Nintendo World Championships NES Edition will be released on July 18 on Nintendo Switch to support the fact that, although the console’s life cycle is coming to an end, the hybrid still has a few games left that are going to be very worthwhile.
And a lot of fans have their eyes set on Metroid Prime 4 Beyond or The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, but after having tried Nintendo World Championships NES Edition I assure you that what we are going to have this summer is also going strong.
Nintendo’s new proposal is deeply rooted in the company’s foundations and it is an authentic trip to the past based on what has always characterized its games: fun and playing in company.
Nintendo World Championships NES Edition is living history
Last week I was able to play an hour of Nintendo World Championships NES Edition alongside other press colleagues. I say in company because I literally had to compete against everyone in several championships, but there will be time to talk about that later.
First I will refresh your memory a little with a brief class on Nintendo history. The idea of this new game is based on one of the most famous events in the company’s history, the Nintendo World Championships held in the United States in 1990.
This tournament brought together the biggest fans and dedicated players to pit their skills against each other in mini-games. Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer and Tetris. This triad of titles fused into a single cartridge gave rise to the Holy Grail of collectors, a piece that has sold for a million dollars.
Years passed and Nintendo organized two more World Championships in 2015 and 2017. However, now the panorama changes a little, since this expanded tournament comes to us in the form of a game full of nostalgia and love for Nintendo’s 8-bit.
Nintendo World Championships NES Edition captures the spirit of the famous 90s competition and brings it to Nintendo Switch, proposing different skill platform challenges based on 13 classic games from the NES catalog. What titles are included?
- Super Mario Bros.
- Metroid
- donkey kong
- The Legend of Zelda
- Kid Icarus
- Super Mario Bros. 2
- Excitebike
- Ice Climber
- Balloon Fight
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
- Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels
- Kirby’s Adventure
How do you play Nintendo World Championships NES Edition?
Nintendo World Championships NES Edition is divided into several modes. First (Speedrun) is the most classic and makes you compete against yourself with the aim of complete the 150 levels that are available distributed among these 13 games.
Everything is based on overcoming each challenge in the shortest time possible and anyone would expect the game to start by proposing you to complete World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. Far from that, the first level is much simpler… You just have to catch the mushroom as soon as possible.
When I saw it it seemed silly to me, but the moment they told me that It had to be completed in less than 4 seconds, things changed. And this is the spirit of the game. There are challenges that don’t take you more time than it takes to blink, but they are no small feat.
I tried it five times and never once did I go under 4.3 seconds. Since I had to try more levels I decided to leave it, but it was very clear to me what this Nintendo World Championships NES Edition is going to generate: really addictive challenges. I would have spent hours and hours trying to beat the record.
And when you complete a level you will be given a score with C being the lowest and S being the highest. It’s not easy to get the highest grade, but you always try again.
Without going any further, the initial level of The Legend of Zelda is, (I’m not kidding), enter the cave and pick up the famous “It’s dangerous to go alone” sword. It sounds simple… well I didn’t get the S score.
When you beat each level (which has a small illustrative screen so you know how to complete it) you get coins with which to unlock new challenges that, little by little, increase the difficulty.
I got a couple of S’s on the first level of Donkey Kong in record time (thanks to previous training with Mario vs. Donkey Kong) and with a Metroid scrolling challenge and what I was left with was a deep sense of satisfaction.
I also decided to revive some classic games like my beloved Kid Icarus or Balloon Fight And the good thing about Nintendo World Championships is that practically all of its challenges are experiences that you have already lived in those games, but that you had never taken so seriously.
Each level is like a teaspoon of nostalgia and before you realize it you have eaten the entire casserole. I insist, the bite was constant and there were still two more modes to go, the authentic condensed multiplayer challenges.
I tried the Survival Championship divided into two cups (Silver and Gold), where up to eight players or ghosts were admitted. The essence of this mode is that it was a “battle royale” that was reminiscent of proposals like F-Zero 99.
That is, the first four players to complete the first test moved on to the next round. In the second, two more were eliminated and the third was a final where only the fastest took home the cup and the victory.
These tournaments are made up of some of those 150 levels that I talked about before, taking into account the difficulty. In the case of the silver cup there were simpler challenges such as taking out a Hammer Brother or bursting a single balloon in Balloon Fight.
Multiplayer picks with friends
Finally, it was time to play Local Party modethe one that generated the most laughter, since it brought together eight players to participate in a competitive frenzy. This format was based on points and even if you were last you could scratch something and dream of a comeback.
And the mode was made up of four tests and depending on your position in each one you obtained more or less points. The only penalty was if you abandoned, since you didn’t take anything with you. Why is there the option to abandon?
This is a design measure to ensure that the player always has a way out if the level gets complicated. However, I see it from the cruelest side. And this mode allows you to see the other players on the same shared screen… and you may be particularly bad at some level.
It is played at the same time, so when everyone is finishing and you are still stuck, you will feel more and more pressure. Looks that judge more than a court, the sweat on your hands… everything gets complicated, there are people waiting, perhaps the best thing is to give up and save yourself the embarrassment.
At the end of the four tests, The player who has obtained the most points in total wins.. Note that in this mode there were also a number of packs or combinations of levels to try and different themes with a greater or lesser degree of difficulty.
Nintendo World Championships NES Edition is revealed as a pleasant surprise
Nintendo World Championships NES Edition has more to offer like World Championship mode with five weekly events that will allow you to compete online against players from all over the globe to climb the leaderboard.
I’m already seeing all the “pros” of Super Mario Maker 2 coming, destroying any slightest hope of seeing us leading the rankings at some point. This game can generate quite crazy viral clips seeing how some pass the levels as if they were automatons.
We also find another nice tribute to Nintendo’s history. Each game has a series of levels that increase in difficulty until they reach a certain point. Legend Levela very complicated test only suitable for the most skilled… or the most studious.
And you can learn the secrets behind great speedruns by consulting a guide that tells you how to complete that level by illustrating where you have to jump or what you should do at a certain point in the level. What is that guide like? Well as if it were the ones that were published in Nintendo Power.
As I say, the nostalgia born from the 90s is a fundamental part of this game, which also allows you to rediscover titles if you are younger. In my case, I had never played Kirby’s Adventure. You can imagine how the tests for this title came to me. What a mess!
During the session there was no shortage of jabs, the occasional biting comment in the form of a joke and a few laughs. Nintendo World Championships NES Edition met its goal with just one hour of testing. The proposal is really fun alone or with other players.
While it is true that Nintendo World Championships NES Edition is not a console seller, it is about the umpteenth Nintendo idea that, once you try it, catches you more than expected reminiscent at times of NES Remix.
The only thing left to see is whether its formula based on stimulating mini-challenges à la WarioWare: Move It! it doesn’t end up repeating itself. For now, with Nintendo World Championships NES Edition, speed, nostalgia and platforms, many platforms, await us.
