First Game Impressions EXP: Ultimate NES Remix (3DS)

This is going to be a short(ish) article, partly because I haven't finished the game, partly because I don't have a schnazzy way of capturing images from my 3DS, partly because it's not the type of game that I would have pegged myself for liking, but mainly because I think it is a really fun(strating) game;  sorry, that attempted pun didn't turn out.  But I picked up this game back in January with funds gifted to me from Beardsnbourbon after falling hard for Nintendo's offering of Wario Ware Touched! and realizing that I enjoy playing short bits of classic era NES games.

My first impression of Ultimate NES Remix, before I even played it, was that is was a Wario Ware type title where you played a bit of game with a specific goal, then quickly moved onto the next title to see how long of a streak you can do.  However, the game is a little different than that, and if you had read any of the Gamestop reviews, you will see that people thought that it was a 3DS version of what the now defunct NES Classic turned out to be.

What Ultimate NES Remix is, is playing a short excerpt from a stage from one of 16 NES games with a specific goal in mind (not necessarily beating a stage either), which can be completed in anywhere from 10 seconds to whenever the timer runs out.  Such as in Donkey Kong, your goal is to "Jump Over 10 Barrels," or in Super Mario Bros. 3, to "Defeat Boom Boom" from multiple stages in the game.  A lot of the stages are presented with progressive difficulty, which seem mind numbingly simple having grown up with a lot of these games, but then there are titles like Balloon Fight that I find myself constantly struggling with.

What struck me about the game, is that it seems to be geared towards people who would normally be drawn to speed-running, something that I personally do not find attractive.  I like to take my time with games, looking at scenery, understanding how the game works, not really trying to figure out how to beat a game as quickly as possible.  With Ultimate NES Remix, I have found myself restarting stages over and over because I missed grabbing a hold of a ladder, or did not land in the right spot, or any number of other things so that I ended up with a final time of 15.3 seconds instead of the 8th ranked player who had a time of 14.7 seconds.  That is another thing with this game, is that there are online leaderboards, some of which I have managed to put myself into the top 8 for the North American region (that's me at #2 on Stage 7 for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link*).  I do admit though that for some of the faster times, I watched how other players completed a level, but only after I completed it first myself.

So far, there have been only a few disappointments, but none of which make me regret buying this game.  The first and foremost considering the system, is that there is no 3D effect anywhere.  Perhaps this should not have been surprising since this game was a selectively combined port of the two Wii U NES Remix titles.  Then there was my preconceived notion that the stages were not randomly selected like a Wario Ware title.  I was also sad that there was no "infinite challenge" option to see how long you could play before you lost all your lives.  I think that's really it as far as complaints go.

So after playing 11 hours and still having a lot of stages left to both unlock and play, I am really loving what the game has to offer and the mash up levels, such as beating the first level in Donkey Kong with Link from The Legend of Zelda (who cannot jump, or reach the hammers) is the kind of fun that I did not think that I would initially enjoy.  I guess as long as you go into the game knowing that you aren't getting full games and like NES games, there is a good chance that you will find some fun in Ultimate NES Remix.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

You Will Have No Time For Grieving

* Proof, because it did happen.

P.S. Thanks to Nintendo World Report for "letting" me steal the logo they have up for UNR.