Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition offers challenges from 8-bit classics, but will they have you running and jumping for joy?
You just never know what Nintendo is going to tap for nostalgia next. The Nintendo World Championships are a concept the company has revisited in a scattershot way over the years, but it’s the original 1990 iteration most folks remember, and really, it’s not even the event itself that’s most famous. That first competition was held using unique NES cartridges, which are now the ultimate collector’s item fetching upwards of $25,000 apiece. That’s the main reason the Nintendo World Championships are still remembered today. Despite that somewhat obscure legacy, the Nintendo World Championships are returning once again, this time as an actual widely-available video game.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition offers a series of challenges derived from a slate of 8-bit classics, but will they have you running and jumping for joy? Or does Nintendo miss the podium this time around? Limber up your thumbs, it’s time to find out.
While Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition purports to follow in the footsteps of The Big N’s competitions of old, the real inspiration for the title seems to be the modern speedrunning scene. While the original 90s Nintendo World Championships, and most of the iterations that followed, were all about high scores, this new game is about doing things fast.
NWC: NES Edition serves up over 150 discrete challenges, drawn from 13 first-party 8-bit Nintendo titles (Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3, and the Lost Levels, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Metroid, Kirby’s Adventure, Kid Icarus, Ice Climber, Excitebike, Balloon Fight, and Donkey Kong, to be exact). It’s a solid lineup, if a bit by-the-books and missing third-party favorites like Castlevania, Mega Man, and Battletoads. Your performance in each challenge is rated, with coins being awarded for improving your best times and letter grades. You can then use those coins to unlock more challenges and simple cosmetics like icons and badges for your online profile.
Challenges start extremely simple – grab a mushroom as Mario, suck up an enemy as Kirby, ect.
