The 1989 movie The Wizard had a profound effect on me as a child. In it, young Fred Savage’s character makes his way to the Nintendo World Championships in, heck, I can’t even remember which city, but it was somewhere far away, to put his video game skills to the test. However, once he gets there, a big twist in the event is that he competes in Super Mario Bros. 3 unpublished at the time. And boy oh boy did that product placement job to perfection – me HAD to have Super Mario Bros. 3 the moment it came out after that, and God bless my mom, she bought it for me. She took it out of that white plastic K-Mart grocery bag and just gave it to me – it wasn’t even my birthday or anything! – is an essential memory for me.
That’s what I think of when I think of the Nintendo World Championships, but for others, the real-life competition was much more than that: a real-life competition. Now, Nintendo is putting a creative spin on nostalgia for its history in a way only they seem to be really good at: turning it into a local and online multiplayer game for the Nintendo Switch that’s being played in increments, starting from under two seconds. (this is not a joke) about a minute max.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition includes 13 games: Super Mario Bros. 1-3, Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels, Zelda 1 and 2, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Donkey Kong, Ballon Fight, Excitebike, Ice Climber, and Kirby’s Adventure. I ended up getting into each of them during a 90-minute practice session in both solo and local Party modes. Of course I knew what I was getting into – a collection of classic NES games from my childhood turned into competitive challenges – but I didn’t expect the format to be so much FUN.
Of these games, Kirby’s Adventure was the only one I would never play as a kid, and of course it was Kirby’s challenges that turned me off the most. But outside of that, I had an absolute blast trying to earn the S rank in the countless challenges offered for each game. They get harder and harder as you go, of course, and you have to unlock the harder ones with coins you earn by getting good ranks in the challenges you access.
As an example, the first challenge from The Legend of Zelda is so simple it probably sounds stupid: you start from the beginning of the game and you have to walk into the cave that is on the first screen and get the sword. And yet, I found myself replaying it a few times to try and shave tenths of a second off my time and get that proud S rank.
However, the party mode is where it really got fun. IGN’s Rebekah Valentine and I competed in a series of Party Mode challenges against Nintendo representatives. We beat Super Mario Bros. World 1-1. 3. We got the first energy ball in Metroid. We climbed to the top of the first stage on Donkey Kong, took a spin around the track on Excitebike and more. Is it the perfect recreation of an in-person competition with hundreds if not thousands of people cheering you on? Of course not. But it’s an incredibly simple festive game that really anyone can pick up and play. Will it help if you already have a nostalgic connection to these games? No doubt. But is this experience required? Absolutely not; in 2024, any of these 1980s classics can be picked up and played by anyone very easily, as there are only two buttons to worry about.
Speaking of buttons though, my real complaint about Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition involves them. See, when four of you compete, all four of you have to press the A button to get ready before an event starts. The problem is, MORE from games use the B button as a turbo or run button you naturally want to hold as fast as the countdown timer reaches zero. But if any of the four of you haven’t prepared yet and someone else starts tapping on the B button waiting for the event to start, it takes everyone back to the previous menu. This happened over and over during my 90-minute practice session, and I wasn’t the only one doing it randomly. It seems like a UI design flaw for which there should be a solution.
I have another gripe, though this one is much less serious: the slowdown in Kirby’s Adventure (and probably in parts of other games I didn’t see enough to rule it out). The versions of the 13 games included here are the original iterations, but during some of Kirby’s challenges, the slowdown kicked in and felt devastating to the action – as frame rate hits do in any game, modern or classic. I can see the argument for keeping each of the games as is, but for the sake of the competition that is at the heart of the game at the Nintendo World Championships, I’d prefer it toned down. You may disagree, and that’s okay!
Meanwhile, I didn’t play the Online World Championships mode since, of course, the game isn’t out yet and there’s no one online to play. But expect weekly rankings there, with the ability to see replays of top players – a useful tool to improve your skills and strategies.
Nintendo World Championship: NES Edition feels right at $30 for the digital version, and I was again surprised by how engaged I was with the seemingly simple challenges it presents (at least in the early rounds). I hope this goes well, because the name of this implies that we might get a SNES Edition, Nintendo 64 Edition, and dare I say a GameCube version if this is a hit.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox show, The podcast was unlockedas well as our monthly interview show(s), Unfiltered IGN. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.