Ever wanted to become the best Nintendo gamer out there? Well, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition will certainly put your skills to the test! Aimed to become a master in NES games this blast from the past offers a lot of fun and competition. Is it enough to buy it? Let’s jump in!
A blast from the past
The Nintendo World Championships might bring back a lot of nostalgia for some of you. It was one of the biggest video game competitions. The 1990 edition in America is considered a cornerstone of competitive gaming; some even call it the start of eSports. The idea was simple, bring together the best of the best and let them compete in different challenges, featuring Nintendo’s classics on the Nintendo Entertainment System. This was way before the internet and online lobbies, if you wanted to compete, you had to be there in person! The 1990 edition had a prize fund for the winner and a trip to Universal Studios, unseen for that era and therefore an important moment for gaming and Nintendo. Now, fast-forward to today when Nintendo holds official Splatoon and Smash Bros. competitions worldwide but isn’t looking for that ultimate Nintendo World Champion anymore. Someone at the Nintendo Headquarters clearly didn’t agree with this concept and thought it might be a good idea to bring back the Nintendo World Championships without the limitations of in-person events. This time, everyone can become the next World Champion and you don’t have to leave your house for it! Amazing times indeed.
Are you up for the challenge
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is the next evolution in the World Championships and currently offers 150 challenges divided over 13 NES games. Classics like The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. are part of the collection but you’ll also play the lesser known franchises like Ice Climbers and Excitebike. If you grew up with the Nintendo Entertainment System, this is one big trip down memory lane and I highly recommend playing this game with the special NES Joy-Con to make it feel more authentic. If you’re a newer Nintendo fan, you’ll certainly appreciate the first Nintendo games and the challenges that came with them. The goal of the game itself is to clear a challenge as fast as possible. The faster you clear the challenge, the higher your rank. Clearing challenges will reward you some coins, these are needed to unlock the next set of challenges. It’s all pretty straightforward but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to play. What I like most about this is the variety of challenges. It ranges from extremely easy ones like ‘enter this door’ to more complex ones like ‘finish this level as fast as possible’. The level of difficulty is clearly stated on the top of each icon and although it might feel too easy, wait until you try the master challenges, even the most experienced Nintendo veteran will struggle with those. The speedrun mode is a great way to sharpen your skills but it gets more interesting when you start competing with others.
Take on the world
When you’re ready to put your skills to the test, you can go test your skills in the World Championships mode, here you’ll play five different challenges that change every week. You can play those challenges as many times as you want, your best score gets uploaded to the servers and at the end of the week, Nintendo reveals the winners of the challenge. It’s not a true live experience where you battle against other online players like you’re doing in F-Zero 99 but it gives you a good idea of what it takes to become the champion. Looking for a more ‘real’ experience? The Survival Mode might be what you’re looking for. In this mode, you’re playing against seven ghosts of other players in a set of three games. In every mode, players get cut from the roster if they can’t clear the challenges fast enough. Pushing through to the finale will take patience, skill, and maybe even a bit of luck. I like the weekly challenges but the Survival Mode is the mode that really made me feel like I was competing in a real tournament, including the stress levels!
Mario Kart? Let’s play Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition instead!
The last mode I want to discuss is the Party Mode, probably my favorite mode in the game. Party Mode is a competitive local co-op experience where up to eight people can enjoy the chaos. You pick a certain challenge or pick a set of challenges that you want to play and you compete against each other. Before you start, you’ll see a short demo video demonstrating what you need to do. Afterward, you can practice a couple of runs or go straight to the real challenges. The bigger and more difficult challenges come with hidden documents in the menu that will show you what you need to do in full detail. The better you score, the more points you’ll get. Just like in Mario Kart, the winner of the set is the player who gathered the most points at the end of the set. Playing this together with friends is as chaotic and fun as it sounds it this could easily be added to the list of great Nintendo party games for an evening filled with gaming fun. Sure, there could have been more challenges available but for its lower price, the amount of fun you get in return is more than decent! Just be sure you’re playing this on a bigger screen if you’re inviting over more than 3 friends, all the screens pushed together on one screen don’t work on smaller monitors.
Conclusion:
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is the game for the competitive gamer who wants to become really good at classic Nintendo games. The more casual gamers will certainly enjoy the Party Mode and its chaotic multiplayer. It doesn’t offer the most content and I’m certainly hoping for some free DLC in the future but its price, it’s a decent and fun Nintendo game nevertheless!
