It should be pretty obvious looking around here that I like old video games (I also like new video games sometimes), so I decided to pick up a copy of Ultimate NES Remix the other day to get my old game fix. I had played the first two NES Remix games on the Wii U, so I kind of knew what to expect going in.
If you haven't heard, NES Remix is a game where Nintendo digs deep into their NES library and mixes up characters and games to provide some little bite-sized challenges. Like putting Samus in Super Mario Bros or they'll have regular games with some wacky effect like the screen is backward or you can't stop your forward momentum or something like that. What they don't really promote as much is that you also get to experience the high points of lots of other games in their back catalog, broken down into chunks of a few seconds to a few minutes.
It turns out that this scratches several itches for me all at the same time (and it makes me less drowsy than Benadryl, so that's a win-win). It lets me play the games that I played 'back in the day', it lets me essentially play just the hightlights, and I can pick it up and put it down in the space of a few minutes.
That last one is especially important to me these days. I don't want this to sound like whining or anything, but as I get older, I just don't have the time that I used to to sink into video games (that's a consequence of going from school where I had 30 hour 'work weeks' and a three month vacation over summer to having 40+ hour work weeks with a couple of weeks worth of vacation spread out all year). I have a new appreciation for games that allow me to pick them up when I get a minute and put them down when that minute has passed without me having to hunt around for a save point, or have to re-do two hours of dungeon when I inevitably fail.
The game also lets me experience games that I didn't really play much or at all when they were new (okay, so I'm old enough that I remember when the NES was considered 'new'). Games like Kid Icarus, which is actually kind of boring and tedious to play straight, but is much more fun when you can hit the highlights. There are also games like Ice Climber which I didn't really ever find fun then or now that I guess were added to check some boxes (and probably to renew a trademark) to slog through, but that's OK. Not all of the games can be winners.
The overall package, though, is pretty good. It hits the highlights and even has a few bonus features thrown in like a version of Super Mario Bros. where everything plays at super speed, which it turns out I'm really bad at. It looks like I need more practice.
I'll be right back...