Parents' Guide to Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros.

This small device is a great way of tugging gamer's nostalgic heartstrings, even if its limited availability and price are a bit of a hurdle for some fans to clear. Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. tips its retro hat to the 80s by packaging two classics (and a rarely seen game) with a vibrant LCD screen and a control scheme reminiscent of the classic NES controller. Virtually nothing needs to be said about Super Mario Bros. – it's one of the most classic action platformers of all time. The Lost Levels, on the other hand, demands your best skills as a gamer due to its incredibly difficult play. Its stages are full of split-second jumps, invisible blocks, and even poison mushrooms that shrink Mario or potentially kill him outright. This missing classic that only migrated to the West via eShop or older collections is an excellent addition to this package, and will keep testing players that think that they've fully mastered the plumber's play. That's especially true thanks to the differences in gameplay, with Mario being fast, but Luigi being able to jump higher than his brother.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Game & Watch without a true game from that series, and Ball, where players juggle two or three constantly accelerating balls across the screen, will test your reflexes. It's cute, but it's probably not going to keep your attention like the classic NES games will. Finally, it's nice to see that Nintendo invested in the Watch side with platformer inspired clock scenes, and even a hidden song that teaches you to draw Mario. It's great, it's kitschy, and it's a nice extra when you're not playing the game. There's not really a lot of issues with the Game & Watch. It would've been nice if it included Super Mario Bros. 3 or another title, or even some of the other classic Game & Watch LCD games. Similarly, paying $49.99 for these classics may be a bit much given its limited availability (only sold until March 31, 2021) and especially since the games are available on the eShop for a fraction of the price. But if you overlook these issues, Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. is a great way to get a sense of nostalgia in a small, pocket-sized package.