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The Nintendo World Championship began as a tournament in 1990 to determine who was the best NES player in America. Events were held in nearly 30 cities across the country to determine the best competitors from each region and age bracket, and then those champions faced off against each other in a final tournament that featured challenges from Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and Rad Racer.
Since then, Nintendo has brought back the World Championships a couple of times - specifically in 2015 and 2017 - but with the recent launch ofNintendo World Championships: NES Edition, you can test and train your abilities without having to leave the couch. This Switch game features over 150 challenges from classic titles like The Legend of Zelda, Kid Icarus, and more, but is it worth picking up?
To share your score with others and compete in the weekly challenges, you will need to have an active subscription toNintendo Switch Online.
Review
While TheGamer doesn’t have an official review for Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, Mike Drucker wrote about his impressions of the game in his “Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition Is The Perfect Game For My Broken Brain” article. There, he writes about his experience with the software and how it feels like the perfect game to come out right now.
After a long couple of years with massive titles like Elden Ring and Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth taking up so much of our collective time, it’s incredibly refreshing to have a game that’s designed to be played in short bursts. “I needed to not have an hour of being stopped every three steps for a dialogue box explaining to me that I should click through to the in-game encyclopedia if I want to understand anything. It’s justa game full of bits and pieces of other games.”
After two years of the longest role playing games on Earth, after a decade of having to climb towers to activate fast travel, it is such a relief to get something that serves up slices of the classics like out-of-context movie clips that don’t make sense.
Drucker acknowledges in his article that he is a massive fan of Nintendo, and his first console was the one this entire package is based on - the NES. “Even though I didn’t understand most of what I was playing at the time - seeing as I couldn’t read and I’d cry at the drop of a hat - they captured my time and my imagination. This was what sucked me into the hobby we all know and love and sometimes don’t love.”
While there is an online component to Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, Drucker insists that the title can easily be enjoyed without worrying about leaderboards and high scores. “Sure, it’s a little fun to do runs against the ghosts of other players’ high scores, but I’m naturally a hermit allergic to human company. Idon’t see much of a difference between playing against myself and playing against other peoplebecause of my own solipsism.”
Ultimately, Drucker praised the game for providing “…something that’s not just fun in short bursts butultrashort bursts.” Whether you want to spend a bunch of time shaving seconds off of your best run in Super Mario Bros. or just want a refreshing splash of nostalgia, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is a great choice for anyone who grew up with the original Nintendo Entertainment System.
Time Expenditure
The challenges in Nintendo World Championship: NES Edition can take you anywhere between a couple of seconds and a few minutes to complete. If you play all of them multiple times so you can try to beat your high scores, you might end up spending more time with the game than originally anticipated.
In general,it should take you roughly four hoursto earn enough coins to unlock and play every challenge in the game. You can easily double or triple this time by attempting to S-rank everything or by playing with friends in the local Party Mode.
Cost
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is available digitally and physically, though the prices are different depending on which version you prefer to own. If you would rather just own a digital copy of the game that you can boot up at any time, you canpurchase the title for $29.99 on the Nintendo eShop.
If you would like a physical copy of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition,the only version available for purchase is the Deluxe Set for $59.99. For the higher price tag, you will get a physical copy of the game, a replica Nintendo World Championship NES Game Pak, a pin set, and a variety of art cards.
What Players Are Saying
Blasts From The Past - Kyle Chamaillard
Despite being raised on consoles like the SNES and N64, I’ll always have a love and appreciation for the NES. When the Wii U was my only console and had little to no games coming out for it, I spent a ton of time playing classics like the Legend of Zelda and Xevious on the virtual console.
Whether you have nostalgia for these 8-bit adventures or just want to sail through the world of speed running for a bit, Nintendo World Championships is a spectacular package that provides you with fun challenges you can do over and over again to try and shave seconds off your best time. If you’re not interested in either of those things, it might be worth waiting for something else like the FromSoftware World Championships or a Sega Spectacle.
