Game & Watch: Helmet

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1

.

Review:

The Game and Watch was a line of single-game handheld game devices that Nintendo started selling in 1980, five years before the Nintendo Entertainment System and 9 years before the Game Boy. They were advanced for the time, though of course by today’s standards they will seem extraordinarily primitive, with each game consisting of only a few images, with the game implying movement by making these images appear and disappear.

Over the years, these games have repeatedly been simulated (they can’t exactly be “ported” as their original display method was different than those of more modern videogames) in various forms. In 2010, a series of 9 such simulated Game & Watch games were released separately on Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service, and those games were grandfathered into the Nintendo 3DS.

Helmet, first released in 1981, is the seventh Game & Watch game ever released, the second game in the “Gold” line of those handheld devices. Its gameplay is extremely simple – you play a stick figure (since retroactively referred to as Mr. Game & Watch) moving back and forth across the screen as various objects fall, and you must dodge them and get your character from the door on the left to the door on the right, but only when it is open Like many games in the series, this game has “Game A” and “Game B” options, but that only seems to function as a difficulty selector, with “Game B” being more difficult. Overall, Helmet is a simple and shallow game, but its simple gameplay is still compelling.

In addition to the Game A and Game B options, players can opt to read instructions (modern typed instructions, nothing the original had), look at a “time” function (just looking at the device’s screen in its non-gameplay state), and…that’s about it.

The game itself uses simple monochrome visuals like the original game had (with static color overlays), with a border made to look vaguely like the original Game & Watch system. Its sounds are just clicks and beeps that were in the original game. Only the synthesized music in the main menu provides any significant new presentation element here.

Before wrapping this up, I should note that a version of this game was included in Game & Watch Gallery 2 for the Game Boy Color, which is also available on the Nintendo 3DS via Virtual Console.

For a mere $2, Game & Watch: Helmet is a solid “port” of one of Nintendo’s earliest handheld games. It’s fairly simple and shallow by today’s standards, and the presentation won’t excite anyone except those who had nostalgia for the original game. However, Helmet’s charm, its simple compelling gameplay, and its historical significance still make it worth a look. After all, it is only $2.

tl;dr – Game & Watch: Helmet is a recreation of one of Nintendo’s first handheld videogames (predating the Game Boy by eight years), and it’s faithful to the original, which means an archaic presentation and simple, shallow gameplay. Still, it’s surprisingly compelling despite its simplicity, and it’s a solid recreation that gives it some amount of nostalgia value. It’s not a great game by today’s standards, but it’s still probably worth the $2.

Grade: C-

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Andy Miller, Exlene, Johannes, u/RamboFox, Ilya Zverev, Connor Armstrong, Eli Goodman, K.H. Kristoffer Wulff, and Stov. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}