Nintendo Quest Review.

Nintendo Quest was a Kickstarter funded documentary and in contrast to most films based on gaming, this is about the thrill of collecting. There is no footage of Nintendo’s history, no gameplay videos, no interviews with people connected to Nintendo, this is about two gaming enthusiasts, collector Jay Bartlett and Director Robert McCallum as they hit the roads around North America in hopes of buying all 678 of the official North American NES released games in 30 days and NO online purchases.

Starting out in Jay’s hometown of London, Ontario, Canada, Jay manages to bag a few common titles at per-arranged visits to some friends’ houses to get him off the mark, I’m not sure if this is fair but let’s be honest here, as collectors I bet we’ve all inherited games from friends and family in the past so I’ll let that one slide. As they travel from city to city the game fund counter slowly decreases, but what strikes me is the lack of a real indication to the amount of money each game is costing. This was possibly the most frustrating part of the film and would have given it that extra edge I feel it needed to draw the viewer in. Eventually they jump across the border to the United States and one particular store they visited was Video Game X-Change in Dubois, PA, the guy here seemed super cool with his pricing and that’s what made me continue to watch the movie, just seeing how some of the retro scene around the world treats fellow collectors is a rare treat.

Jay selects his Top 20 Rare NES Games early on but as the film continues and as he picks up those elusive finds they get checked off the list, from my limited NES knowledge some of these are not as rare as they suggest but it’s still a great Top 20.  Throughout the film there are some small clips that focus on how Nintendo became so popular in North America. Rather that spoil your viewing pleasure I won’t tell you the outcome of Jay’s challenge, its entertaining viewing that I recommend.

Nintendo Quest via Robert McCallum

For those in the UK or access to GINX TV this is currently being shown free of charge.