Nintendo Quest

I suppose I'm of a similar age to the protagonist in this movie and his friends, and I've got to say that even after all these years, seeing those grey NES cartridges getting stacked, sorted, and lined up gives me tingles. I can't help it! I still have my own personal collection from childhood stored away (all seven games I collected between birthdays and Christmases).

The movie's a fun little romp, filled with neat tidbits about classic NES games and a cool look at some independent game stores across Canada and the US.

One omission that seemed strange to me was that the filmmakers largely left out any details regarding money, both in terms of Jay's overall budget and how much he ended up paying for the majority of the games. Ostensibly, this was to keep the story focused on "the pursuit," but without key details, I found myself beginning to lose interest since it was never quite clear what was at stake.

But it was all worth it for the segment with Todd Rogers. In particular, the scene where he points out to Jay all the games he cheated on... er I mean, has the high score on. Hilarious!

The documentary follows Jay Bartlett on his quest to purchase all 678 officially licensed NES games in 30 days with no help from the internet. Along the way, director Rob McCallum narrates on the history of Nintendo, interviews gaming legends, and explains the enjoyment of retro gaming today. Scenes transition seamlessly between Jay's story and Rob's narration. Much can be said about the quality of Nintendo Quest's editing.

It can easily hold its own against higher profile gaming documentaries such as King of Kong and Video Games The Movie

A level of connection is made with Jay as we go along on his journey through the ups, downs, and in-betweens. The challenges and triumphs faced throughout create an emotional experience for gamers and non- gamers alike

Nintendo Quest (2015)

*** (out of 4)

This documentary is a thirty day challenge where a man tries to collect all 678 official Nintendo releases.

That's pretty much all their is to this film. If you're looking for a hard-hitting documentary then you certainly won't find it here. I'd argue that there are some questionable filmmaking moments as well but I honestly didn't judge this thing too hard. I think the film was mildly entertaining just because it can strike up memories that you had in regards to these games and especially if you're old enough to where you could have collected them as a kid.

I had a good time with the journey of the main character as he traveled around trying to locate copies of each game. What I enjoyed most was just watching them travel around and in my own mind I was amazed at how many of these games I remembered. I had honestly forgotten about most of them but then there they were on the screen.

This was originally a Kickstarter project I believe and some are really crushing the film. I'm really not sure why. For what the movie was I thought it was entertaining.

I've been in the scene collecting for years. Since 1987 to be exact.

Thing is, I never went out of my way to brag about it. I found most of the collectors to be full of themselves. Showing off walls of games for attention. That's it. Attention. It's all about attention, and ego.

This movie is all about that as well. It's just another a-typical game collector from the scene using this as a way to show off.

I left the scene after enough of the gratification seeking people became the focus. Most discussions weren't about gaming. It was all latest finds, garage sale scores, cheap deals, and bragging rights. There was no substance to the scene at all.

This film is no different than the bloated egos over at those forums.

Look, I grew up in the 80s and I thought this would be a cool little flick that brings back a little nostalgia. Unfortunately, it's mostly 90 minutes of a rich soy boy whining and overall just giving the men a bad name. Grown men getting emotional over Nintendo games. Laughably pathetic. I think I could actually feel testosterone leaking out of my body while I watched this film. 3 stars simply because the NES was an awesome part of my childhood.