NES Remix arrived without fanfare in the Wii U's eShop on December 18, 2013, with a sequel quickly arriving on April 25. Each compilation features more than a dozen first-party 8-bit Nintendo games, sliced up into smaller challenges that last anywhere from two seconds to two minutes. Finish these excerpts from the original games, and you're treated to remixes that add new gameplay mechanics or which cross characters from one game with the engine of another. Play Donkey Kong as Link from The Legend of Zelda, or traipse around the Mushroom Kingdom as Metroid's Samus Aran! The mashups aren't quite as extensive as Super Mario Bros. Crossover and is more likely designed as a sales pitch for the individual games, all of which are for sale in the eShop. But for $15, each NES Remix collection provide about six hours of great gameplay and nostalgia.

Each level grades your performance (essentially speed runs) on one to three stars, with rainbow stars for an especially swift completions. I earned three stars on every level in my Let's Play of NES Remix, as seen above — and then again in my Let's Play of NES Remix 2

There are three levels not featured in my NES Remix 2 series. A 22nd bonus stage, earned by getting 504 rainbow stars, is non-interactive, showing the ending of Super Mario Bros. 2, Dr. Mario, and Super Mario Bros. 3. There are also two additional modes I didn't demonstrate. Super Luigi Bros. is the original Super Mario Bros., except mirrored and played as Luigi instead of Mario. And Championship Mode is modeled after the 1990 Nintendo World Championships, tasking players with collecting 50 coins in Super Mario Bros. and 25 coins in Super Mario Bros. 3 before playing Dr. Mario.

Could Super NES Remix or Game Boy Remix be on the horizon?