Ultimate NES | App Review
If you’re a fan of the ‘Completely Unnecessary Podcast’ then you will have been hearing about a “certain NES guide book” for… well, for a long time.
Pat Contri, also known as ‘Pat the NES Punk’ released his definitive guide to the NES library last year; to much praise from the community. There were a few refinements needed - mainly cosmetic - but there was no denying the sheer amount of work and content that had gone into creating it.
Not only that, there was also no denying that it was the most thorough and complete guide to the console that saved gaming in the US. Gaming may have been a bit different in Europe, but that’s a different story.
Being handled by himself and friends/colleagues, the book is not so easy to get hold of on this side of the pond - mainly down to the sheer cost of shipping such a monster from the states as there is no UK or European distributors. While there is a digital version of the publication it’s quite expensive for a non-physical copy.
However, there is now an app available for both iOS and Android that not only acts as a guide but also combines collecting features, allowing game hunters to keep track of what they have and what they need, as well as carry out a detailed search of games in the NES library and read reviews.
We’ve spent the last few days playing around with it and it’s certainly a well-put-together app that is definitely worth the £4.99 price tag. Let’s get that settled straight away - as there are a few improvements that could be made but it doesn’t make it not worthy of that price.
For example - the search feature is fantastic. It allows you to find games by price, genre, rating, developer, publisher and all manner of other factors. What it doesn’t seem to have is a text search however - or none that I can find. If I want to read about Kirby games I have to scroll all the way through the library or, for example, search for games developed by HAL laboratory.
Also, this is (understandably) very US focussed. For example - there is a list of different iterations of the system. This is NES only - no Famicom - but has no information about global variants, such as the UK’s Mattel Version and NES Version consoles/games.
The app is a wonderful piece of work but needs a little refinement - not to mention some help from global game collectors to give it more appeal outside North America. Even so, I’d urge you to go download it for yourself now - whether you’re a collector or just interested in the history of this iconic system.
