I think we were tricked into wanting NES Remix 2.

Just a few months ago, Nintendo released NES Remix, a downloadable collection of mini-challenges created by chopping up and reworking segments from some of its oldest home videogames. This Wii U game was a clever idea and a great use of classic content, but it left many of us wanting more. NES Remix drew on the Nintendo Entertainment System's oldest games, but certainly not its best ones. Where was Punch-Out!!? Where was Super Mario Bros. 3?

As it turns out, they were just waiting their turn. Nintendo dropped NES Remix and let us all complain about how what we really wanted was a version that used the better games, and then immediately announced just such a thing: NES Remix 2, to be released on Thursday, April 24.

I've played through most of it and, yes, it's much better. Besides Punch-Out!! and Mario 3, it has challenges based on Metroid, Kid Icarus, both the Japanese and American versions of Super Mario Bros. 2, and more. All of these are simply more robust, polished, interesting games that lend themselves well to the crafting of tiny challenges.

Did you know that if you defeat a boss character in Mario 3 while still wearing the Frog Suit power-up, you get a special message that you can't see otherwise? Maybe you knew that, but there's a good chance you've never actually done it as making it all the way to a boss with the Frog Suit on is ridiculously difficult. But in NES Remix 2, you can try just that segment over and over again until you get it right.

NES Remix 2 also does a better job mashing up different NES games into unique peanut-butter-and-chocolate mixes. You can defeat Octoroks in Adventure of Link while playing as Toad from Super Mario 2, or slash up one of the Mario series' Hammer Brother enemies as Link from Legend of Zelda. You can even play as Princess Peach in a variety of levels from Mario 3 (which actually kind of underscores the fact that she should have been a playable character in the original game in the first place).

Besides the fact that these brief challenge levels are amusing in their own right, they also serve as tutorials or demos of the actual full-length NES games. If you enjoy playing the seven Punch-Out challenges, e.g., the next step would be to buy and play the full game. (And of course, Nintendo has made sure that each of these games are currently available on its downloadable eShop. How convenient!)

Releasing the inchoate NES Remix first and letting us all complain about it while the answer to our complaints was mere weeks away from release? Well played, Nintendo. Now, let's see if I've figured out how this works:

You know, this is nice and all, but what we really need is SNES Remix.