A host of bite-sized challenges for games like Super Mario Bros. and the original Zelda make up this unusual speedrun-orientated compilation.
This is exactly the sort of low budget, low concept game many feared would see out the final months of the Nintendo Switch’s life. As it turned out though, the Nintendo Direct in June revealed a surprisingly exciting schedule of new titles for the rest of the year, which has left Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition seeming like something of an outlier.
A spiritual successor to the NES Remix games, particularly the second one, this is the latest attempt by Nintendo to repackage its first party NES titles for a modern audience. It’s themed around the Nintendo World Championships – a series of public tournaments from the early 90s that are viewed as the first ever esports events, and which were briefly revived in the mid-2010s.
Like most things to do with the NES – Nintendo’s first mainstream console – this is aimed squarely at American and Japanese fans that remember the games from the first time around, in this case creating short speedrun-based mini-games out of the venerable classics. Younger fans might be bemused by the way the games are dissected and reframed, but as indulgent as it all is the end result is surprisingly entertaining.
Although none of the games are available in their entirety, 13 titles are included in the compilation: 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.
Each has a dozen or so speedrun challenges that work something like WarioWare microgames. So, you might be told to grab the flagpole at the end of a Super Mario Bros. level, beat a boss in Zelda, or complete a circuit in Excitebike. The game makes it very clear what you need to do, with a pre-recorded video of someone else completing the task, that you can watch before trying it yourself.
Completing the goal usually isn’t very hard, at least not on the lower difficulties, but the real challenge is trying to do it quickly. You’re given a grade as to how fast you are and if you get ‘A’ or above you unlock a little virtual pin badge to prove your skill and… that’s essentially it, especially if you’re playing single-player and don’t have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
If you are subscribed then you can compete in weekly challenges, where you try and complete five unique goals in an attempt to get the highest score in the world. There’s also a survival mode where you compete against the ghost data of seven other random players, but there’s no way to play anyone live.
Instead, there’s a separate local party mode for up to eight players, where you can all try and complete challenges against each other. They’re all the same ones as the main single-player mode – in fact, they’re all unlocked before you start, somewhat spoiling the fun of seeing what’s next when you’re on your own.
The best way to play is picking a ‘Challenge Pack’ that bundles themed challenges together, with an indication of how hard they are and how long the whole thing will take to beat. Again, there’s no online option, so good luck finding eight people that are competent enough at 35-year-old NES games to make the mode viable, but at least the option’s there.
Nintendo World Championships clearly didn’t cost much to make but sensibly it doesn’t cost much to buy either, with Nintendo realising there’s only so much they can charge for diced up NES games. It makes no pretension about what it is though and in terms of presenting the challenges in as interesting a way as possible this does all it can, short of having a proper online mode.
The visual presentation can be a bit overwhelming though. Even when you’re just playing on your own you’ve always got one screen on the left, where you’re playing, and another on the right showing your best time, which seems a bit overkill. With eight people playing at once the whole thing can look worryingly kaleidoscopic (which, weirdly, is the second time we’ve used that word this week).
This is not a video game that needed to exist, as anything other than an attempt to fill out Nintendo’s schedules, but it does what it sets out to effectively and efficiently. Whether it’ll get people interested in speedrunning in general is difficult to say but it’s certainly an excellent way to practice your skills at these older games. So, if you’ve ever tried to play the older Mario or Zeldas and given up in frustration, this is an entertaining way to train yourself up.
Beyond that, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is really only of passing interest to veteran fans. But if nothing else it’s hugely impressive how many of these games remain entertaining decades after their original release – in an industry where other titles can begin to feel old-fashioned after only a few years. It might be there merely to make up the numbers in Nintendo’s financials but if there’s going to be a SNES Edition after this then we certainly won’t complain.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition review summary
In Short: A tribute to the timelessness of some of Nintendo’s earliest classics and while the whole package is rather thin it’s impressive how entertaining it still manages to be.
Pros: The various challenges are cleverly designed and clearly explained. Expansive local multiplayer and some online features. A surprisingly enjoyable way to learn how to play the full games.
Cons: The amount of content is actually quite limited, especially for offline single-players. No proper online mode and the local multiplayer can be visually confusing.
Score: 7/10
Formats: Nintendo Switch
Price: £24.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Indieszero
Release Date: 18th July 2024
Age Rating: 7
Email [email protected], leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
MORE : Bungie CEO blamed for job losses after spending $2,300,000 on classic cars
MORE : Destiny 2 developer Bungie lay off 220 staff after ‘overly ambitious’ projects
MORE : Resident Evil series hits 160 million total sales as Resident Evil 4 remake outpaces Village
![GameCentral Newsletter](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/client-mu-plugins/metro-newsletters/signups/images/gamecentral-signup-logo.png)
Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.
Share this with