Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda

Released on November 12, 2021 by Nintendo, the Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda is at once a dedicated handheld console, a clock, and a love letter to longtime Nintendo fans

I absolutely love my Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros., so I was ecstatic to find out Nintendo was following it up with Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda. I love Super Mario Bros., but somehow, I love The Legend of Zelda even more. Thankfully, Link and company's Game & Watch not only measures up to its Mario predecessor, but surpasses it.

 

It's Zelda Time

These modern Game & Watches are multifunctional pieces. First of all, they're not exactly watches--they're actually clocks. With attractive brushed metal and plastics, both Game & Watches look great on a bedside table. The clock for this Legend of Zelda one features the time, set by you, overlaying Link running through the first Legend of Zelda game for NES, from start to finish, over the course of the day. If you pick the gadget up and hit some buttons, you effect events onscreen in some interesting ways. The Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda even has a leg up on the Mario one, in that it comes with its own stand--I had to lean the Mario one against a lamp.

 

Home sweet Hyrule

Not only is this beauty a timepiece, though, but a handheld video game system. The Mario one featured two classic Mario games, as well as a vintage Game & Watch game, but this one has THREE classic Zelda games, as well as a Vintage Game & Watch game. The three mainline Zelda games featured here are 1986's The Legend of Zelda (NES), 1988's Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and 1993's The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy), unaltered from the NES versions (meaning there's no save states and you have to beat them with some 80's/early 90's skill).

 

And you can play them all in your bathtub!

1986's The Legend of Zelda, which I reviewed here, is the classic blueprint for (almost) every Zelda game to come. On the Game & Watch's brightly backlit screen, I think this game looks better than ever before, and controls perfectly with the unit's solidly built, sturdy buttons. Zelda II, almost 35 years later, is still the oddball entry in the Zelda series. However, for all its flaws, The Adventure of Link is still an important and unique entry in the series. I finally played it all the way through for the first time on the Game & Watch, and reviewed it here. Zelda II also has an absolutely killer soundtrack, which comes through loud and clear on the handheld's speaker (volume adjustable). The third, and most recent game, Link's Awakening, also looks great here and plays just fine, though when I reviewed it, I found it hasn't quite aged as well as I thought it would.

 

Hey!!!...It's still really good! Don't burn the messenger.

But that's not all! You've get a cool "survival" style Zelda mini-game here, as well as a special version of the old Game & Watch classic, Vermin. So for $50, you're getting a small, but attractive piece of art, a timepiece, a way to play three classic Zelda games anywhere you go on a brightly lit, handheld screen, bonus games, and even some Easter eggs I'll let you discover for yourself. Also, you can switch between the available games anytime you want, then jump back in exactly where you were in the previous game at any time you choose. And the battery life (the unit charges quickly with a USB) is great. For any Zelda fan, or old-school Nintendo fan, Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda is simply a must have. Did I mention I finally beat Zelda II?

Wake up, Zelda, look at what I did!!!

SCORE:10.0/10.0