NES Remix Review

NES Remix is something greater than the sum of the 16 classic Nintendo games that provide its source material. With 204 carefully constructed challenges based on the likes of Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Excitebike, and others, NES Remix is a frenzied, chaotic, and fun retro experience that's more enjoyable than simply replaying the straightforward ROMs of most these games on the Virtual Console.

In NES Remix's Achievement-like challenges, Remix deconstructs old Nintendo games -- some you probably know by heart -- and asks you to dominate small moments in them: challenges like searching for a secret entrance in The Legend of Zelda on a timer, Defeating Bowser with only fireballs in Super Mario Bros., or hitting a hole-in-one in Golf. In their original context, these actions make sense, and might even seem mundane, but in its frantic WarioWare-like "microgame" presentation, NES Remix offers a clever way to revisit old games. There's something about adding strict constraints that can make moments in a familiar game (or a crummy game) more fun.

NES Remix presents its challenges in a way that encourages you to improve, with instant restarts, ample continues and on-screen guides. You can trust NES Remix to present a surmountable task, even if it doesn't seem that way at first. How can you possibly make it through a tough, flying-fish-filled level of Super Mario Bros. when you can't stop running? Learn the level, time your jumps, and when you hit that goal post, you'll feel like a superhuman speed-runner. Plus, each is outfitted with an Angry Birds-inspired three-star rating to push you to improve your score.

The best of these challenges are "remixes" based on lovingly hacked versions of 1980s Nintendo games, which is why you'll see Luigi running through a mirrored version of Super Mario

Bros. World 1-2. Classic games are modified in absurd ways: Slick ice and blizzard conditions are added to Super Mario Bros.; Link replaces Jumpman in Donkey Kong (hilariously, as he’s is unable to jump); and the screen zooms in as you play Balloon Fight, your pixelated balloon dude filling the screen and eclipsing obstacles. When Nintendo's various franchises are thrown together for no reason it can feel like exploitative fan service, but the developers of NES Remix (the same team behind Retro Game Challenge) studied the source games, broke them down, and aptly built them back up to present clever puzzles and gameplay that feel both new and familiar at once.

The DJ spinning this Remix occasionally stops the party with a cringe-inducing needle-scratch. Even NES Remix's crack team of ROM hackers can't make Ice Climbers, Tennis or Clu Clu Land control sensibly. Or make Pinball fun. Though I trust NES Remix to present challenges I can eventually overcome, not all of them felt worth doing – but hey, if you’re a hardcore NES Pinball fan, you’ll have something to do after you complete the approximately 190 much more fun challenges.

In a startling oversight for a competitive game like this, NES Remix features no multiplayer – at all. Even in remixes of games that originally had it. And while passing the GamePad back and forth kept several IGN editors from doing any actual work this week, a competitive mode, or at least an online leader board would have been a natural fit for Remix. That said, the ability to share tips, drawings, and comments on each level, like the bulletins you might have seen in Super Mario 3D World, is included – and augmented by a selection of really great, unlockable stamps inspired by 8-bit sprites.