Though it looks pretty easy at first, NES Remix is a fun challenge to take. Featuring a good selection of classic Nintendo Entertainment System games, you’re given bite sized mini games to complete. Sometimes a stage may consist of multiple parts to complete, but all of them are focused on finishing as fast as possible.
Each stage earns you a star ranking, up to three. If you’re really speedy, you earn a rainbow outline around your three stars as well. These stars accumulate to unlock other stages and eventually other games as well. You’ll also unlock remix stages which are usually harder challenges that feature different graphics or other quirks like snow in a Super Mario Bros. level, icing over the ground and blocks.
There is a lot to do here and at least two of the titles tell an almost complete abbreviated version of the full game. So it’s a fantastic way to quickly experience some boss battles whenever you like. Most of the controls are pretty easy to figure out, and there are some small tutorials for most games. The rare time new gamers who haven’t played these classics will be left out in the cold trying to figure out what to do, but of course it’s not impossible. Sometimes you do get a hint circle over the area you’re supposed to be focused on however.
You’re never told how much time nets you each set of stars or a rainbow outline. If you get three stars and want a rainbow border, you’re going to have to chip away at your record in that stage until you get there. The time you’re given differs between stages so at times you can feel like you were given a rainbow outline in one stage, and then like you did better in other stages you got fewer stars in. This isn’t all bad since at times you do need extra time in some stages to keep things fair.
Another twist on speeding through some stages is that it occasionally depends on luck. The games aren’t scaled down or remade. They play like their original versions usually. This can give a lot of random chance to some stages depending on what enemies do. Since luck is involved, sometimes you can fly through a stage, and others you can be left struggling.
You also earn Bits which count as a score that unlocks stamps to use on Miiverse in your comment images. I’m not sure if those extend beyond the game themselves, but much like recent Wii U Mario titles you can leave notes for other gamers to see if opt into viewing these messages. The best part about this is sometimes your fellow gamers will give you a hint on a stage you just completed in NES Remix. Other times they’re just fun messages they’ve left behind which are usually quite cool too. Like Nintendoland, certain games occasionally have a x2 multiplier for the Bits you receive by beating them.
There is a lot of content to keep you busy here for hours. I think I spent about five or six before I’d resigned myself to giving up on those last few stars I couldn’t collect. On HowLongToBeat.com http://www.howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=15409 NES Remix is listed as taking about ten and a half hours to complete.
Each game is a good warm up to get you into the spirit of the title and feeling pretty confident. Some like Excitebike teach you some good techniques to improve your gameplay. Where NES Remix gets fun is in the remix levels themselves. There are a good number of these as well in two categories. The game figures lots to unlock and gives it out in a progressive manner that keeps you playing. From what I’ve heard, getting 100% across the game doesn’t net you anything additional, but that’s probably since it will be rare for every gamer to make it that far. As it stands, I still need to work at my star collection to unlock the last five levels. Nevermind countless rainbow outlines.
If you’re feeling nostalgic, this is a really fun title. Newcomers may feel a bit lost at times, and some spoilers will definitely come around with the occasional title. Odds are though you’ve probably already played these games at one time or another. I felt some of the games could have done with a few more additional levels. I think out of all of them, Super Mario Bros. has the most. The stages are in general fun as long as you enjoy the game and it’s gameplay.
NES Remix offers a lot of gaming time for it’s asking price with tons of variety. If you want some new mini challenges to the classic games you love, it’s worth giving a go. Otherwise if you want to actually just play these games, you’d be better off buying them on the eShop separately instead.
