Bill and Ted’s Excellent Retro Collection

Genre: Compilation / Isometric Action-RPG / Platformer / Arcade

Players: 1-2 Alternating (Local)

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Review:

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Retro Collection, released in 2023 on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, is a Compilation of two games: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Video Game Adventure, originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991, and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Portable Adventure, released on the original Game Boy in 1991 (under the title Bill & Ted’s Excellent Game Boy Adventure: A Bogus Journey!).

Here is what I thought of both of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Video Game Adventure	Isometric Action-RPG	1	D
tl;dr While this game does a decent job retaining the silly atmosphere of the movies it’s based on, it fails miserably at presenting players with compelling gameplay, with sluggish movement, tedious gameplay, and a lack of any significant indication where you should be going.
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Portable Adventure	Platformer / Arcade	1-2 Alternating (Local)	C
tl;dr Unlike its console counterpart, the handheld take on the Bill and Ted franchise opts for a more simple Arcade-style Platformer, and as a result it has aged much more gracefully. However, that’s not to say it’s particularly good – the platforming physics aren’t especially great, and the controls can sometimes be unresponsive.

In short, between these two games, I think the Game Boy game is the much better of the two, which is pretty rare when it comes to Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy games. However, neither of these games is particularly good, and as a result, only the most dedicated fans of the franchise will want to play this one.

The package these games are contained in isn’t very inspired, either. You get a few screen display options for each game, save states, and a soundtrack test. That’s it. No production art or promotional art, no button reassignment, no rewind feature, and no instruction manual (something that the console game desperately needs). Overall, this Compilation feels very bare-bones.

So that only leaves the question of value, and priced at $9.69 (ha), I would argue it fails here too. We’re talking about two pretty miserable games that are over 30 years old each. I get that the license costs money, but that doesn’t add value to the games themselves. Heck, if they wanted to ensure this package gave players bang for their buck, they could have at least thrown in the Atari Lynx Bill and Ted game as well. Without it, this isn’t even a comprehensive Bill and Ted game collection.

Out of all of the great licensed games from the NES and Game Boy, I have to think that the Bill and Ted games are some of the ones least-clamored for. When Nintendo Switch owners are still waiting for classic Disney, Batman, and Looney Tunes games, it seems like a cruel irony that we would instead get… this. I suppose you could argue that this collection is striking while the iron is hot in the wake of the well-received third film in the series… releasing three years ago. Yikes…

While Bill and Ted’s Excellent Retro Collection isn’t entirely without merit, this package seems to fail at every turn. The games themselves aren’t very good and haven’t aged well, and they aren’t all even here, the options and extras included here are pretty slim, and the price tag is too high for what’s on offer. I think even Bill and Ted would have to admit that as a package, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Retro Collection is most heinous.

tl;dr – Bill and Ted’s Excellent Retro Collection is a Compilation that includes the NES game Bill and Ted’s Excellent Video Game Adventure, and the Game Boy game Bill and Ted’s Excellent Portable Adventure. Neither is very good, the extras and options included here are disappointing, and the overall package is overpriced. Even fans of this franchise will have to admit this collection is totally bogus.

Grade: D+

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