Green House (1982, Game & Watch)

Format: Game & Watch
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: December 16, 1982
Playtime: 6 minutes (played on easy (game A) for a few rounds until I ran out of lives)

Green House is (questionably) a spin-off of Donkey Kong 3. In it you play as an exterminator, simply known as the "Fumigator" in the manual, who must go into a greenhouse and stop a bug infestation. How is this connected to Donkey Kong? Well, in Donkey Kong 3 you play as an exterminator in a greenhouse who must stop bugs and Donkey Kong from getting to your plants. The gameplay and idea is similar. In Donkey Kong 3 the exterminator's name is Stanley. Then in a 1983 commercial for Green House the exterminator's name is also given as Stanley. So even though an official connection has not been made by Nintendo, I feel like the connections are too strong to ignore (hence the Donkey Kong tag).

Anyway, this Game & Watch title is one of the two screen ones (so it looks like a Nintendo DS). There are four plants you must protect, two on the top screen and two on the bottom. Spiders slowly approach the bottom ones while worms attack the top. You have to climb up and down a ladder while killing the worms with your spray. Spraying the spiders only pushes them back as they cannot be defeated. You have unlimited spray so that isn't an issue.

Green House is a very difficult game. This seems to be a trend at this point with these Game & Watch games in case you haven't noticed. The bugs approach the plants at lightning speed so you have to be moving up and down incredibly fast. Even if you lost one of your plants you simply lose a life and then the game resets the plants so you always have to protect all four of them. I will say that this game is one of the more entertaining titles for the Game & Watch that I have played. The action kept me on my toes and I enjoyed going for higher and higher scores. I only wish that it was a tiny bit slower.

I would say that this is one of the better Game & Watch titles. I wouldn't necessarily recommend going out of your way to track down an original due to the cost but if you have Game & Watch Collection 3 for the Game Boy Color (which includes both the original game and a remake) or the rare Game & Watch Collection for the Nintendo DS then it can be a fun time and is worth a look.