Game & Watch The Legend of Zelda test: a collector’s ruby!
After the Mario franchise, it’s Zelda that Nintendo is coming out of the cupboards at the end of the year just to spit out some rubies in 35-50 year-olds who want to regain a bit of their youth. Recall that originally, the collection Game & Watch is a series of LCD screen electronic games released in the early 80’s. The designer had this very lucrative idea after seeing a salaryman playing with your calculator in the metro. Nintendo, which knows its business well, had the idea to bring out this vintage design by changing the liquid crystal matrix and the decorations drawn by a color LCD screen. In the first, we had the right to Mario bros and his Lost Levels while for the second, it is Link who sticks to it… At the level of the device, nothing or almost nothing has changed: the tiny speaker, the USB-C port to recharge the beast, the identical size to the Game & Watch of yesteryear and the 2.36-inch (6 cm) screen. Nintendo has nevertheless added two Start and Select buttons, essential for browsing game inventories and a nice illuminated Triforce on the back.
To read also: Test of the Game & Watch Super Mario Bros. : a monument in your pocket
Like the previous one, this Game & Watch offers some “Cheat codes” and other little secrets to discover as the possibility of having all the hearts from the beginning of the adventure or to access the second quest of the first Zelda without having completed the game. It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.
What nuggets does this Game & Watch contain?
► The Legend of Zelda
This is the game that laid the foundations for action-RPG. Released in Japan in 1986 on the Famicom Disk System (a floppy disk drive for the Japanese NES) then the following year in the West on cartridge media, The Legend of Zelda is a mainstay of video games. So certainly, the title has aged: the plot is reduced to a minimum, the colors on the screen can be counted on the fingers of one hand and the player is not really taken by the hand, but it’s “Zelda 1 ”and you just have to have played if you define yourself as a lover of video games.
► Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
He’s kind of the ugly duckling in the show. Released in 1987, The Adventure of Link alternates exploration phases in top view and action phases in side view, much like a platform game. Miyamoto himself finds him to be the weakest Zelda or a ” small pebble in his shoe By his own admission. However, it is a game which adds more “adult” elements to the series with a notion of experience points, numerous NPCs, but above all a very high difficulty. If you haven’t seen the original, you’ll have a little more trouble “getting into it”.
► The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
We were entitled to expect “Zelda 3”, the A Link to the Past of the Super Nintendo, but no. Nintendo has decided to release the fourth installment in the series and also the first Zelda to be released on a portable console: the Link’s Awakening, which is also the first Zelda… without Zelda. In this opus, Link wakes up on the island of Cocolint after a shipwreck and there is no trace of the princess in the whole story. Remember also that the game was released in 1993 on the very first Game Boy: there are no colors and the game only displays eight levels of gray. It is a magical title that has made the most of limited hardware. The graphics are fine and the music of excellent quality, the story is poetic and the difficulty increases. Without doubt one of the best 2D Zelda in the series. It’s just a little disappointing that the DX version, released on Game Boy Color with color and one more dungeon, was not added with a code.
► The Game & Watch game “Vermin” from 1980
The Mario Bros version had the right to the first title of the Game & Watch series: Ball, released in 1980 and a little redesigned with the head of Mario instead of that of the main character. Here it is the figure of Link which is affixed on the hero of Vermin, a very basic game where you have to hit octopus (?) with a hammer. Like with Ball, players under forty may try once before forgetting it forever …
► A digital clock and an “interactive timer”
As for the previous Game & Watch, this Zelda version includes a watch. We will be entitled to small animations, but it’s a safe bet that you will never use it to check the time. The Super Mario version, however, had an issue that has been fixed: it is now possible to display the time without having to leave the device plugged in. On the other hand, the small metal tab that made it possible to make the device stand “upright” is still missing from this Game & Watch version of the 21st century. Instead, the cardboard box is “transformable” to fit the object on a shelf or desk. There is better. As for the “interactive timer”, it is a kind of arcade game to wait for the time to cook an egg (we do not see any other explanation).
Our verdict
The first Game & Watch of this series offered two legendary games with an enormous lifespan and this second is no exception to the rule. Of course, Zelda II is behind the other two in terms of gameplay, but if you want to complete these three titles, you will have to arm yourself with patience. This is an opportunity to rediscover legendary games and to introduce them to new generations. We can blame the absence of A Link to the Past, but that would be quibbling… Be careful, the game is breaking down almost everywhere at the moment. We pre-ordered it for € 49.99, but smart kids take the opportunity to sell theirs at crazy prices. Be patient !
