Readers who followed me here from Infendo (gee, I’m making you sound like stalkers) may remember my quest to experience great games from Nintendo’s bygone eras. I called the overall project Retro Redux and gave the first segment the name NES Quest. After a long hiatus, I’m bringing the feature back, exclusively to NintendoFever. I rather missed the fun and frustration of playing games like DuckTales, Bionic Commando, and Super Mario Bros. 3, so I’m really thrilled to dive into this again!
For those of you who don’t know anything about Retro Redux, here are some of the basics:
- The idea is to immerse myself in NES gaming as much as possible to recreate the 80’s gaming experience; I was born in 1991, so I largely missed out on the NES era! I’ll try to keep up on today’s games too, though. There’s no way I’m quitting on Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate now, after all!
- The games I play will be voted on by you! I usually have a vote out of 4 games. I pick the 4 randomly from a list of games that have been recommended by readers and fans.
- I came up with two “rules” I have to follow as closely as possible: 1) I have to replicate the original experience if it’s practical to do so. I have an NES system and will buy original carts whenever possible. 2) Since NES games are so hard, I’m not under any pressure to beat them, but I can use one or more lifelines per game, which include one use of the internet, one opportunity to ask readers, and one chance to ask a specific friend.
- For every NES game I play, I’ll post what I call a “report card”. Since I probably won’t be winning many games here, the report card is not meant to act as a review. Rather it’s my own assessment as to how well I played the game. The grade at the end of a report card reflects this.
Alright, that about sums it up! Now to the good stuff! To celebrate the return of Retro Redux, we’re having a $20 eShop card giveaway! I made this announcement during the recent NintendoFever Podcast Special. Now we’re finally revealing the full details on how to participate. Don’t worry, it won’t be very difficult at all!
All you have to do is listen to the upcoming episode of the podcast, episode 4, which will be available right at 3:01 a.m. Eastern time this Monday, March 16th. We’ll list the next 4 NES games up for vote at the end of the podcast. However, we’ll also mention a secret word or phrase somewhere in the middle of the podcast. To enter, send an e-mail to podcast@nintendofever.com with your name, your vote out of the 4 NES games, the secret word/phrase, and the e-mail address you’d prefer us to contact you with. Yes, we are trying to get you to listen to the entire podcast, but yes, we also think you’ll enjoy it! The eShop code will only work on North American systems, unfortunately. I’m always aware of my good friends in Europe, so I sincerely apologize for this! Blame Nintendo if you will.
Good luck to everyone and if you’re interested in the progress of the NES Quest, be sure to check back here often!