PixlBit

After NES Remix, I badly wanted a sequel. My main concerns with the first Remix were that developers EAD Tokyo and indieszero focused on Nintendo’s 1983-1986 Famicom line-up, which has not aged well. This second Remix, like all good sequels, takes what made the first game so great and improves upon the flaws. They also threw in backwards Super Mario Bros. with Luigi physics and a Nintendo World Championship mini-game if you own the first NES Remix -- how can you say no to that?

As a quick refresher on NES Remix: you play challenges based around classic NES games against either a time limit or set amount of lives. Every NES game, minus the remix stages, is completely unaltered and plays just like they did on the original hardware. If you finish fast enough, you are awarded a star rank of up to three stars and given Bit Points to unlock Miiverse stamps.

With Nintendo’s 8-bit line-up starting from Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels (Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan) all the way to NES Open Tournament Golf, NES Remix 2 is as a whole bunch more fun to play through. The remixes are far more ambitious and crazy, mixing different NES gameplay styles where you think they would have no place, such as Toad from Super Mario Bros. picking up objects to throw at enemies in Kirby’s Adventure and Zelda II. The normal challenges are much the same as in the first game, but from the get-go you can play the original Super Mario Bros. – backwards – and control Luigi with his high jump and slippery feet. Combined with the thrill of playing through these classic stages to get a rainbow star rank, this particular game has excellent replay value, just like the original.

There are also a couple of new, welcome features in the ranking system for both the remix and regular levels. Little videos are saved onto Miiverse posts for you to watch in-game; helpful in showing what and what not to do in order to achieve a three-star rank. The most basic flaw of this entire experience, while overall more solid than the original, is the fact that the Championship mode isn’t unlocked right away unless you already have NES Remix on your Wii-U. While this mode contains leaderboards, which help the replay value, you only play through three games  in a short period of time: Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3 and Dr. Mario, which get a little tiresome since they never change. 

As with NES Remix, all the NES games are presented as-is, except in the cases of the remix levels which add some new background colors. The menus are clean and nicely presented, with a Famicom color motif and new music tracks that mix in basic midi-tunes with 8-bit sound effects. My only complaint is that Super Luigi Bros. doesn’t provide the Lost Level’s NES color palette, since it has a nicer look than the basic Super Mario Bros.’ look from 1985.

NES Remix 2 is such a joy to play, in comparison to the first one. The games offered are much more fun, the remix challenges are even crazier, and it comes with nice extra features for great replay value regardless of the little stumbles with the Championship Mode. I’ll still never like Wario’s Woods, though.