NES Remix 2 is a strange game. It's made up of small chunks of older games (From the NES library, obviously), that challenge you to beat them. Do it fast enough, and you not only receive all three stars for the stage, but also gain the coveted Rainbow Stars. Aside from bragging rights, the Rainbows tend to generate quite a few bits, which are the game's currency for unlocking stamps that you can use in Mii-verse posts.
The fact that these are small chunks of gaming are Remix 2's biggest strength and weakness: If you're familiar with these titles, then doing what the game asks of you isn't going to be too much of a stretch. But if you come across one you're not familiar with (Who has really spent a lot of time playing Wario's Woods?), that's where the game may catch you...at least for awhile. The game has a certain level of frustration, but the fact that each stage is only a few short segments at most, it does have that 'one more try' quality to it. If you can just shave off a little bit more time...maybe leap here, or ignore that power-up...
But ultimately, the main draw for many are going to be the 'Remix' stages that the game is named after, which often present you with either a stage done in a unique way, such as beating stage 2 of SMB 3 with everything rendered in shadow, or taking assets from two games and combining them in a unique way. Such as Toad from SMB 2 being tasked to remove all the Kirby enemies from the screen by throwing blocks at them.
If there's any real complaints to be had, it's that because of how old some of these games are, or even just how they were designed, does make them a bit difficult to really do speed runs with. It's not often a problem, but with something like Kid Icarus or Adventures of Link, the slightly unresponsive controls can actually get in the way.
A unique feature of the game is the ability to see what other folks did when playing the game: If struggling to achieve the Rainbow status on stage, why not watch the video of someone who has? It's an excellent way to see new ways on how to approach some of these challenges, and gives you insight in how to better improve as a player in some of these older games. It feels like a great way to share knowledge, just like we had to back when these games were new.
As an added bonus, NES Remix 2 comes with a new spin on an old classic: Super Luigi Bros. The game follows Mario's younger, taller brother Luigi as he runs through a mirrored version of Super Mario Bros, going from the right to the left. He also retains his Lost Levels stats, so he jumps a bit higher and slides a bit more than you remember Mario doing. These small changes really bring a fresh twist on an old classic, and it's very challenging to try and remember the location of hidden power-ups and paths to warp pipes while playing the game backwards.
There's also a newly minted 'Championship Mode', but that requires you to have NES Remix as well to access.
I imagine for many, this will be little more than a quick trip down memory lane...and you'll ponder why you're playing this instead of these games themselves. Then you'll curse at Luigi for sliding just a bit too much and right to his death, and restart the challenge to try, try again.
Overall, if you like bite-size gameplay and decent challenge, I think NES Remix 2 might be right up your alley. The addictive 'one more time' quality to the challenges will keep you coming back for more, and might even help give some new appreciation on one of your favorites.
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That said, I've recently started playing NES Remix 1, which I was eagerly looking forward to since I had such a blast with NES Remix 2.
Going backwards was not the ideal way to approach this series. It's become painfully obvious to me that they learned a LOT about game tweaking from Remix 1 to Remix 2, as Remix 1 is almost tortuously fanatical with you being able to do what it wants perfectly. Getting Rainbows in Remix 1 has proven to be quite a pain in the butt, and while it still retains that 'one more time' quality, When I'm expected to beat 3 stages of Balloon Fight in under 8 seconds against CPUs that try to either kill me or get away from me, it's hair-pulling, controller-throwing frustrating.
The same complaint about NES Remix 2 applies here: Some of these games were just not meant to have lightning fast response times, and giving them a very small window of time for the Rainbows compounds the frustration. It adds an increase amount of pressure to perform perfectly, which some games are simply not up to the task. Donkey Kong, DK Jr, and Balloon Fight are all games that all fight against the player with their control schemes for beating the times.
Even worse, the Miiverse feature that I liked so much from Remix 2, where you can watch what others did to achieve the time they have, is not present. I wish this was something that they'd go back and patch in, but at this point I just doubt it's going to happen. Which is a real pity, because these times are TOUGH as nails to reach on some of them.
What's even more puzzling, however, is Remix 1's timer. I was really stuck on a Super Mario Bros challenge, and was starting the challenge with 120 on the timer, which counts down as you play. I'd reach the end of the stage with 86 left, which to me says that is about 34 seconds.
That's not what the game says, though. It would count that as closer to 24 or 25 seconds, which is entirely baffling. If these things aren't ticking away in seconds, then what are they counting? I have no idea, but it greatly surprised me when I realized I had to kill all 3 guys in the Balloon Fight stage in under 8 seconds, and thought I was over that by 2 or 3...to find out I was under quite a bit! it's disorienting, and in a heavily timed game like this, it's not really fair to the player.
And unlike Remix 2, there are no bonus games to be had; I suppose that's why Championship mode requires you to own Remix 1.
Between the two, I recommend NES Remix 2 over the first one. If you like that one, then pick up Remix 1 with the understanding that this game is just a harder game overall, and it's going to lack some of the polish that Remix 2 has. It's just not as enjoyable as Remix 2, in my opinion.
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9 years, 10 months ago
17 Feb 2015 06:51 CET
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