Posted by Recently, at the Classic Game Fest in Austin Texas, I had the pleasure of meeting Jay Bartlett and Rob McCallum of the film Nintendo Quest. I did not know them right off the bat, but once they started talking about the documentary they made, I remembered the articles I read of a Kickstarter program. to help fund this documentary.
These guys were great! They were explaining the film and were trying to convince me to purchase a copy, which after given the guys a hard time, I did. Jay almost spoiled the ending for me when I asked if he succeeded in his goal. The guys signed my copy and we exchanged business cards.
Now, for the film itself. I popped this bad boy in earlier this week and started to watch. Right off the bat, I was impressed with the quality that was put into this film. This was definitely a work of love.
We are introduced to Jay Bartlett who was challenged to collect 678 Nintendo games in 30 days using his funds and no online shopping. It is the type of challenge that any classic video game collector would love to take on. This story though isn’t just about the thrill of the hunt, it is a story about the human element of the hobby.
As we progress through the film, we get cuts of Jay learning how to barter with vendors as he tries to reach his goal. The one addition I loved was the cuts to Rob McCallum as he explained the history of Nintendo and gave details about the company.
The film goes through the 30 days in roughly an hour and a half. We get to meet some of the interesting people that Jay meets along the way. I loved the villain that is introduced in the film.
We get to learn about Jay’s life from his father’s passing to his anxiety of being in vehicles, something I could relate to. In the end, he may or may not have completed his goal. Believe me, you really want to watch this without being spoiled.
The film does a really good job of explaining some of the gems in the NES library and just how hard it is to seek these out. It also does a really good job of humanizing the hobby by showing how emotional it was for Jay to take this journey.
It's time to get some work done! pic.twitter.com/xTGATpodnT
— Jay (@NESClubJay) March 28, 2015
This film is definitely worth your time. I am going to go out and state that this is probably one of the best documentaries I have seen about the subject matter. If you are a classic game collector, this is a film that you will want to see. And who knows, maybe you will be inspired to take your own “Nintendo Quest.”
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