned again as normal during this time. Otherwise, just try and hit the switch as soon as possible; ideally, get one of the Mario Brothers near a switch when you hear the warning sound, then quickly tap the direction to change the switch back just as Bowser lands. My high scores Easy: 1012 Hard: 1014 ========================= c. Donkey Kong (1982) Game & Watch Gallery 2 ========================= Classic Difficulty: Moderate Overview Donkey Kong has kidnapped the beautiful Pauline and taken her to the top of a construction site! It's up to Mario to climb the scaffolding and leap to her rescue. Hit the switch to start the crane, and leap up to remove a rivet from Donkey Kong's perch. Remove them all to send him tumbling and rescue Pauline! Scoring Jumping over a barrel on the first level: 1 point Jumping over a barrel on the second level: 2 points Reaching Donkey Kong: Varies Knocking Donkey Kong down: 20 points At 300 points, you get an extra life; this is the only Game & Watch I know of where you can exceed the original three lives. If you didn't lose a life before 300 points, you earn double points until you get a miss. Tips -- You can hit B to switch which screen gets squashed in the display. Personally, I've always found the switch to be too distracting to be worth the graphical boost it gives you. I suggest picking one display and sticking with it the entire game. -- The Donkey Kong Junior trick -- jump over barrels forever -- doesn't work here. The longer it takes you to get to Donkey Kong's platform, the faster everything gets. Eventually, the barrels get so fast that the next one will be on top of you before you even land. All in all, it's easier to do this one legitimately. -- If you get a miss, try and wait for a good opportunity to return to the game before you hit A to start your next chance; no sense getting a miss again right away. -- On the first level, wait in the first empty space until the coast is clear, then run to the next empty space. If the barrels on the level above are two quantums apart, stay in that safe spot and keep jumping barrels; you'll never make it to the upper level if they're that close together. Watch to see if any beams are coming, then scoot up to the upper level once the barrel above you moves off the edge of the platform. -- Second level's the real challenge here, especially on Game B, all because of those beams that are moving overhead. Remember that the beams don't move as fast as the barrels -- they only move on every other click. If there's a lot of them coming all at once, it might be best to retreat back to the second safe spot on the lower level and jump the barrels there until the coast is clear. Try and get to the second safe spot on the upper level while you're waiting to jump the barrels coming at you; if a beam is coming at the same time as a barrel, you'll lose less ground if you can just back up to the previous safe spot to dodge it than if you had to back up all the way to the lower level. Get all the way to the left, then jump onto the ladder when a beam isn't coming. -- The hardest part about the third level is just getting up there; while you're on that ladder, you've got the beams to watch out for on one side and the barrels on the other, plus you have the handicap that your attention is divided between the two screens here. Just wait for the barrel on the upper level to pass by, then get up to the first position on the upper screen; you'll be safe there for just a moment. At this point, Donkey Kong might try to pin you down by sitting on the left side of the screen and just throwing barrel after barrel at you, especially in Game B. Don't panic -- just wait until a barrel is directly overhead, then scoot up and to the right. Try to draw Donkey Kong over to the right side of the screen. When he starts throwing barrels over there, go back over to the switch. Ideally, you want to wait until DK takes a break from throwing barrels so that you can tap left to hit the switch, tap right twice, and hit A to nab the crane before it even starts moving. If Kong starts throwing some more barrels after you hit the switch, all you can do is dodge them and wait. The crane pauses just a second longer in the position where you can grab it, but be careful anyway. My high scores Easy: 3556 Hard: 870 Modern Difficulty: Moderate Overview Donkey Kong has kidnapped Peach, and Mario's off to the rescue. Hit the switch to activate the secret platform that will take you up to Donkey Kong's perch, and persue him through three different worlds. Scoring Jumping over a barrel: 1 point Stomping a Koopa: 5 points Reaching Donkey Kong: Varies Finishing a level: 15 points If you have any misses at 200, 500, or 700 points, a heart appears. Snag it to clear a miss. Tips -- There's a very cheap way to get a lot of points in this game, of course -- just stand on the lower platform, jump over the barrels, and stomp the koopas. -- Anything that Mario can grab and hang from is temporary; stay too long, and it vanishes for a short time. In general, don't stay in the air any longer than you have to. -- If Mario jumps into the pipe at the same time as a barrel, they'll miss each other. -- All of the levels are laid out pretty much the same; the only difference is how Mario reaches Kong when the switch is flipped. In the first and second level, the platforms move differently, but the idea is the same: wait for it to reach the right edge of the upper platform, then hit A to jump to it. Wait for it to move under the door, then jump up to reach it. The third level's a bit trickier. The first time you go up, hop three times as quick as you can from the upper platform to get up; both clouds shake at the same time. After that, you want to hop to the first cloud, wait for the second cloud to shake, then hop twice before the first cloud starts to shake. -- Don't count on Mario to make any sudden hops; it seems like it takes a little bit for him to "settle" in a new position before he can make a jump. So beware! -- Watch out for the paratroopas that sail past the upper level. On Easy, they go straight across, but on Hard, they hop up and down. Watch for the place it'll land, and jump over it or scoot under it when it's in the air. -- Even though you can jump over the barrels by leaping into an empty spot, it's generally better to stand under a rope when you need to dodge a lot of barrels. You never know when you'll need that extra hang time to dodge what's coming up, and you can just press down right away to drop down if you need to -- it's even possible to drop down before Mario even starts clinging to the vine. My high scores Easy: 1008 Hard: 1022 ======================= d. Octopus (1981) Game & Watch Gallery ======================= Classic Difficulty: Moderate Overview There's a sunken treasure being guarded by a giant octopus. Avoid the tentacles as you dive down to gather the riches and return them to your boat. In Game B, the tentacles don't always retract all the way. Don't let it throw off your timing! Scoring Grabbing a piece of treasure: 1 point Returning to your boat: 3 points Misses are cleared at 200 and 500 points Tips -- Use the shadows to your benefit; you can see where each tentacle is going to strike and plan your moves accordingly. -- Don't get greedy. The right side of the screen is a very dangerous place to be; when all the tentacles are extended at the same time, the only safe spots are on the left side of the screen. My strategy is to hang out on the left side of the screen, make a dash to the treasure when the three tentacles on the right are rising, grab a couple pieces of treasure, then return to the boat. Some people think that there's no point in returning to the boat since you only get three points, no matter how much treasure you collected. I say it's the easiest three points you'll get in this game, and it provides some valuable breathing time to boot. At the higher speeds, it's certainly safer to snag one piece of treasure and take it back to the boat than to sit there and try to get three more. Of course, if the tentacles have you trapped against the right edge of the screen, you might as well take all the treasure you can carry. -- When you're ready to get to the treasure chest, make sure the second tentacle from the right is on its way back up. This will make the second position from the right safe for as long as possible, so you'll have somewhere to retreat to if that last tentacle starts coming down to get you. When you see that second tentacle from the right starting to come down, make plans to get yourself out of there. My high scores Easy: 1002 Hard: 894 Modern Difficulty: Moderate Overview Mario must explore the deep to recover the sunken treasure. Watch out for the giant octopus guarding the riches; his tentacles and blasts of ink will stop you in your tracks! The more treasure you carry, the slower you'll go, but you can also throw it at the octopus to stun his tentacles. Scoring Getting a piece of treasure: 1 point Returning to the ship: 2 points for every piece of treasure you got If you have any misses at 200, 500, or 700 points, a heart appears. Snag it to clear a miss. Tips -- Learn where the tentacles can reach you. The top one only goes to the top of the rope, the next one only to the bottom of the rope and the ground next to the rope, the next one only to the two positions on the ground, and the last one only to the treasure. Once you see which position a tentacle is going to, you know its other position is safe. -- Unlike in most of the Modern games, Mario doesn't zip from one position to the next like Mr. Game & Watch, especially when he's loaded down with treasure. You can't change directions very quickly, so be sure to look before you move. -- Try to travel light. You don't get any bonus points for carrying a lot of gold; bringing in seven pieces of gold in one trip is the same as bringing in one piece of gold each trip for seven trips. At the higher scores, never grab more than three pieces of treasure at a time. In Hard mode, you should generally try for only two. My high scores Easy: 1000 Hard: 1000 ========================= e. Fire Attack (1982) Game & Watch Gallery 4 ========================= Classic Difficulty: Hard Overview Defend your fort! Flying torches and assailants come at you from four directions. Whack them all with your mallet to keep them at bay. Scoring Hitting a torch or enemy: 2 points Misses are cleared at 200 and 500 points. If you have no misses, a brief bonus period begins where you get 5 points for every hit. It ends if you get a miss during this time. Tips -- There's not really any real trick to Fire Attack -- it's just a really tough egg to crack. Play and practice, and try to anticipate where your next attack will come from. Try and hit all enemies in the order they arrive; you can't really get away with leaving an enemy alone, especially at the higher scores. -- The objects are updated in this order: left torch, right torch, left enemy, right enemy. If it looks like two enemies or two torches are coming at the same time, favor the one on the left. If an enemy and a torch are coming at the same time from opposite corners, favor the object coming from the right. -- Learn to use those shoulder buttons! My high scores Easy: 895 Hard: 771 Modern Difficulty: Moderate Overview Wario must defend his most prized possession -- a giant golden statue of himself. Whack the Bob-ombs and Bullet Bills that try to blow him sky-high, and keep an eye out for tomatoes and chickens, worth bonus points. Scoring Hitting a Bullet Bill or Bob-omb: 2 points Standing next to a chicken: 5 points Catching a tomato: 7 points If you have any misses at 200, 500, and 700 points, a heart will fly toward you. Catch it to clear a miss. Tips -- You can smack the enemies a split second before they arrive. And you should. -- The tomatoes are a big bonus, but it takes them slightly longer to reach your mouth. Don't neglect an approaching enemy just to catch one! -- If a Bob-omb and a Bullet Bill appear at the same time, it's generally better to go after the Bullet Bill first; it seems like they don't have as far to go. My high scores Easy: 1000 Hard: 1019 And that's as far as I got. :) Get practicing, rack up some stars, and start unlocking those museum games! In the next update, I'll have some strategies for the Nifty Nine, and anything I may have forgotten in the first eleven games. ============ SPECIAL NOTE ============ I was so excited about all the stuff I was unlocking the first time I played through this game, I didn't take notice of how many stars it took to unlock everything. First person to send me a list of all the star milestones gets credit for it -- provided, of course, that you assembled it yourself. ;) ------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Q & A Questions are welcomed -- send them to cpface@execpc.com, and make sure to include "Game & Watch" in the title of your e-mail. If it's not answered somewhere else in the guide, it'll be answered here. Q: How do you earn stars in the games? A: Stars are based on your high score, and they do not accumulate. So, if you get 800 points, you'll have 4 stars for that game. If you play again and get 200 points, you'll still only have 4 stars; you'll need to score 1000 to get all five stars. The only exception is in the two-player modes; you'll get an additional star for every game you play, no matter who wins. And, of course, Boxing awards stars for every 3 KOs you get (non-accumulative). ------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Special Thanks So very many thanks go to Voodoo Chile, who inspired my love of the Game & Watch series with his glowing reviews of the games way back on the dearly departed Game Boy Station. I never would have known what I was missing if it hadn't been for him. Thanks of course to Nintendo. Say what you will about their quick rehashes, but it takes a lot of guts to keep releasing the antiquated Game & Watch games, especially on a system with more power than the Super NES. And I couldn't be happier that they did. Thanks to Gamefaqs, without question. They make it look so easy to keep something this big and all-encompasing afloat. You've got to admire that. And thanks to everyone for reading my Zelda DX and Warioland II guides. If I hadn't gotten such a good response from them, this guide probably never would have happened.