One piece of information caught me off guard this week: apparently, an 8 bit shoot ’em up was developed and released for the NES, including in physical form, just a couple of years ago. Changeable Guardian Estique is a traditional side scrolling shoot ’em up, akin to Gradius, boasting technically impressive visuals and performance for a game developed with the Nintendo Entertainment System’s limitations in mind. We’re talking detailed backgrounds, solid performance, very rare instances of flickering, and responsive controls.
It’s not exactly the most innovative game in terms of gameplay or premise, aside from the fact you can press a button to morph between a fighter and a mech, but hey, a brand new NES game came out in 2024. That alone is pretty novel.
All things considered, it’s a good-looking NES game.
Fast forward a couple of years, and Changeable Guardian Estique is now available on modern systems, courtesy of a port by Amata Games. You can play either the Famicom or NES version, with the main difference being the language used in the introductory cutscenes. The NES version, for instance, features some adorably broken Engrish. You can also post your high scores online and take advantage of a rewind function to correct any mistakes, though doing so prevents you from submitting your score at the end of a run. Which, let’s face it, who cares?
The game is tough, but its boss battles are oddly easier than the main levels.
But here’s the thing: ports of games from many generations ago are interesting due to nostalgia. We grew up playing a certain game on an older system, they suffered from setbacks and limitations from what a system could handle back then, but our rose-tinted glasses and childhood innocence made us ignore those issues. The game would then disappear for decades, until a re-release, in remastered form, decades later. When it comes to playing Changeable Guardian Estique on an Xbox… sure, it’s a fun shoot ’em up and all that, and I do like its level of polish and the fact you can morph between a spaceship and a mech with the press of a button…
… but that’s it. It’s a neat little game where all novelty goes down the drain because you’re playing it in a modern system, without any semblance of nostalgia helping it out. It’s not like a retro-themed game by Yacht Club Games, which might be retro in aesthetics, but deep and complex in length and gameplay. This is a mere port of a brand new NES game, and it’s only actually effective when played on an NES.
Lovely broken Engrish. Just like the good ol’ days.
Changeable Guardian Estique’s main appeal is the fact that it is a brand new NES game released in the 2020s. As such, if you’re able to, play it on the original hardware. If you decide to play it on a modern console, such as the Xbox, you’ll still have some fun with it, don’t get me wrong. You just won’t get that same sense of novelty, which is ultimately what makes this otherwise derivative shooter feel special in the first place.
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It looks quite good for a NES game, as its backgrounds are quite detailed, and the framerate is solid, despite the amount of assets onscreen. Granted, there is the occasional flickering, but that’s almost a mandatory thing in a game on that system, and it’s kinda charming. |
Very basic. You shoot with one button, and change forms with another. It’s a standard shoot ’em up control scheme and gameplay loop. |
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Passable 8-bit music, but nothing too special. It gains extra kudos as it was composed under the same limitations as other games from the NES era. |
The novelty lies on the fact it’s a modern NES game, available for that system in particular. When you play it on other systems, then sure, it’s decent and fun for a while, but the novelty factor vanishes almost instantly. |
| Final Verdict: 6.5 |
Changeable Guardian Estique is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC, Switch, and NES. Yep, you read that right.
Reviewed on Xbox Series S.
A copy of Changeable Guardian Estique was provided by the publisher.
tagged with Amata KK, Broke Studio, Cat Hui Trading, Changeable Guardian Estique, indie, NES, PC, PS5, Retro themes, Shoot ’em up, Steam, Switch, Xbox Series S/X
- Review
