Almost 35 years ago, Nintendo of America held the first Nintendo World Championships; a national competition where contestants would aim for the highest possible cumulative score in three NES games (Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris) within a given time frame. Since then, the event has been resurrected twice, once in 2015 and again in 2017, but neither was as historic as the one from the 90s. Now, in yet another attempt to bring the event back, Nintendo is releasing a reimagining of the Nintendo World Cup that you can play in the comfort of your own home (or on the go) with the Nintendo Switch. With the game coming out on July 18, 2024, let’s find out if Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is an accurate throwback or another nostalgic cash grab.
13 classic NES games are featured in Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition: Super Mario Bros., 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 a lack of third-party involvement, 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 complain about that when 12 more first-party titles have been added to the collection instead, but it’s certainly a significant omission.
Each of the 13 games is divided into speed running challenges that get harder as you progress. You start with only one available challenge per game, but after completing each one, you can unlock the next one by spending the coins you earn. The amount of coins you earn depends on the rank you get, with a higher rank awarded (S-rank is the best) depending on how quickly you complete the challenge. There are a total of 156 challenges to complete, with difficulty categorized as Normal, Hard, Master or Legend. Using Super Mario Bros. As an example, the first challenge is simply to grab the super mushroom, while the last challenge is to complete the game from start to finish using warp zones.
Before you attempt a challenge, a gameplay clip is shown showing exactly what you need to do. However, on the much harder Legend difficulty challenges, you can also see detailed “Confidential Information” pages that pay homage to classic manuals and guides, revealing the exact path to take to complete the challenge as quickly as possible. While attempting a challenge, your personal best repeat is displayed alongside your current attempt. If you take damage or lose a life, the game will rewind a few seconds allowing you to pick up where you left off with the only penalty being a loss of time. It’s a great mechanic that removes some of the frustration that comes with speed running.
Going for a personal best in challenges can be highly addictive, and the order of challenges makes each game accessible to newcomers and NES fans alike. Completing the challenge only requires an A-rank, which can often be too easy to achieve, but getting a proper S-rank will definitely give you some bragging rights due to how unforgiving they can be. There’s no telling how fast you have to beat the challenge to win each rank, 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, taking all the Legend difficulty challenges one after the other for the ultimate speed ride that will put all your skills I’ve learned so far to the test.
I biggest disappointment with Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is that it’s not possible to speed up full titles. While this makes sense for some of the games like Donkey Kong, where it’s three levels that repeat and has no real ending, it’s confusing that the final challenge for most other games only has to complete a small part. For example, the final challenge for Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is to reach the flagpole in a 1-1 world match. I understand that a lot of NES games are hard, but not even being able to speed it all the way up is frankly confusing. Of course, I could only play them through the classic library of games included in Nintendo Switch Online, but then I’d miss out on a lot of cool features implemented in NWC, like personal bests, instant rewind, and competitive multiplayer.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition has several different multiplayer modes. Party Mode allows 2-8 players locally on a single Nintendo Switch system to compete in speedrun challenges, World Championships mode is a weekly online competition that pits your personal best times against players from around the world in five pre-selected challenges, and Survival Mode pits you against ghost data of seven other players for three pre-selected challenges in the silver or gold division (the top four fastest move on, then the top two, and then the winner is crowned). While all three of these modes can be a lot of fun and undoubtedly add a lot of value, it’s a bit of a shame that there’s no real-time online multiplayer. Something like Tetris 99 or Super Mario Bros. 35, but for speedrunning, it would add a lot more value in terms of replayability.
There is no shortage of customization options when setting up a user profile. Hundreds of player icons (8-bit sprites from 13 NES games) are available to unlock using coins you earn while playing challenges, a “hype tag” that appears next to your username can be selected, and you can also select your favorite NES /Famicom game , including all first-party, third-party, and even licensed titles. Finally, you can choose your favorite pin, with pins functioning as achievements you earn for meeting certain conditions, most of which are earned for getting an A-rank in each of the single player challenges.
The digital edition of the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is priced at £24.99/$29.99, but “Deluxe set” will also be available from selected retailers for £49.99/$59.99. The deluxe set includes a physical copy of the game, a replica gold-colored NES Game Pak, 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 to be a better value for collectors if you can get your hands on one.
For a game that’s all about running fast, it’s ironic that Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition feels rushed. While I certainly had a lot of fun chasing the S-tier rank in all the challenges presented, the glaring omissions make the game feel more like a missed opportunity than a complete package. If you’re interested in learning the basics of speed running or want a nostalgic trip down memory lane, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is sure to provide many hours of entertainment, but otherwise, the larger library of NES titles offered to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers is probably enough.
7/10
A review copy of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition was provided by Nintendo UK.
