Game & Watch Gallery 3 features five games based upon the Game & Watch brand of handheld games. Each game contains a 'Classic' mode, resembling the gameplay and presentation of the original Game & Watch title, and a 'Modern' mode, which contains revised graphics and additional features. When players accrue a certain number of points in each game, they earn 'stars' which can be used to unlock additional features, entries in an in-game gallery displaying animations of other Game & Watch titles, and six additional games; up to five stars can be earned in each mode and difficulty of each game, for a total of 150 stars. The initial games include:
Donkey Kong Jr. : Players rescue Donkey Kong from Mario by jumping on vines and collecting keys whilst avoiding enemies.
Egg: Players collect eggs from chutes inside a chicken house, in the order that they fall. In the 'Modern' version, points are earned picking up different kinds of food, with more points when they are baked at the right time.
Green House : Insects are trying to destroy plants on two levels of a greenhouse, and the player uses bug spray to take out the bugs before they eat the flora. In the 'Modern' version, Yoshi defends the garden from other enemies, and has additional powerups.
Mario Bros. : Mario and Luigi must move a series of packages along a conveyor belt and load cakes onto a truck without dropping them. In the 'Modern' version, an alarm rings that changes the direction of the conveyor belt.
Turtle Bridge : Players deliver packages across a chasm using a bridge of turtles. In the 'Classic' mode, the turtles used as a bridge dive under water when fish approach. In the 'Modern' mode, players also collect as many coins as they can, and can stand on floating clouds to access more coins.
By earning enough stars, players can unlock Donkey Kong II , Flagman, Judge, Lion , Spitball Sparky , and a unique version of Fire that features gameplay mirrored from its traditional format. These games are only playable in Classic mode and do not feature a Modern counterpart.