80's fun with a 2013 price tag
When I'd first heard scuttlebutt of Nintendo registering a trademark for NES Remix, I thought it would be a compilation of their old games with enhanced graphics, à la Super Mario All-Stars. What we got instead, was a plethora of custom challenges based on NES favorites. That's not a bad thing, though, because what we got is still a gratuitous love letter to NES' best.
NES Remix's announcement was a welcome surprise, as it was revealed in a Nintendo Direct, and available to download immediately afterward. This made for an obvious (and in my case, successful) attempt at making it an impulse buy.
The game offers tiny, WarioWare-esque bite-sized morsels of NES classics, often with a simple goal or a completely bizarre change in the structure or graphics. Actually, to continue the WarioWare comparison, they're like slightly longer versions of 9-Volt's games. This is also not a bad thing, because those were always my favorites.
As the player progresses, they unlock more games and challenges within the games. The ones I like the most are the ones where you get a chance to play as a character who you would not normally get to play as in that game, such as Luigi or Link in Donkey Kong. This gives the games a very distinct difference in feel, especially since the character usually comes with a change in gameplay, like Luigi's levels being mirrored, or Link's inability to jump.
Unfortunately, there are two complaints I have with NES Remix. The major one is that it costs way more than anyone would expect something like this to be. $5 would be a steal, and I suppose $10 would be the most fair and likely price, but $15? Mind you you're not getting any full games in this package, just modified chunks of ones. When some other companies release compilation discs of full games with a bunch of added content for the same price, it seems like a rip-off. As fun as it is, it's not $15 fun. Then again, we shouldn't expect much from a company who insists that the old games we can find on eBay for $1-3 are worth $5-10. I guess NES Remix's price is reflective of how overblown Nintendo's self-worth of their Virtual Console games.
The minor quibble I have, is that this feels like way more like something that would be tailored to the 3DS. A brand new current-generation home console doesn't seem like the sort of thing Nintendo would be branding this sort of thing for. I know the Wii U has been struggling, but this definitely isn't the sort of thing anyone would buy a Wii U specifically for, or make someone who already owns it feel like they've got something special. At least if not to make it a 3DS exclusive, release it on both platforms.
NES Remix is a lot of fun, but it doesn't justify the price in my book. Ultimately, if they'd released the combined content of this one with its sequel for this price, it would undoubtedly be worth it.