AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
realityinmind
They basically discredited themselves 1:20 into the TRAILER. Who do they want to watch this thing? I assume they want newbies to watch this thing. They could have made it at least a little bit interesting by discussing some history regarding some of the hard-to-find titles. And above all they should NOT have ever interviewed Billy Mitchell (King of Kong) and Todd Rogers (Dragster fiasco) --- what were they thinking??? Anyone who knows anything about video game world records knows that Billy Mitchell is a prolific cheater. And why in God's name is Todd Rogers in the last 15 seconds of the trailer talking about all the video game world records he cheated to obtain?? This is shameful. The makers of this documentary are clearly out of touch with anything NES past their own love of playing video games and collecting titles. The only people that will be interested in this documentary are video game newbies that haven't been watching YouTube for the past 10 years. Everything and anything you would want to watch and learn about in this documentary is available on YouTube without the pretentiousness and without having to stomach listening to the makers suck up to famous video game world record CHEATERS in the hopes of giving their documentary some form of legitimacy. They actually did more harm than good for themselves with this one.Seriously... Todd Rogers? This is ridiculous.
koryco
*CONTAINS SPOILERS*To be brief, this documentary really tries to crack itself up to be some great adventure but in reality it's just a spoiled brat with a lot of money going "around the country" having uncomfortable encounters, pressuring retailers into giving him deals, complaining when they won't, and finally (and completely inappropriately) talking about hating his dad and being happy he died... REALLY. In the middle of the movie, for no obviously good reason, he talks about how he hates his dad, and then explains how happy he was when he died. It made me feel really uncomfortable watching. like, way more uncomfortable than I was prepared for in a documentary about NES games.That aside, he starts the show by saying he is going to attempt to get every retail NES game release in person without the use of the internet within 30-days. Well, spoiler, he doesn't. He gets close, but after the last day was up he just went ahead and bought them on ebay. Talk about an anti-climactic ending. The fans would have probably appreciated the film more if he'd extended the time frame to just go out and find them somewhere. Further, and this may be nitpicking too much, but he does say he's not going to used the internet in "any way," yet the whole time he's price matching shops against ebay.This movie also takes itself way to seriously, coming off extremely pretentious. Game collecting should be fun. Games are designed for the sole purpose of having fun (although this has changed in the modern era). Not once did I ever think that Jay was having fun. He treated every deal like he was negotiating with terrorists, he griped about a lot of prices, the movie just gets depressing at parts. This makes them seem like they're trying to accomplish something super important. Sorry folks, you're not landing on the moon, you're buying video games. Game collectors can be passionate, myself included, but if you're not enjoying yourself then why waste your time? why waste our time for that matter?My last gripe with this movie is that he encourages a kind of behavior that gives local businesses trouble. He wants to match everything with online prices, and he feels entitled to discounts because he's buying in bulk. As a former small business employee, I can not begin to tell you how annoying people like him are. Just because they're not walmart or best buy does not at all mean that you're entitled to thousands of discounts, the retailers have sticker prices for a reason, and most of the time those sticker prices are well researched to give the customer the best value. Small businesses have to offer low prices to stay competitive. And you really can't expect every price to be better than ebay. Ebay sellers aren't paying for employees, rent, electricity, etc. It costs money to run a business! I digress. However, Jay exhibits this kind of behavior a lot during the film, and it rubs me the wrong way. Looking for a diamond in the rough? They do go to some really neat local shops and display some very impressive personal collections. Plus, for those of us who don't particularly care to collect NES games, the movie does a really good job relaying the current state of the NES collectors game. You'll know what games are sought after, you get some history behind the really hard to find ones, and you'll feel like getting your own full NES set is not entirely impossible. That much, I think they did well on. However, pile all the other pointless, boring, and pretentious baggage on top of it and I hardly think anything about the movie can be seen as redemptive.
peadars_world
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 MovieA 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
