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Exploring the Thrill of Speedrunning with Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition
My nostalgia for classic gaming immediately embraced the charm of Nintendo's latest unveiling: a Switch compilation featuring NES speedrunning challenges.
Indeed, the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is not a figment of our imaginations – it's a tangible assembly of speedrunning-centric retro trials scheduled for release on July 18. Despite the announcement trailer providing just under a minute of gameplay snippets, it resonated with my old-school gaming soul to such an extent that I’m tempted to declare it my game of the year for 2024.
This compilation throws down the gauntlet with 150 challenges strewn across 13 venerated NES titles, each daring players to achieve a game-specific target with haste. The challenges vary widely, from completing the inaugural level of Super Mario Bros. to vanquishing a designated number of foes in Zelda 2. Earning these goals grants players coins, which they can use to access more challenges. Each completed challenge earns players a letter grade that signifies their skill level.
Mirroring the early whispers from the ESRB leak, this compilation emerges as a more refined successor to NES Remix, a collection that ranks highly among my most cherished Wii U experiences. The distinction lies in its emphasis on timed challenges, especially a collection of online leaderboard challenges that refresh on a weekly basis. Furthermore, a party mode is introduced, accommodating up to eight players in a local set-up for a simultaneous challenge frenzy.
Most of the announcement trailer focuses on delineating the history behind the esports event that inspired the game’s title. However, the brief snippet of gameplay revealed was sufficient to convince me of the compilation's appeal. Distilling these iconic games to their essence and offering a platform to conquer each challenge separately in manageable segments seems like an inviting approach to re-experience these classics in 2024, an opportunity I eagerly anticipate.
The Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition will make its debut on July 18, available for $30. For those desiring something more tangible, a deluxe physical edition can be acquired for $60. In a recent announcement, Nintendo revealed 13 upcoming games, heralding a nostalgic return to the golden era of video games.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this NES Edition signals the starting point for a series that could potentially include a SNES Edition, Game Boy Edition, among others.
It’s evident that this collection houses several of the finest NES games ever created.
