Just the other day, I was perusing the electronics section at a Target and saw that The Legend of Zelda Game & Watch was still on sale there. This was one of those items that Nintendo did a limited release for, so I surprised that any store still had them in stock. Maybe there were more copies of these made than any of us had thought.

Anyway, it got me thinking: Is the Zelda Game & Watch actually worth picking up for your average Zelda fan?

Like they did for Super Mario Bros. a year previous, Nintendo released a special limited-edition Game & Watch for The Legend of Zelda’s 35th anniversary. And unlike the Mario version, the Zelda handheld contains all three 8-bit adventures from the series.

Assuming you like the original Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, or the universally beloved Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, this device probably sounds at least mildly appealing. Hey, they’ve even included a Zelda-fied version of the Whac-A-Mole-like Vermin—now starring Link—so that’s…uh…another game, I guess.

As a quick aside, I need to rant about something for a moment. As part of the promotion for Zelda’s 35th anniversary, the Nintendo Power Podcast did an episode focused on the Zelda series, which is all fine and good. The discussion of course involved mentioning the titles of several Zelda games, and mentioning them many times. Well apparently the Brand Management team at Nintendo rules with an iron fist, because these poor people had to dutifully recite the complete, unabridged title of each Zelda game. Every. Single. Time.

What that means is that they couldn’t casually refer to Ocarina of Time or Windwaker or Breath of the Wild, no. Instead it always had to be The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and so on. (I’m genuinely surprised no one accidentally pronounced the ™ at the end.) Not only did this sound stilted and incredibly awkward, but it repeatedly highlighted what ridiculous titles these games have. They repeated “The Legend of Zelda…“ so many times that it started to feel like a disguised cry for help; like we were listening to a hostage video or something. Dear Nintendo: Please stop forcing people to talk like this. It’s creepy.

OK, back to Game & Watch. Is it worth buying? Well, that really depends on is you’re looking for something to play or something to display.

It’s a pretty nice-looking device, with a cool gold and green color scheme. The screen is big and colorful, while keeping the device slim enough to fit comfortable in a pocket. (Although let’s be real, you’ll probably never carry this thing around in your pocket.) It looks quite nice displayed on a desk or shelf, and even have a clock function so that it could certainly serve as a digital clock if you wanted it to. As a commemorative piece for a nerd’s office, it’s certainly not worst decoration you could choose.

As a device to play, on the hand, I’m not sure it’s a great option for everyone. The D-pad is seated pretty close the bottom left corner, with the A and B buttons pretty far to the bottom right. That’s not necessarily a problem, but I wonder if they’d be comfortable to use for longer periods of time. Because it goes without saying that the original Legend of Zelda, Adventure of Link, and Link’s Awakening are absolutely worth playing.

But is this the ideal way to play them? Well no, almost definitely not.

All three games could be played on the Game Boy Advance, and you’d get a truly excellent gameplay experience using a GBA SP. Both NES Zeldas are available on Nintendo Switch (through an NSO subscription), and while Link’s Awakening isn’t (yet), that game did have a full remake on Switch a couple years back.

Honestly, this device lets you play three Zelda games—plus freaking Vermin—and you know, that’s pretty damn limited. Especially when consider that a retro gaming handheld could allow you to play literally hundreds of games. It’s hard to argue with the convenience of a PocketGo or Bittboy, or one of the many options from Anbernic. Though perhaps some folks will shy away from these devices out of some odd notion that emulation is illegal and/or morally wrong.

Gameplay-wise, the Zelda Game & Watch does have a trick up its sleeve, and perhaps it’s good enough could win people over. Each game on the handheld includes a secret mode, which can enabled by entering a secret code. It goes like this…

Start a new game, select a play file, then press and hold the A button for five seconds. Even if you start a game without using this secret, you can always enable it later by pressing and holding the A button for five seconds on the Game Over screen before restarting.

For the original Legend of Zelda and Link’s Awakening, this secret command gives you full hearts. For Zelda II, however, it gives you full everything: maximum Life, Attack, and Magic. (You can even use the code with Vermin to unlock GAME C, a.k.a. “Extra Hard” mode.) Now you’re playing with power!

Given that the original Zelda—and especially Zelda II—known for being quite difficult, a built-in cheat code could actually make for a compelling reason to tackle the games on this handheld. I’ve never made it very far in Zelda II myself, so perhaps this will be my opportunity to experience the adventure (of Link) with kid gloves on the whole time.