is a 1983 LCD game developed and published by Nintendo under their Game & Watch series. It follows earlier Mario games, like the arcade and Game & Watch versions of Donkey Kong. The player controls Mario as he navigates elevators and funnels cement through a factory, while trying to prevent the cement from crushing his fellow workers. Two versions of the game were released — one being a tabletop unit and the other being a handheld game akin to most other Game & Watch titles. Development was headed by Nintendo R&D1, led by engineer Gunpei Yokoi. Sound effects were produced by Hirokazu Tanaka. A clock is also present on the system, much like other Game & Watch units. The game has been re-released several times, including as part of Game Boy Gallery for the Game Boy, Game & Watch Gallery 4 for the Game Boy Advance, and as a digital download for the Nintendo DSi. Critics have described it as one of the strangest games in the Mario franchise.
Gameplay
Mario's Cement Factory puts players in control of Mario, who works at a cement factory where he funnels cement into cement trucks. Mario must navigate two dangerous elevators and avoid falling or being crushed and losing a life. Mario must also continually empty cement into the trucks, or else the cement will overflow and crush one of the workers below, which also costs the player a life. In this game Mario cannot jump and there are no enemies. There are two game modes: A and B, with B being faster paced and more difficult.
Development
Mario's Cement Factory was developed by Nintendo R&D1, which at the time was led by Gunpei Yokoi, and published by Nintendo. Like all Game & Watch releases, each unit is a standalone portable device that doubles as a clock and can only play the one game. Hirokazu Tanaka composed the game sounds. Two versions of the game were released. One version is part of the more advanced Game & Watch Table Top series and debuted on April 28, 1983. It has a full color illuminated screen, and approximately 250,000 models were produced. A smaller handheld version was also released in 1983 as part of the New Wide Screen series. It has a monochrome screen with a color overlay, and approximately 750,000 units were produced. The game was released the same year that Nintendo's Famicom system debuted in Japan, and two years after the first Mario title.
Re-releases
The game has been re-released in various forms. It was included in the 1995 Game Boy Gallery and in the 1997 Game & Watch Gallery both for Game Boy, with the former featuring updated graphics. It was also re-released in the Nintendo Mini Classics line, which repackaged Game & Watch games in small Game Boy-like devices. Both the New Wide Screen and an updated version were included in the 2002 Game & Watch Gallery 4 for the Game Boy Advance. In 2009, the game was re-released for the Nintendo DSi's DSiWare download service The DSi version was released in Japan on August 18, 2009, in North America on March 22, 2010, and in Europe on March 26, 2010. The DSi version was also given as a reward on Nintendo's now-defunct Club Nintendo service.
Reception
Mario's Cement Factory has been called one of the best Game & Watch games, and praised for its relative complexity. One critic called it fun, another an "old favorite", and another praised its replay value. Staff for the magazine Video Games regarded it as a more difficult game than many games before it. It has also been called primitive by the standards of today, and one review of the DSiWare release complained that the controls were too "picky and precise". The game has been called one of the stranger entries in the Mario series.. One outlet called it "kind of gruesome" since factory workers can be killed by overflowing cement. Another said the game reflected Mario's working-class roots. Mario's role as a cement factory worker has been mentioned in multiple articles that cover the array of professions Mario has undertaken. The original units have become collector's items and, like many Game & Watch titles, a complete-in-box unit can sell for over US$100. The game was featured in a Gunpei Yokoi exhibit in Harajuku in 2010.
