Products You May Like
Nearly 35 years ago, Nintendo of America held the very first Nintendo World Championships; a nationwide competition where contestants would aim for the highest cumulative score possible in three NES games (Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris) within a set timeframe. There have been two resurrections of the event since, one in 2015 and another in 2017, but neither were quite as historic as the one from the 90s. Now, in another attempt to bring back the event, Nintendo is releasing a reimagining of the Nintendo World Championships that you can play in the comfort of your own home (or on the go) with Nintendo Switch. With the game launching on 18 July 2024, let’s find out if Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is an accurate throwback or another nostalgia cash grab.
13 classic NES games are featured in Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition: Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Kid Icarus, Super Mario Bros. 2, Excitebike, Ice Climber, Balloon Fight, Super Mario Bros. 3, Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, and Kirby’s Adventure. This lineup makes up the majority of Nintendo’s first-party NES library, but unfortunately, due to the lack of third-party inclusion, two of the three games that were part of the original Nintendo World Championships (Rad Racer and Tetris) are not included. It’s hard to really complain about it too much when 12 more first-party titles were added to the collection instead, but it’s certainly a notable omission nonetheless.
Each of the 13 games are split up into speedrunning challenges that get increasingly difficult as you progress. You start off with only one challenge available per game, but after you complete each one, the next can be unlocked by spending the coins you earn. The amount of coins you earn is dependent on the ranking you receive, with a higher rank awarded (S-tier being the best) depending on how fast you complete the challenge. There are a total of 156 challenges to complete, with the difficulty categorized as either Normal, Hard, Master, or Legend. Using Super Mario Bros. as an example, the first challenge is simply grabbing the super mushroom, whereas the final challenge is completing the game from start to finish using the warp zones.
Before attempting a challenge, a gameplay clip showing exactly what you need to do is displayed. However, on the much more difficult Legend-difficulty challenges, you can also view detailed pages of “Classified Information” that pay homage to classic manuals and guidebooks, revealing the exact path to take in order to complete the challenge as quickly as possible. While attempting a challenge, a replay of your personal-best is shown side-by-side with your current attempt. If you take damage or lose a life, the game will rewind a few seconds allowing you to continue from where you left off, with the only punishment being the loss of time. It’s a great mechanic that removes some of the frustration that comes with speedrunning.
Going for a personal-best in challenges can be highly addictive, and the order of challenges makes each of the games accessible to both newcomers and NES aficionados alike. Only an A-rank is required to complete the challenge, which can oftentimes be a bit too easy to achieve, but earning that proper S-rank will definitely give you some bragging rights due to how unforgiving they can be. How fast you must beat a challenge to earn each rank is unknown, so just keep trying for that PB! If you manage to get at least an A-rank on every single challenge, you’ll unlock the “Legendary Trial” mode, putting all the Legend-difficulty challenges back-to-back for the ultimate speedrun that will put all the skills you’ve learned thusfar to the test.
My biggest disappointment with Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is that it’s not possible to speedrun the full titles. While this makes sense for some of the games like Donkey Kong, where it’s three looping levels and doesn’t have a proper ending, it’s confusing that the final challenge for most of the other games only has you complete a small section of it. For instance, the final challenge for Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is to reach the flagpole on World 1-1. I understand that a lot of NES games are difficult, but not even having the option to speedrun them all the way through is honestly baffling. Sure, I could just play them via the classic library of games included with Nintendo Switch Online, but then I’d be missing out on a lot of the cool features that have been implemented into NWC, like personal bests, instant rewinds, and competitive multiplayer.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition has a few different multiplayer modes. Party Mode allows for 2-8 players locally on one Nintendo Switch system to compete in speedrun challenges, World Championships mode is a weekly online competition that puts your personal-best times up against players from around the world in five pre-selected challenges, and Survival Mode puts you up against the ghost data of seven other players for three pre-selected challenges in the Silver or Gold divisions (top 4 fastest move on, then top 2, and then a winner is crowned). While all three of these modes can be a lot of fun and undeniably add plenty of value, it’s a bit of a shame there is no real-time online multiplayer. Something along the lines of Tetris 99 or Super Mario Bros. 35 but for speedrunning would have added so much more value in terms of replayability.
When setting up your user profile, there is no shortage of customization options. Hundreds of player icons (8-bit sprites from the 13 NES games) are available to unlock using the coins you earn while playing challenges, a “hype tag” can be selected that appears alongside your username, and you can also select your favorite NES/Famicom game, including all the first-party, third-party, and even licensed titles. Lastly, you can choose your favorite pin, with pins functioning as achievements that you earn for fulfilling certain conditions, with most of them earned for getting an A-rank in each one of the single-player challenges.
The digital edition of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is priced at £24.99/$29.99, but a “Deluxe Set” will also be available from select retailers for £49.99/$59.99. Included in the deluxe set is a physical copy of the game, a gold-colored NES Game Pak replica, 13 art cards, and 5 pins. While I can’t personally attest to the quality of the Deluxe Set, as I only received a digital download of the game for this review, it seems like a better value for collectors if you’re able to get your hands on one.
For a game that’s all about speedrunning, it’s ironic that Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition feels rushed. Although I certainly had a great time going for an S-tier rank in all the challenges presented, the obvious omissions makes the game feel more like a missed opportunity rather than a complete package. If you’re interested in learning the basics of speedrunning or wanna take a nostalgic trip down memory lane, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is sure to provide many hours of fun, but otherwise, the larger library of NES titles offered to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers is probably enough to suffice.
7/10
A copy of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition for review purposes was provided by Nintendo UK.