Nintendo Treehouse Goes Hands-On With Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition

Posted on July 03 2024 by Kora Burton

Ahead of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition releasing on July 18th, 2024, the team over at Nintendo Treehouse has put together a fun showcase of the game’s many engaging and competitive features. At just under 30 minutes, the presentation features a couch competition with team members completing various challenges, all while explaining what we can expect from Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition.

The hosts take viewers beyond the bullet points of simply advertizing the upcoming title, providing us a more chaotic, true-to-life taste of what it’s like to play through these quick game snippets with friends. The 150 unique speedrunning challenges, pulling from 13 different Nintendo Entertainment System titles, appear to be thoughtfully scaffolded, so that as you play and unlock more challenges, your speedrunning skills and ability to complete more difficult levels strengthen at the same time. I also appreciate the video tutorials that play before each challenge, so the player can visualize what they’re supposed to do before they begin.

While the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition announcement trailer introduced us to Speedrun Mode, World Championships Mode, and Party Mode, this recent Nintendo Treehouse presentation also unveiled Survival Mode: enter either the Silver (easier) or Gold (harder) division and face off in elimination matches against ghost data of seven other players from around the world (a Nintendo Switch Online membership is required for all online features of the game). Challenges for Survival Mode refresh every week.

One thing I liked seeing during this presentation was the inclusion of theme-based challenge packs featured during the Party Mode demonstration. These packs are divided according to titles, series, objective categories, release year, and more, so that you can tailor your Party Mode experience to the skill levels and interests of your group, which can include up to eight players locally on a single system.

While only a couple of them were actually demonstrated, game snippets for Zelda fans featured during this presentation included The Legend of Zelda challenges such as “Don’t Go Alone,” “Octorok Onslaught,” and “Labryinth Champion,” alongside The Adventure of Link challenges like “Crumbling Crossing,” “Magic Jar Excavation,” “Knuckle Sandwich,” and “Neigh Slayer.” I think classic Zelda fans will appreciate being able to tackle these bite-sized and sometimes humorously-named challenges, alone or in a race against friends.

Before facing off for a final 1v1 speedrace of Super Mario Bros., the hosts revealed one more special surprise in the form of Legend difficulty challenges and the Classified Information screens that accompany them. These Nintendo Power-like infographic screens provide tips, tricks, and even detailed routes for beating the most difficult challenges in the game, while eliciting some paper manual nostalgia.

Releasing on July 18th, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is available for preorder now, either in digital form for $29.99 USD or in physical form as part of the deluxe set for $59.99 USD. The Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition Deluxe Set includes the physical game cartridge, five collectible pins, 13 art cards featuring each of the original NES games included in the new title, and a gold-colored NES cartridge (for display only).

What did you think of this Nintendo Treehouse presentation featuring Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition? Are you excited for the game’s release? Which features do you think you’re looking forward to the most? Are there any boss fights or other challenges you’re hoping to see included from The Legend of Zelda or The Adventure of Link? Let us know in the comments down below!

Source: Nintendo of America