Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition - Switch Review
"A fun new way to revisit some of the NES’ classic library."
It’s technically possible to get the first super mushroom in Super Mario Bros. within four seconds of starting the game. So how fast can you do it? Now, how many times are you willing to replay that four second burst of gameplay to optimise that route, shaving off precious hundredths of a second? This is just one of the many mini-time-trials posed by Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, Nintendo’s latest remix of, and homage to, the classic NES games of the past. The World Championship presentation is charmingly retro, but make no mistake - this is NES for the speedrunning era.
The Good
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition has 13 different NES games to play (only SMB1 survives from the original 3 games of the 1990 real-life Nintendo World Championships - sorry, Rad Racer and Tetris fans). These are all classics you’ll have at least heard of, if not played before. But rather than full games, NVC: NE presents small sections of each game as individual challenges. These range from the micro (kill three octoroks in the original Legend of Zelda), to the lengthy (beat SMB1 from the start).
With over 150 challenges, inevitably some will be more entertaining than others; I joyfully grinded Donkey Kong for S-rank times, but will be fine never playing Balloon Fight again. Overall though, the variety is great, and a fun showcase for these classic games. Everyone will find the game they prefer, and maybe discover a new favourite. And while it is understandable that the NWC: NE doesn’t include the full version of any of the games, it certainly makes you wish it did!
Whatever the game, whatever the challenge, the goal is the same: speed. NWC: NE proudly wears its modern speedrunning influence - you can instantly restart a challenge, controller inputs are shown live on-screen, replays of your personal bests are available to watch alongside your current run. All of these little features mean this is where the game shines: it’s easy to get into the addictive role of speedrunner, happily trying the same challenge over and over to cut milliseconds off your best time and get that S-rank. Which can be tough. The game does build you up to the harder/longer challenges, and even gives you detailed strategies, but you’re still going to need some serious skills and practice to get all the top times; when you do it’s a great feeling.
TL;DR
- Slick speedrunning gameplay
- Variety of classic games showcased
- True challenge at higher difficulties
The Bad
While the ‘Nintendo’ part of the ‘Nintendo World Championships’ is covered, what of these Championships? Well, this is where some strange decisions have been made. For online gameplay, there are two modes: firstly, a small subset of challenges are selected and you have a week to record your best time (with unlimited retries), competing against the world. But there’s no leaderboard to show how you’re doing - you must wait until the end of the contest, at which point you’re simply told your ranking.
The other online mode sees you competing ‘live’ with seven other players - three challenges, only one shot, slowest people eliminated until one person is crowned winner. You can see the other players in split-screen. It would be incredible fun. Except… you’re competing against player’s ghost data - their completion time is predetermined, and you’re really only racing against their times, not actual players. This really took some of the excitement away for me and feels like a poor decision. After all, we’ve seen Nintendo implement the live retro contests in Super Mario 35 and Tetris 99 already, to great reception.
Finally, one PSA for anyone who owns this game - play it on the big screen and don’t use joycons. The joycons’ stick and button placement make for awkward NES gaming, certainly when compared to the pro controller, or even better, wireless NES controller.
TL;DR
- Online competition element is basic
- Sometimes uncomfortable with joycons
- Doesn’t let you access all parts of the games
Final Score: 7/10
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is a fun new way to revisit some of the NES’ classic library. Playing speedrunner is a good time no matter your usual play style, and the scale of challenge is there for the hardcore who want to take it on. It’s slightly limited online functionality and the restrictions of what you can’t access in these retro games do cast a shadow, as well as some doubts on its longevity.
Thank you for checking out our Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition Switch review, thank you to Nintendo AU/NZ for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:
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