Nintendo Quest -DVD
Retro Gaming Review

Rating:

When I first heard about the NES Club documentary film I was immediately excited and backed it on Kickstarter. The project evolved into Nintendo Quest as a challenge to obtain all the officially released North American NES games in thirty days without using the Internet.

Many times I wondered if such a feat was even possible - that's close to 700 games. My excitement grew as the film's promotional campaign grew. It quickly established followings across multiple socialmedia platforms and podcasts - and these guys became the rock stars of game collecting.

In the opening scenes of the movie, we are taken to "The NES Club". As they began mapping out their travels based on renown retro gaming stores, a very human element to this story began to evolve. Clearly Rob and Jay are good friends. This isn't a glitzy tale of dudes buying game carts amidst high-fives. It was 2 guys with a deep connection to gaming, who are on a mission to attempt an awesome challenge.

For Jay, owning the entire NA NES library wasn't about a huge stack of game carts - well it was, but more importantly it was the story behind each game. Whether a game is legendary, scarce, or common, each one has a history of how it came to be on a retail shelf. Interesting parts of this history is combined with the footage of Jay tracking down all these games over the course of 30 days.

The journey is where this film comes alive. After seeing Jay collect titles during the first week, I tried to figure if success was possible. I swayed back and forth before realizing I had no clue what it takes to collect an entire game library in 30 days. As the film progressed, the characters and the journey far outweighed the success or failure in obtaining all the games. We began to see 2 friends traversing the country collecting games... and stories.

We watched them meet legendary collectors and luminaries from the world of gaming and collecting. The countless game stores they visited were a great deal of fun to see. Some of the deals were great while other stores were only interested in profits and this had an interestingly negative impact on Jay. He didn't want to deal with storeowners who didn't share his passion for the games themselves.

Nintendo Quest is a fascinating mix of gaming history, it's luminaries, and Jay's quest. While most films rest on their release, Nintendo Quest is much more than a documentary. You'll learn from it. You'll feel the pain. And you'll cheer them on. The DVD has some great bonus features as well.

Rob and Jay have carved out a niche for themselves that goes much deeper than simply creating a compelling film. Despite having moved on to (and completing) other film projects, Rob still promotes gaming and Nintendo Quest along with Jay. They are still active on social media, create gaming podcasts and appear in others, and give a lot back to the retro gaming community.

After the release of the film, Rob and Jay held screenings all over! We hear about Hollywood premieres, but most of us don't live in Hollywood and those screenings are reserved for a select few. Nintendo Quest is for everyone and they're doing their best to bring the film to as many locations as possible.

This film is as much about the fun and stress of collecting games as it is about the importance of chasing a dream. If you take only one thing from Nintendo Quest, let it be that your dream is worth chasing and you should start now! ...and you should play more Nintendo games!

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