The Wii U was arguably Nintendo's most experimental console, and NES Remix was one of its most successful experiments. At the time where Nintendo's constant re-releasing of their NES library was starting to grow a bit stale, NES Remix was a breath of fresh air. At face value, it just seemed like a basic set of bite-sized, almost WarioWare-esque challenges testing you on a variety of NES classics. Cute, a great thing to show my parents who actually had nostalgia for these games, but nothing too crazy. But then you unlocked the remix stages and suddenly all the bets were off, and the WarioWare comparisons felt even more apt. Lighting effects, weather effects, stage reversals, elements from multiple NES games intersecting, the Remix challenges took these tried-and-true NES games and completely turned them on their head, and it was wonderful. For such a cheap and obviously low-budget experimental title from Nintendo, NES Remix was such an inventive and memorable little game that showcased the best aspects of that era.
Last year, Nintendo announced a game called Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. On the surface, it seemed like a game about completing challenges based on a variety of NES games, very similar to NES Remix. But compared to its older brother, it felt really lacking by comparison. NES Remix Pack had over 350 challenges based on 28 different NES games, while NWC: NES Edition only had a little more than 150 challenges based on 13 games. That's less than the first NES Remix alone, let alone the compilation game. And I don't think I need to tell you that NWC: NES Edition also lacks any Remix challenges, the reason why NES Remix became such a cult hit to begin with. It felt increasingly obvious that NWC was what NES Remix could've been, a low-budget filler game to buy time until the Switch 2's launch and nothing more. Because without what made NES Remix so special, what was going to even be the value of NWC: NES Edition?
Recently, my brother got Nintendo World Championships for his birthday so I decided to give it a try regardless. Even if it wasn't going to have the same magic of NES Remix, I was sure it would at least be somewhat fun in its own right. And you know what? I'd say that's pretty much right. Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition at its best can't top the sheer creativity of NES Remix's best challenges, but it's also not trying to. This game isn't NES Remix beyond that surface premise, it's something entirely different. Not better, not worse, different.
The moment you start Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition asks you set up your profile and asks you a few questions. It asks what your favorite NES game is and allows you to pick from anything from the NES or Famicom's library, and I mean anything. I picked Mega Man 3 of course, but it was always cool seeing what other players picked because I'd occasionally spot a game that I've just never heard of before. After that, it tells you to pick a tag that conveys your relationship with the NES and video games as a whole, from "Never Had An NES" to "Retro Game Collector" to "Raised On Arcade Games" to any of the console generations up to the DS. Aside from those two important questions, you also have the choice to pick from a variety of icons based on the playable NES games, add a pin detailing your accomplishments, and most interestingly enough, optionally add your birth year. I'm not exactly sure why anyone would willingly do that but I get the vision. Right from the get-go, Nintendo World Championships is trying to present itself as an open, welcoming experience for players of all ages and skill levels. Whether it's kids who've never played a game before, veteran adults who grew up with the NES, or anyone in between, Nintendo stipulates that it's never too late to discover or rediscover what makes the NES such an iconic console.
As a whole, presentation of NWC: NES Edition is probably it's greatest strength, especially since NES Remix wasn't exactly the strongest in this aspect. The title screens were cute and colorful with the sprites popping in and out of the screen, the UI sharing a color scheme with the Famicom was a nice touch, and the menu music was a bop across the board, but overall, I can't exactly say the UI blew me away here. NWC, on the other hand, is dripping with 80s nostalgia, with a vaporwave-inspired menu complete with catchy synth background music. The menus are as smooth, clean, and fast as you'd expect from a Switch era game, but the lively backgrounds give it much more life, really evoking the feeling of being at an actual game competition from the 80s. You may say this kind of visual throwback is overdone by now, and you'd be right, but Nintendo still pulls it off such sincerity, likely because they rarely ever leaned into era throwbacks like this. But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to NWC's visual presentation.
So that's enough beating around the bush, Nintendo World Championships isn't solely a game about completing NES-themed challenges. It's a speedrun game. As you tackle the game's challenges, you'll have access to a variety of speedrun-friendly features like an instant rewind for whenever you die, quick restarts, controller input displays, a second screen comparing you to your best run as you play, and demos that outline what you're supposed to do. In hindsight, this seems pretty obvious. This game is themed after the Nintendo World Championships, after all, a speedrunning competition. Hell, the main mode is called Speedrun Mode. But I don't think I truly realized just how much speedrunning specifically is engrained into NWC's identity. This also applies to the challenges themselves, which are less focused on giving you a vertical slice of each NES game, and more focused on training you for each game's big Legendary challenge. For example, the Super Mario Bros challenges test you on completing 1-1, finding the warp zones, and dealing with Lakitus, culminating in the Legendary challenge that makes you do a full-game speedrun from 1-1 all the way to 8-4. It's a shockingly comprehensive approach to speedrunning, especially coming from Nintendo, that does a good job of giving new players easy access to all the information they need. For the expert players, they'll probably be sad to learn that certain glitches ended up being banned here, but I think that's for the best considering what NWC is going for. It's better to give the people who aren't veteran speedrunners more of a fighting chance.
I actually quite like this focus on speedrunning, partially because while NES Remix did have a ranking system, I can't say I ever felt much incentive to go for the highest ranks outside of unlocking more levels. But in NWC: NES Edition, I was genuinely invested in shaving mere seconds off my time, optimizing my routes, and truly learning the nuances of how each game controlled. Instead of having a vague three-star system, NWC has a more robust letter-based ranking system that does a better job of conveying your progress, and it works as a great motivator. I think the Mario platformers fared the best here, trying to actually run through those games truly made me realize just how well-equipped they are for speedrunning, especially the original. Adventures Of Link was another highlight, since it already has such a high skill ceiling for an NES game. On the other hand, we have a game like Kirby's Adventure which suffered more in this context since its infamous lag and input eating issues only ended up being further exacerbated. But for the most part, it felt really good to get better at these NES games, especially because of how well Nintendo teaches and pushes you to improve. I've always been fond of games that onboard players into speedrunning, and if it wasn't for NWC: NES Edition, I probably wouldn't have ever done my first speedruns of games like Super Mario Bros and even fucking Balloon Fight. In my eyes, that has legitimate value.
That being said, I don't exactly think this fixes NWC: NES Edition's content issue. Despite the tedious addition of grinding for coins to unlock them all, it doesn't take too long to get through every single challenge. And once you do that, there isn't too much else to do beyond further optimizing your times, despite Nintendo's attempts. Beyond the main Speedrun Mode, there are two online modes: World Championships and Survival. World Championships really just tests your times on five random challenges against everyone else in the world, it's more of a situational leaderboard than anything else. Survival Mode is a bit more interesting since you're challenged in real-time against other players' ghost data, so even if your time is really good, you can still be put on your toes if your opponents are skilled on. However, the issue with both of these modes is that they only use the challenges from Speedrun Mode. Unlike many other daily/weekly challenge modes in other games, there's no original content here so if you did complete all the challenges, there's not going to be much variety here. Beating all the challenges does unlock a brutal Legendary trial that makes you do all 13 Legendary challenges back to back, but once again, that's just another way to play the same challenges. There's a variety of icons to buy and pins to unlock by beating achievements, along with a pretty neat multiplayer mode. Between that and the online modes, I definitely think NWC is better in terms of multiplayer than its predecessor. But overall, I still think NWC: NES Edition could've used just a few more games, Punch Out and Donkey Kong Jr in particular should've been shoe-ins.
So do I think Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition was ultimately dealt a bad hand? Harshly labeled a lesser NES Remix without being given a proper chance? Well, yes and no. I definitely think that once you play NWC: NES Edition for yourself, you'll quickly realize just how un-NES Remix it is. NES Remix is so much more casual, more innocently fun of an experience. NWC, on the other hand, is designed to be an outlet into hardcore gaming. It's more social, competitive, and robust in its features. I think both approaches have their own value. I'll never not adore NES Remix for how fresh its Remix challenges are, but Nintendo World Championships gave me a similarly fresh perspective on the NES by showing me how fun it can be to just run through them as fast as possible. And yet, I also can't say NWC: NES Edition didn't shoot itself in the foot with how fewer challenges it included. It's an undeniably cool experience at the end of the day and I'm glad I ultimately got to try it out, but I really don't blame anyone who thought it wasn't worth the price.
3/5 Stars
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