The Blog

The early 90s was a golden age for Nintendo. NES sales were through the roof, the Game Boy was selling like hotcakes, and their latest system was right around the corner. SEGA was just a blip on their radar, and Atari’s fall from grace was far from over. Even their company name eventually replaced “video games” in parent’s vocabularies until the mid-2000s! Things were going so great that Nintendo decided to keep the hype train rolling and planned The Nintendo World Championships. The concept was grand, and kids, teenagers, and even some adults flocked to shopping malls to show off their skills and become a Nintendo World Champion. Sadly, this didn’t last long. Even when Nintendo tried to revive the championships in 2017, it wasn’t meant to be. Sure, they can’t get the hype of an actual tournament like the ones in the ’90s again, but they CAN release a game harkening back to those tournaments so everyone can play in them. At least to some degree.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is Nintendo’s newest entry in what I’m calling their “Nostalgia” line (more on that some other time). There are over 150 speedrunning challenges across 13 NES games and your goal is to complete them as fast as humanly possible. Turn on the internet services and your times get recorded and shared all over the world. There are 3 modes you can play: Speedrun is the offline mode where you can practice a challenge after unlocking it. World Championship has a set of 5 challenges where you can set your best time and hope it beats out other players. Survival also has a set of challenges for you to play in, but you’re racing against ghost data from other players.

On the surface, this game looks pretty bare-bones and uninteresting to a casual fan. To the Nintendo die-hards and video game historians (like myself), Nintendo did a great job bringing the classic Championship style of gameplay to the Switch. Each challenge ranges in difficulty from easy to legendary. One challenge has you going up the first ladder in Donkey Kong and another wants you to speedrun all of Super Mario Bros. in under 10 minutes. The variety and difficulty in challenges are there, and the game is beginner-friendly. Say you were to fall off a ledge or lose a power-up you needed, the game instantly rewinds a few seconds so you could try again. Yes, the timer keeps ticking, but you won’t lose a life and have to start all over again. Restarting a challenge is as easy as hitting the L and R buttons simultaneously, and going back to the menu can be achieved by hitting ZL and ZR.

So how does the “World Championship” fit into this? How it works is that for 1 week, players can play in a set of 5 challenges in World Championship mode. Competitors chase their best time and it gets submitted automatically. If you happen to beat your championship best time (in Championship mode), the new time gets submitted and your records are updated. Besides the time limit, there is no limit to how many times you can retry a challenge to improve your time. Once the allotted time for the championship is up, the results are released, and a new set of challenges is picked for competitors. You can’t see how other competitors are doing, which hurts and helps. You won’t be discouraged by seeing times vastly quicker than yours, but you won’t know how much you need to improve to get better.

When the Championship is done, you can see your results. The rankings go as how many people played, as well as those who played in the same year you were born. My best challenge in the first competition was going through 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. in under 22 seconds. I got an S ranking, but 362 people got better times than I did. However, I placed in the top 0.8% of players worldwide. The total number of competitors for that challenge came out to 50,637 and for those who were born in the year 1990, I placed 16 out of 1,748. It’s cool to see, but alas, you still can’t check the times of other players to see what times beat yours. You can also see in the screenshots below that I tied with so many others at the same time, so I can’t tell how many people I truly beat to get rank 363. Even if they don’t keep the records in a database, it would be nice for Nintendo to show people the scores of others who beat you just to practice incase the challenge gets picked again for the Championship.

Survival mode is the other competitive mode with different rules. There are 3 challenges (picked from the current Championship Mode pool) and 3 rounds in this 1v7 free-for-all. However, you aren’t playing against live players, but rather ghost data of their runs from previous attempts. In Survival mode, there is a rewind feature but no restart feature. This means you can “die” in a challenge and keep going, but you can’t restart the challenge, you either win, get knocked out, or give up. Survival mode also has 2 “divisions” (Silver and Gold) with shared and different challenges. The challenges played in the division are random, which can help or hinder you, depending on which challenge you’re stronger in. Like in Championship mode, the challenges refresh every week so you won’t be stuck with the same challenges.

It’s clear the devs at Nintendo put some love and care into this game to make it feel like the older Nintendo World Championship carts that were used in the old tournaments. I had the pleasure of playing the 1990 cart at a convention years ago and I was surprised by how the games worked in this competitive setting. I only knew of the championships through a book and them being mentioned across different mediums from time to time. Having the challenges there so you can practice them for Survival mode and be able to keep trying for your best score in Championship mode keeps me wanting to come back. Even if I did the best I could do in Championship mode and won both divisions in Survival, I still have some challenges to unlock and play in for Speedrun mode. Even though I would get frustrated with missing a jump or not getting the timing right on a run, the feeling of scoring an ‘S’ ranking on a challenge is addicting. Especially on the harder challenges.

The game isn’t without its problems, however. One of the biggest flaws of the game is the default screen size for the challenges in Speedrun and Survival mode. Speedrun mode has your personal best time to the right while the screen you’re currently playing is to the left. While I see why some gamers may like this as a way to see how they are progressing or getting better, I find it distracting. Especially when I mess up a jump and see the completion screen out of the corner of my eye. Survival mode is the most egregious with all the screens set to the same size. You can easily get lost in where your screen is if your eyes wander, but thankfully this can be changed in the settings. You can hide your personal best window entirely in Speedrun, and your screen does get larger for Survival – so if you need to sneak a peek at who to beat in Survival mode you still can. While playing, I kept switching between my Pro Controller and my Super Famicom controller to see if one was better than the other (I don’t own any wired controllers or the NES wireless ones). There were times when the Pro Controller D-pad would spazz out and go in the wrong direction, or not register at all. The Super Famicom controller worked great, but my hand started to cramp up while holding it certain ways to get quicker button inputs. Some folks online have been complaining about input lag with the wireless controllers, but as of now I have yet to experience a major issue (though there have been a few times I could’ve sworn I pushed the button in time to make a jump).

While I praise Nintendo for trying something like this, there are still things that Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition could have improved on. Not having lobbies or matchmaking is good for those who work late hours (like me) but it would be nice to play with live humans online. The Party Mode can hold up to 8 players, but they have to be in your living room and 8 controllers need to be connected to your Switch. Also, more people playing means the smaller the screens are going to be. No setting up a room online like in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Survival mode does help as I’m playing against players, but those players recorded their times who knows how long ago.

With the game just coming out, it’s hard to tell how long people will want to play this. Sure, you can keep practicing in Speedrun mode, but once you get an ‘A’ rank or higher you get your in-game pin and that’s it. There isn’t much to keep players coming back aside from different weekly challenges that you may or may not have played in Speedrun. Not to mention this game is all about the NES – and while there is a wide love for retro games, that’s still a niché fanbase within another niché fanbase. There is a funny line when you first boot up the game on how some of its players haven’t been born yet when Nintendo started the Championships, but those players may only play a few minutes and never touch it again.

If you’re interested in this game, then this is the warning I shall bestow upon you: the game is fun, challenging yourself with mastering these older games is fun, and the rush you get when you set a personal record is quite nice. However, this is made for players who like speed runs, those who like to get through games as quickly as possible and nail those pixel-perfect jumps. If that doesn’t interest you, and you aren’t the biggest fan of 8-bit/older Nintendo games, then you won’t have fun with this. I enjoy playing competitively with friends and family, and the fact that I can play against other people around the world from the comfort of my home is exciting. This game screams Nintendo history, and I’m having fun getting high scores and playing games I’ve never really played on the NES before, like Kid Icarus and Excitebike.

If you’re still interested, and think this could be a fun party game, then definitely get the digital version. It’s only $30, and if you happen to have a Nintendo eShop gift card lying around, then it’s a fine purchase. If you want to get the physical game, then you’ll either have to get the Deluxe Set or buy the game only from a reseller. Nintendo didn’t make a “Standard” physical copy, so it’s digital-only or shelling out some extra cash for a physical copy. The Deluxe Set does come with a replica cartridge, beautiful pins, and some postcards, but it’ll cost you $60. If you have a love for gaming history and neat little knick-knacks, then the Deluxe Set will be a great little treat for you. I currently have my replica cart displayed on my work desk.

When you hear the phrase “Roguelike RPG” what do you think of? It’s probably a litany of games like Hades or Cult of the Lamb with action-based combat with some other mechanics built in. Now that roguelike RPGs have become a more prominent sub-genre within gaming, it’s hard to find something new and exciting. However, I got to play a preview of Spike Chunsoft’s newest game in the Shiren the Wanderer series. Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island (Shiren 6) is the newest roguelike RPG to toss its hat into the ring. After playing it for a good long while I feel that this one will leave a mark not just with fans of the series, but fans of roguelikes in general.

When you think of shoot’em-ups ( shmups for short), what games do you think of? Gradius? Xevious? 1942? All classic shmups have stood the test of time. While it’s great seeing these games getting re-releases on modern hardware and their arcade cabinets still getting used, there hasn’t been much in the vein of classic shmups in a long time. Enter publisher Tendokore and their new game, GyroBlade, which aims to bring back that classic shmup and arcade feeling.

Nintendo has a problem. Granted, Nintendo has quite a few problems, but there is one problem that’s persisted over the years…one that’s been plaguing them since the late 80s and has been a thorn in the side of many. When a new Nintendo product (game or system) hits retailers online or in stores, they seem to vanish just as quickly as they arrived. Resellers and scalpers are jacking up the price, and when you try to buy said product honestly, it seems that no one has what you’re looking for. Nintendo has a supply problem.

The most recent evidence of the Nintendo supply problem came when Metroid Prime Remastered hit store shelves last week on February 22nd. While stores like GameStop had pre-orders of the game for customers, walking into a store and getting a physical copy seemed impossible without the pre-order. Stores were sold out, and people online were saying that retailers only got a handful of copies, leading to the game going for over $100 online. Sure, you could buy the game digitally, but those who want a physical copy were screwed. If you were to search for the game on Amazon, there was no mention of a physical copy even being available; only the digital version. Nintendo’s official website currently says the physical copy is sold out and no longer available. Hopefully this changes after some time passes, but it’s not looking good for Nintendo. The worst part? This has happened multiple times in the past, yet fans keep finding themselves here.

Many a Nintendo fan has waited patiently for Super Nintendo World’s arrival in the United States. The FOMO fans have experienced from watching vloggers and social media influencers cover the park in Japan has been excruciating. While fun to watch, it’s been agonizing seeing the cute merchandise, the picture opportunities with Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach, the Power-Up bands, and more.

Thankfully, the wait is nearly over. At time of publishing, Super Nintendo World will officially open at Universal Studios Hollywood on February 17th, 2023, with soft openings and technical rehearsals happening now. So many in Southern California are excited, myself very much included. While social media posts, land updates, and drone footage of the land are exciting, now might be time to temper expectations in order to keep our video game dream come true from becoming a nightmare.

On January 9th, 1999, the United States was formally introduced to the Pokémon Trading Card Game (PTCG) and parents have been angry ever since. All over the country, kids were begging and pleading with their parents to buy them Pokémon cards and starter decks. These packs flew off the shelves and became more valuable than gold, especially if you were the lucky kid who pulled a Charizard. My younger brother and I weren’t helping, as we constantly schemed and pooled our money together to try and buy a few more packs for the both of us. We just wanted to collect the cards like every other kid we knew! Pokémon card collecting was the “It” thing at the time; all we cared about was who had what card. No one on the playground knew how to properly play the PTCG, and I wouldn’t learn until 23 years later.

When my brother and I would get a hold of cards, there were times we tried to learn how to play. Sadly, we would let one little obstacle ruin our quest to become PTCG masters; the dang instruction booklet. Back in the day with the Fossil and Jungle sets, our parents would buy us both starter decks so we could learn how to play. Yet, when we would open these starter decks and read the rule booklet, there was a line in the beginning that said something like, “These are the ADVANCED rules for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. DO NOT read this book unless you’ve played the Pokémon Trading Card Game a few times.” This had us both stumped because how could we learn how to play if we didn’t know how to play?! We even asked our parents to read it and teach us, but that was futile, as they didn’t understand anything the rule book was trying to tell them. With that, we just gave up trying to learn how to play and stuck with collecting. In our defense, we were young (about 9 and 8 years old respectively) and didn’t have a full grasp of the nuances of Pokémon… yet.

Nearly every gamer alive has a story like this one. You’re at a family function, visiting with relatives you haven’t seen in years. The smaller kids are running around, and while you’re talking with a close cousin, you hear one of the kids say this. “Oh, I’m the best at Mario Kart. No one can beat me at that game!” Both you and your cousin instantly have flashbacks of all those late nights spent playing Mario Kart 64 and Double Dash. You crack a smile, your cousin nods, and suddenly you’re both hooking up a Nintendo console. The kid continues to “brag” about their Mario Kart accomplishments, completely unaware of the severe beatdown they are about to receive from the 2 veterans.

Mario Kart is that grand paradox of a game where practically everyone knows about it, even those who don’t play video games at all. It’s also amazing that the best-selling Mario game of all time (at the time of publishing) isn’t a regular Mario platformer, but Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. According to Nintendo Fandom Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold 55.27 million units. Mario Kart games in the past 3 console generations have either been the number 1 seller or held a spot in the top 3. Looking at Nintendo’s own data, which goes as far back as the Nintendo DS, every console and handheld has had a Mario Kart game in one of the top slots. This series has come a long way since its debut 30 years ago, all the way back on the Super Nintendo.

Super Mario Kart came out in North America on September 1st, 1992 and set the stage for the success of future games. While not the first kart racing game, it was the first to star Mario and his friends. Fun fact, the game didn’t start development as a Mario game, but as a sequel to F-Zero. According to Playing With Super Power: Super NES Classics, fans of F-Zero wanted to play with their friends, but couldn’t since the game was single-player only. The devs at Nintendo had a problem to tackle, as adding a multiplayer mode meant the high speed that F-Zero was famous for would have to diminish greatly due to hardware limitations during split-screen gameplay. So, instead of alien super-craft, the team opted for less threatening go-karts, then eventually decided to use Mario and his friends as the playable characters. The project went from being a true racing game to a party game disguised as a racing game, and that certainly makes sense. How many times have you gone to a friend’s party and someone busts out a version of Mario Kart to play with others?

How has the game aged over the years? I would say it’s like a very fine wine, as in it’s an acquired taste. For a 16-bit game, it still looks beautiful with great pixel art and some decent tracks. There is one small thing I do need to address; if you played ANY other Mario Kart game before you played Super Mario Kart as a kid, then it will show its age and may be harder to enjoy. Not because of the controls, but just how the game feels when you play. It’s hard to explain, but the karts feel looser and overall harder to handle than later entries. Along with that, the screen threw me for a loop when I first tried playing on my SNES Classic Edition. Even for single-player races, the screen is split with a map of the track on the bottom and the race on top. It was hard for me to adjust while playing, as the only time I would have split-screen was when playing with someone else. Even though I could feel the game’s age as I was playing it, I was still having fun. Even when I would comment on something that would be improved later down the line, I was still having fun, and it was great to experience the first outing of one of my favorite game franchises.

Is Super Mario Kart the best game of the series? Not by a long shot, but it set the foundation for something truly special for years to come. The legacy that this game created is unreal. It was the 4th best-selling SNES game (according to Playing With Super Power) and the series is so popular that the main attraction for the Super Nintendo World areas in Universal theme parks is a Mario Kart *ride! In essence, *Super Mario Kart cruised down the highway so the games that followed can zoom past with their 150cc engines. While many have their personal favorite Mario Kart game, we all know that when the franchise is mentioned, people will always be down to play.

The N64 games offered through the Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) service should have been the easiest slam dunk for Nintendo. Ever since NES and SNES games became available to play on the service, gamers were foaming at the mouth for N64 games. When the N64 app was finally announced there was much rejoicing, and then the pricing to access these games turned joy into shock, and then emulation problems upon release led to horror and anger. Ever since, Nintendo has been trying to get back in the public’s good graces, and to their credit, they have been fixing the bugs and emulation problems with the N64 NSO app. Nintendo also keeps adding games, which is something players definitely want, but their most recent announcement has me mad. Not because of the game that was announced, but due to a crucial part of the game being completely gutted entirely.

Let’s start with a quick history lesson. Pokémon Stadium was the main reason I wanted an N64 in the first place. Not Mario, not Zelda, but Pokémon. Those little monsters had me constantly begging my parents for the Nintendo 64 and a copy of the game when I saw a commercial for it on TV. Why was I begging my parents for this game? To me, the best part of Pokémon was the battles. Playing the original Game Boy game, I constantly searched for trainers to battle and stomp on. When I saw that there was a game where all you did was battle AND there were 3D models of my favorite Pokémon, I knew I had to have it. Even when the N64 games were announced for NSO, I hoped they would bring in the Stadium titles. Especially now, since a loose cart of Pokémon Stadium 2 will cost you around $71 according to Pricecharting. Now you might be thinking to yourself, “But Ben, Nintendo DID announce these games. Both of them are coming next year, why are you upset about this?” I’m upset because these games will probably be nigh unbeatable with just the rental Pokémon available, and you won’t be able to transfer your Pokémon into the games.

In 2001, many die hard SEGA fans cried out in sadness. SEGA announced that they would no longer be making consoles of their own, but instead would become a third party developer and would make games for all consoles. This included their former arch rival Nintendo, and veterans of the 90’s console wars shuddered. “Sonic on a Nintendo console!? Blasphemy,” they would say. Over 20 years have passed since SEGA’s decision and Sonic has had a very interesting ride on Nintendo systems. Some have been great (Sonic Advance), others have not been so good (Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric). To be clear this piece is going to focus on games that were initially released on/for Nintendo consoles ONLY. No compilations (sorry Sonic Gems) or titles that were released for all major consoles (again, sorry Sonic Mania). With that in mind, let’s look at Sonic’s first outing on a Nintendo system, the Game Boy Advance.

This past week, the Pokémon Company finally released a more in-depth trailer for their upcoming games: Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. While this trailer has taken the internet by storm and the announcement of some new Pokémon certainly has people excited, this old trainer still has some doubts. The core Pokémon games haven’t really changed much over the years and it’s still too early to tell what Game Freak will do with this new entry. Thus far things seem promising, but there are a few elements that may make gamers a bit upset.

Turing 16 is a big deal for some people. It’s when teenagers can get their driver’s licenses, earn more freedoms from their parents, or throw the biggest party they can get away with. While Mario isn’t a stranger to big celebrations, one series has been quietly hanging out on the sidelines. The series in question is New Super Mario Bros and while the sequels aren’t really regarded with the highest of praise, it’s the first game of this franchise that is still regarded as the pinnacle.

It seems when Nintendo isn’t giving fans what they’ve been dying for, indie developers step it up. Undertale did it for the Earthbound fans, Hollow Knight did it for the Metroidvania fans, and now *Astrodogs * is attempting to help out the *Star Fox * fans. While this game gives a valiant effort, there are still a few problems that more casual fans might not be so keen on.

It might be hard to believe, but Nintendo’s first upgrade to the GBA is nearly 20 years old. March 23rd marks the 19th anniversary of the GBA SP’s release in North America; a platform that launched just 2 years after the GBA itself. Since its release, the GBA SP has become the go-to handheld for those who want to revisit the Game Boy Advance library, and thanks to backwards compatibility, it’s perfect for Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, too.

In honor of the GBA SP’s 19th anniversary, let’s take a look back at this amazing upgrade to an already amazing handheld.

Tactical games have seen a big boom as of late. This year we’re getting Triangle Strategy, Metal Slug Tactics, Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp, and a remake of Front Mission, all for the Switch. However, if you aren’t in the mood for a story-heavy tactical RPG, then Keith Burgun’s Gem Wizards Tactics could be for you. It has some great pixel art and crazy-looking characters, but there are some glaring issues with the game, especially in the Switch version.

Let’s start with some of the good. Aside from nice-looking pixel art and a more pastel color palette for the genre, Gem Wizards Tactics (GWT) twists the tactical aspect by having an out of bounds. All battles take place on a randomly generated field with different terrain. If you manage to knock an enemy unit off the map, then they’re done for. GWT also moves away from the Fire Emblem approach to losing units. Here, if a unit dies in battle, you get them back in the next fight. There are several different factions and each one is unique. Each faction design has a ton of character, and each unit offers a specific set of skills. There’s a faction full of sentient potatoes (yes, you read that right), business-suited demons, punk rock-loving skeletons with a flair for activism, and a cyber punk group of hackers. There’s even a faction with knights and mages found in a traditional fantasy setting, but the world of GWT is anything but traditional.

The game modes of GWT consist of a Tutorial, Campaign, Mission, and Derby’s Story. If you were looking for any sort of storyline to this game, then Derby’s Story is where you’re going to find it. Unfortunately, the story is super short, and the writing isn’t the best. There are some decent jokes in there that gave me a small chuckle, but other than that, it fell flat. Outside of the opening cinematic and Derby’s Story, there really is no storyline.

The campaign mode is a single player match where you control 1 faction and complete missions to control the Omni-Gem (the main Gem in the game). You have to complete 8 missions or so to access the Omni-Gem mission, and once you beat it with one faction, you can try again with a different faction. While playing these missions, you can save other units and they’ll join your fight. There are also treasure chests to collect on the maps that offer both gold and items. However, if you fail a mission in the middle of a campaign, you’ll have to start the campaign all over again, and you lose everything. While the missions are short, this can get annoying, especially when you’re close to the end of a campaign.