Nintendo Quest (2015) User Reviews

Strangely depressing

[corner_cut · 5/10 · 26 October 2015]

Nintendo quest is not an all encompassing documentary about Nintendo, the NES, or gaming in general. The description is misleading. There have been many gaming docs, but none specifically about the history of the company Nintendo, so needless to say I was really excited.

Even after I realized that it was rather about a guy building an NES collection from scratch with a few fun facts thrown in here and there, I still kept on watching it, because I do have some old games and still buy them often at flea markets and such, so it was still right up my alley.

This movie is based on an interesting idea that somehow along the way became devoid of fun. So much that in the end I kinda felt sorry for the guy.

I have tremendous respect for his dedication and drive to succeed, however collecting should be fun, and as it is mentioned in the movie, collecting takes a long time if you're doing it right and don't have access to tens of thousands of dollars. You WILL get it done, it'll just take a few years.

The ridiculous project of building a complete NES collection from scratch in 30 days without using the internet is the driving force of Nintendo Quest. That's 678 games in total.

What started out as a dare ended up being a 90 minutes romp across north America, hunting down NES games, following a taciturn collector blowing money in retail stores and on games sold by a few private collectors. It's more or less an hour and a half episode of game chasers with more pressure, less smiles, and more actual drama.

While video games revolve around having a good time, I felt strangely sad watching Jay progressively sink into the depths of everything I hate about video game collecting as a cultural phenomenon : Display queens, overblown prices, and the underlying obsession about the rarity and value of extremely bad games.

The most disturbing thing about Nintendo Quest is that Jay doesn't seem to be particularly enjoying himself throughout his seemingly excruciating adventure. He stumbles from store to store trying to deal with the pressure of failure and trying to work a way around the cost of absolute stinkers like Stadium events and others.

It's not all bad, as the high point of the movie for me was still how Jay repeatedly says that the games he get should have a story attached to them, which is my opinion as well, it's just that those stories shouldn't come from a place of extreme pressure.

There are quite a few superb private collections displayed throughout the quest. Another high point for the movie.

If I was looking to start collecting retro games after all the hype, Nintendo Quest would've been sure to sober me up real fast about the real essence of the chase : Fun.

Still, R.I.P. Spencer, and Jay man, I hope this ridiculous ordeal didn't completely burn you out on gaming, because it sure looked like you had enough of it at the end and was ready to snap.

Wish you well.

Man Child Nostalgia

[sibleybridges · 5/10 · 26 May 2020]

I rated Nintendo Quest (2015) 5/10. A whiny man child (and someone who I'm sure I would find interminably annoying to be with any amount of time, let alone a massive road trip) buys video games for nostalgic reasons. This really didn't need to be a feature doc and I'm sure would have been fine as a YouTube show. Feels too much like a student film to be good.

The other collectors are enjoyable, just not the one we are supposed to be cheering on...

[darkschuey · 5/10 · 13 April 2022]

Seems like the whole thing was a kickstarter to get a mate of theirs a bunch of games cheaper than what they usually run for. The camera is there to simply shame people into giving them what they want. I don't know if there is a term for this? Docogrifting?

I did enjoy them meeting the other collectors and stores. In fact, I wish that is all the doco was about.

A bit disappointed when they started slamming the owners of stores. Jay ends up as a guy you just aren't hoping to succeed.

There is some fun information in here, but the concept ends up getting in the way strangely.

Entertaining Documentary

[Michael_Elliott · 21 May 2016]

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.

Road Movie meets Game-boy

[peadars_world · 7/10 · 15 October 2015]

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

Fun and engaging

[ortegaat · 7/10 · 3 December 2018]

I had no idea as to which ones are rare and how much they could be so that was fun to see... I just wish the budget and negotiations were more upfront... So now if I see "Stadium Events" at a reasonable price I'll buy it and resell it! Lol

An almost entirely irritating viewing experience

[Falion · 3/10 · 5 January 2017]

I wanted to like Nintendo Quest - the Kickstarter documentary about a man traveling through North America in order to collect every NES game - I really did. Unfortunately, it is crippled by an inherently unlikable subject/lead (Jay) and seemingly arbitrary rules and decisions that make the majority of the film an utterly confusing and aggravating experience.

Jay is a man of indiscernible character who, with the help of his friend Rob (the writer/editor/director of the documentary), decides to pay tribute to his lifelong passion of 8-bit gaming by setting out on a road trip and collecting the entire NES library from scratch. The two friends decide that Jay will have 30 days and a set budget to meet this goal, and he will be unable to use Internet sites such as eBay to purchase any game. Overall, the idea is promising, although if this is truly a passion project, then it seems silly to discount the games that Jay already owns in his personal collection, which is only briefly mentioned at the beginning of the film.

Early on, Nintendo Quest's sizable cracks begin to form. Jay coerces kind and enthusiastic independent game store owners into selling rare games for far lower prices than they were originally asking for, with an obnoxious "it's for the cause" plea. I think it's important to get across the idea of haggling with store owners to get a bargain, but it's obvious that many of the sellers shown in Nintendo Quest don't want to look bad within the documentary, and are therefore willing to part with more expensive games at a far lower than average price.

Such "haggling" situations are often capped with Jay mumbling about feeling bad for taking advantage of the owners' kindness - which he should. On the flip side, Jay rants and raves about the rigidity of store employees and owners who refuge to budge on the price of a game, "punishing" them by not buying other, more reasonably-priced games within the same store. Jay shows zero empathy for people trying to make a living by selling the games he claims to be so passionate about, as well as for private collectors who are willing to go out on a limb to help him out. So much for being relatable!

Jay's character, or lack thereof, really is the biggest problem with Nintendo Quest. At one point, we are forced to watch as Jay, adorned in one of his many Halloween costume-like "nostalgia" outfits, negotiates over the phone with a private seller over the price of an incredibly rare NES game while standing between two human-sized Star Wars figures in his home. It's infuriating to watch this spoiled man-child deal with people who are bending over backward to help him, whining about how he needs each purchase to be a memorable story. There is some validity to Jay's point, but the film does a poor job of showing any joy associated with 99% of the purchases shown, which calls into question the entire purpose of the documentary.

Ultimately, Jay does not even meet his goal, and ends up buying the remaining games on eBay months later. Not that this matters much since the rules of "Nintendo Quest" were so arbitrary to begin with, and there is absolutely nothing at stake. How are viewers supposed to relate to this guy? It would have been nice to know what his NES collection was like prior to the road trip, or the actual amount of his budget. Being given more than a glimpse into his actual life and how he earns a living would have made this better as well.

At one point, Jay talks about the spirit of the true collector, and how sacrifice plays a part in completing a collection. He is absolutely correct, but no sacrifice or compromise is shown in this movie whatsoever. The possibility of Jay having to sell, for example, some of his coveted Star Wars merchandise in order to get enough money to buy Stadium Events would have been compelling, but nothing like this ever happens. As it is, we are left to view Jay as a spoiled and immature man with too much time and money on his hands. I feel bad for people who donated money to this documentary on Kickstarter, but I feel even worse for the private collectors who seem to be unaware of the nature of Jay's "quest."

While I disliked Nintendo Quest as a whole, there are some worthwhile moments sprinkled in. These scenes highlight other collectors, competitive gamers, and fans with actual passion, whose stories are quite touching. Perhaps the filmmaker should have focused entirely on these stories instead of helping his friend get a bunch of games. Judging by the content of this documentary, the only way to truly help Jay is to take him to a professional therapist.

Boring and pretentious documentary

[koryco · 1/10 · 3 January 2016]

*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.

Awful! Depressing movie!

[nintendobulldog · 1/10 · 3 February 2016]

At the start of the film you meet Jay and his best friend. Jay has loved Nintendo since a child and wants to travel across North America in hopes to collect all Nintendo cartridges produced for the system.

The film has Jay's best friend as a narrator, explaining the quest and a little history of Nintendo and games (best part of film). The rest of the film follows jay slumping about retail stores, collectors and rummage sales trying to find and complete the collection. At no point in the movie does Jay seem happy about this quest or that he is enjoying himself. He picks up game after game with a little number tally of the games acumulated in the corner of the screen. He does not give any feedback what games are his favourite, why he has this passion or show any emotion when he does get a rare or good game.

Half way threw the film the subject switches to Jay's fathers passing. He tells the audience how he is happy he is dead, and how he was a tyrant. The only explanation given for his father being such a awful individual was that he did not like Video games? It was really hard not to turn the film off after this point!

After researching this film I found out it was a Kickstarter project which was donated around $40,000. Essentially people donated this money so a little spoiled brat could have a complete Nintendo collection and received a subpar movie with no passion or substance

Interesting watch

[kerryhyvarinen · 8/10 · 4 April 2017]

In a world of entertainment it is nice to find a film about 8bit gaming. Even if it is somewhat hyped, the story is kind of endearing. The goofy graphics make it comical and keeps your focus. It is a must watch if you find yourself running in retro gaming circles. There is nothing like playing these classic games, even if on emulators or originals. I was kind of supersized that I have owned, trade, and sold many of the items he was on a hunt to get.

THIS is the problem with retro gaming.

[wivegey · 1/10 · 11 June 2022]

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.

It'll make you want to dust off the NES, but that's about it

[Mr-Fusion · 4/10 · 29 June 2016]

"Nintendo Quest" had promise, but the execution is way off. The idea itself is cool: you've got 30 days to hunt down every last official NES title in existence (no online purchases). That means road trip, and already we're talking great movie, right? Game over, man.

It's not that this is a bad movie, but it suffers from reality TV production methods and it doesn't give us all of the relevant information. We never know the budget for this quest or how the majority of these games cost. And the negotiating scenes are painfully drawn out. Why spend screen time listening to an awful speakerphone or listening to someone read aloud text messages when this could be better conveyed through a graphic? When all else fails, let the director insert himself into the thing and scream plot information.

The odd thing of it is that it actually becomes a downer after awhile. Jay spends his time in one store after another, getting depressed over the price-gouging and cynicism that collecting can engender.

There's good to be had, but it's primarily in the opening; an examination of the console's enduring longevity and appeal. That sequence gets into the gamer in all of us. If only the rest of it weren't so morose.

4/10

Impossible failure.

[bombersflyup · 3/10 · 11 January 2019]

Nintendo Quest is an outright disappointment. How can a film about the Nintendo not be fun.

Jay's an unlikable individual, going to friends places and stores, with personal stories when they're not doing anything. Anyone can go collect the games if they have the money and are willing to spend it, seriously adding nothing more. Talk about and show some of the game-play and give some opinion, put some life into it. These friends of yours parted with games from their own collection to help you complete your task and you're just going to keep them having failed and they just go without huh. They had the great gamer come spend time with them and they said they had a great time with him playing games, yet we the viewer get nothing. The rarity of some the games and what they were being sold for, was interesting however.

The comment Jay said about his dad was disgusting. Not that I wanted to know anything about his personal life, but if you're going to say that, you need to explain why, that he was an abusive alcoholic or something. You can't just say he wasn't willing to show any interest in your hobbies of gaming and Star Wars, not many fathers would. Jay would like Kylo Ren I'm sure, they're a lot alike.

Quite simply, not a documentary, but a fan/producer trying to show off.

[ExPresidents · 1/10 · 3 October 2018]

Easily one of the worst video game docs ever filmed. I mean it, I've seen a lot, and this is by far the most tedious. First, you already know he will get every game, so right off the bat there is NO suspense. Second, they PURPOSELY elide all mentions of money to, according to them, "make it about the pursuit." This is obviously a lie: the producers helped him. And added to all that, they review it themselves, even the producer went on here and added trivia himself, calling himself "a savant." Idiot savant, maybe. I can't honestly say if this made me suicidal, but it does make me want to leave this world a little early.

God awful. Stay away.

Sorry but have to give this a 10!!

[murphaa · 10/10 · 7 June 2022]

Looking back on my love for NES as well as my family and friends love for it, this is such a cool idea!! They had a great, fun idea to revisit their childhoods. An idea I wish I could do but can't afford!! Thanks for doing what many of us can't and letting us follow along!! NES faithful for life!

Whiny and not fully informative.

[djfuzz-36275 · 3/10 · 15 March 2021]

They leave a lot of information out that you're going to want to see.

Very unlikable person

[rgdavidson013 · 3/10 · 21 December 2020]

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.

Why would they dare interview highly-publicized cheaters??

[realityinmind · 3/10 · 19 April 2018]

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.

A WINNER IS YOU

[dbking-45398 · 5/10 · 17 November 2020]

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!

I loved this Documentary

[gregorywhite-73501 · 10/10 · 28 March 2021]

It was supposed to be about Nintendo but, hearing someone finally describe real Anxiety and panic attacks.. the car intersection and planes and all of it. It made me cry, someone out there has the same thing. I also play drums and also love Star Wars and old NES.. but hearing him talk about Anxiety was amazing and a blessing. Thankful I watched this.

Skip this and go play NES.

[MarcusUchoa · 1/10 · 19 December 2020]

When you see Billy Mitchell in the beginning, you know that something is very wrong. The title of this film should be Nintendo Cheat. There is no love for games here, it's all about vanity and how to fool other people.

Very enjoyable and well done, but could've been more informative.

[pokerocks-47088 · 8/10 · 22 December 2021]

Most of the reviews here criticizing this doc are absolute nonsense. This is a fun and engaging experience through and through. I loved the small amount of insight we got into Jay's life. One problem I had was that they spent very little time talking about the games themselves and we recieve very little info about their prices or how negotiations went. I think this doc needed about 30-45 more minutes of that and I would give it a 10. Please watch this and come to your own conclusions. Also Billy Mitchell and Todd Roger's were found out as cheaters in the public eye multiple years after this doc came out.

An engaging viewing experience

[nrapny-01694 · 10/10 · 7 August 2019]

The best way I can explain this documentary: It's a documentary that feels like a video game that is also a cinematically told story. I related to the people involved and I love the idea of something that may not be important to a lot of people could be immensely important to some. By doing that, the filmmakers made this documentary extremely personal and relatable. Plus you learn a lot about Nintendo games and that's pretty cool.

It is a fun watch!

[coryroo · 8/10 · 12 July 2018]

I smiled the whole way through and that is what I was looking for tonight.

Great film!

[pacerb-59363 · 10/10 · 8 June 2020]

Watched this doc last year. I had been in and out of collecting retro gaming. Started out as a hobby my youngest son and I did together. As he grew older, my interest waned. After I got divorced, I developed new interests (might I suggest you give the podcast Tell 'EM Steve-Dave a listen to). I was scrolling through Amazon and found this gem of a film. Reminded me of the fun times I had with my son. I had dipped my toe back into game collecting a few months beforehand, but this doc got me a k in with more passion than before. Imagine my surprise when I saw a store I had been shopping at was featured (Warp Zone -Columbus, Ohio). If your into gaming, but if your especially into collecting, may I suggest you give this movie a try. It's the next best thing to actually experiencing the hunt.