Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
You could say a lot about this game before you ever pick up a controller. You could say
it’s another rehash. Another example of Nintendo milking the past instead of looking
to the future. You could say it’s just a collection of old games you’ve played a
hundred times before, even purchased a hundred times before. And you know something?
You’d be right. You’d be absolutely right.
But after that, if you did pick up the controller, you wouldn’t put it down. You’d be stuck
in the past, too. As glued to your television now as you were in 1986. These games…they
have this intangible magic that never fades, that never gets old…that never stops being
fun.
You could say a lot about NES Remix.
But more than anything else, it never stops being fun.
At first glance, playing NES Remix would seem like going through an old yearbook. It’s
just a flood of memories. So vivid, you can almost see your childhood passing by. In pixels.
But if you think that’s all this is? Just another nostalgia trip? Take another look.
This game is obviously a celebration of the past, but…it’s not just…like, a picture
of your old girlfriend.
It’s meeting up with her, and finding out she has a new haircut, she lost the glasses…and
she stopped doing that annoying thing, where you had to blow on her pin connectors.
So NES Remix is all about its characters. Most of them are, like, 30 years old. There’s
Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, the whole crew. But there’s also a character working behind
the scenes, so to speak. A slightly younger character…who, likes to fart. See, NES Remix
is basically just the NES version of WarioWare. Had that game come out in 1989?
This is what it would’ve looked like.
NES Remix takes the games that defined a generation…and deconstructs them. What you’re left with…are
microgames. Tiny pieces of gaming excellence, only rearranged and completely out of context.
It kind of makes no sense, but…it also makes perfect sense.
So there are 16 NES games sampled here. You get the obvious heavy hitters, as well as
a couple surprises. Urban Champion, I’m looking at you. And each of those games has
their own set of microgames. They start easy enough…the first Zelda game just has you
picking up your sword. But it’s not long before that changes. You’re never doing
anything that isn’t a simple action from that game…but NES Remix has you doing them
in crazy new ways.
Get to the goalpost in Mario…but with the level as a silhouette.
Jump over Donkey Kong’s barrels…when you can’t see them coming.
What’s so brilliant about NES Remix…is that it takes the most familiar moments in
gaming history, and makes them unfamiliar. That plays on your expectations in really
clever ways.
In total, there are more than 200 of these challenges…and it’s actually bigger than
it sounds, as some of the microgames actually have several parts. So they might jump from
Excitebike to Ice Climber and Clu Clu Land…within the same microgame, which is awesome. The
game totally has that frantic, fast-paced feel that defines the WarioWare games.
In fact, this is a better WarioWare game than Game and Wario. And again, half the fun comes
from the ridiculousness of it all. You get to save Mario from Donkey Kong…as Luigi.
You get to save Pauline…as Link. Who, by the way, still can’t jump.
So good luck with those barrels.
Now, on the negative side…no multiplayer. Which really seems like a missed opportunity.
The hectic gameplay, combined with the nostalgia and the clever design…it seems you could
really do some cool things with multiplayer here. Unfortunately, NES Remix doesn’t.
But on the plus side, it does support off-screen play, which is awesome. So is the music.
And there’s a lot of stuff, too.
Each level has three possible stars, so you’re always pushing yourself to get that perfect
score…and there’s a ton of collectible 8-bit stamps, which you can use in the Miiverse.
But you know, all the complaints you could make about this game…they really do go away
as soon as you pick up the controller. It’s kind of amazing, actually. How games this
old can still be this great. And it’s a testament to how strong their design is…that
you can break them down, and build them up into these crazy gaming Frankensteins…and
they’re still great.
Yeah, it sucks that Metroid and Kid Icarus aren’t here.
And sure, multiplayer would’ve been nice.
But they can fix that in NES Remix 2. And then follow that with Super NES Remix, and
then Nintendo 64 remix. And yeah, we’ll complain about rehashes. But then we’ll
blow up Bowser with a morph bomb. And our only complaint will be that there’s no NES
Remix 3.
I don’t mind revisiting the past. Not when the past has never been better.