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Game & Watch Collection coming to DS...

...but only for Japanese Club Nintendo members at the moment

Game & Watch Collection coming to DS...
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DS
| Game & Watch Collection

Nintendo's current dominance of the handheld market should come as no surprise to long-term game fans. After all, the company has been making handheld game machines for a long time.

Back in the early 1980s, long before the DS, when even the GameBoy was little more than a twinkle in a designer's eye, it was serving up portable fun via its Game & Watch machines.

Doing just what they said on the box, these pocket-sized marvels were available in both single and twin screen variations that combined basic reaction-based games such as Donkey Kong with digital watch and alarm features.

Now several of the dual-screen variations are set to be resurrected on their closest modern equivalent, the DS, in the shape of the Game & Watch Collection.

Initially only available as a bonus item for Club Nintendo members in Japan (as if they weren't spoiled enough already), the Game & Watch collection consists of three games: Donkey Kong, Oil Panic and Green House, each playable in two difficulty modes.

All three games (which originally debuted back in 1982) offer twitch-based gameplay, be it avoiding barrels, spraying bugs or collecting oil drops in a bucket. The graphics are true to the originals, the packaging is similarly old school, and even the alarm clock feature has been included.

Which is all very well for a free bonus of course, but the real question is whether this old-school gameplay would stand up to a retail release. We have a sneaking suspicion that is exactly what's being lined up, albeit most likely with such a DS cartridge featuring rather more of the 59 Game & Watch titles that were released during the 1980s than just the three titles covered here.

Suffice to say we're Game if Nintendo is, And we'll certainly be Watching this space for developments.

Chris James
Chris James
A footy game fanatic and experienced editor of numerous computing and game titles, bossman Chris is up for anything – including running Steel Media (the madman).