The blueprint for how to remake a classic is also one of the best games of the year in its own right.
BC: ReArmed is crafted from love from start to finish and it's obvious. Everything from the beautifully rendered background graphics to the logically organized GUI screams polish. The music is punchy, catchy, and appropriate. Like almost every other aspect of the game it pays proper homage to the original while at the same time updating it and improving it.
The gameplay is addictive and the learning curve is perfectly balanced to suit players of all skill-levels. Easy, for example, has extra blocks that act as a safety net above accident-prone areas. Thus new players can learn to traverse these obstacles without having to give up lives and continues. Often times having to unlock the hardest mode of a game is simply a gratuitous way to add replay value. That is not the case here. The unlockable Super Hard drastically improves enemy AI and puts the margin for error so low that even veteran gamers will be tested.
With secret areas to be found, medals to be earned, and dozens of challenge rooms to be perfected, the replay value of this 15$ game is off the chart. There are even well-designed co-op and multiplayer deathmatch modes that suffer on PC only because there's no online play option...meaning you need buddies to be in the same room with their own Logitech Rumble...doable but not ideal.
I would often wonder why more NES classics are completely overhauled with awesome graphics, high-quality soundtracks, and the extra bells and whistles of newer games. BC:ReArmed is a perfect realization of breathing new life into an old classic. The tongue-and-cheek dialogue, the wacky boss battles, and the arm grip mechanic are all preserved by a game design team that just flat out "gets it".
Unfortunately, many people, for whatever reason, seem to have passed over this game. And that's a terrible shame because BC:ReArmed is one of the best games in recent memory and a testament to what happens when things are done right from top to bottom. "They just don't make 'em like this anymore." I found myself saying through showboating one-arm swings and 2-d grenade blasts. But you know what? They did. And Capcom / Grin deserve all the respect in the world for it.