Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition - 10 Hardest Challenges

Summary

• Nintendo World Championships bring back nostalgic challenges from iconic NES games for the Switch.
• Each challenge requires precision and skill to earn an S-Rank, offering both fun and frustration.
• From defeating bosses quickly to completing tough courses, these challenges will test your gaming abilities.

Throughout Nintendo's long history in the video game industry, the company has hosted competitions that allowed players to face off against each other to determine a victor. While these real-life events were full of excitement and appreciation for Nintendo games, they required you to be at the right place at the right time to participate in them.

The Greatest NES Games Of All Time

The NES had a ton of iconic games in its library. With so many to choose from, these stood out as the best the console had to offer.

The company has recently remedied this problem by launching Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition for the Switch, which features around 150 challenges based on games like Super Mario Bros., Kirby’s Adventure, and more. Many of these micro-missions are fun to play over and over again, but some of them will require you to show off your greatest skills to earn an S-Rank.

10 Neigh Slayer - Zelda 2: The Adventure Of Link

Stop Horsin' Around

Zelda 2 is often remembered as the black sheep in the series because of its RPG elements and platforming sections. While most of the challenges around this game in Nintendo World Championships aren't too complicated, this battle might take you the longest to S-rank.

Your goal is to defeat Mazura, the first boss in the game, as quickly as possible. Not only does this boss hit hard, but he will push you back whenever an attack lands, making it tough to beat him quickly. His head is also his only weak spot, so you'll need to jump and swing to bring down this menacing mare.

9 The Body Will Follow - The Legend Of Zelda

Who's The Boss?

Gleeoks are three-headed dragon enemies that have been around since the very first Legend of Zelda for the NES. This challenge requires you to fight and defeat one as quickly as possible, specifically, the one found at the end of the sixth dungeon of the original adventure.

Fighting the dragon isn't easy, as its attack range is massive, and you need to be fairly close to deal any damage to it. Fortunately, as long as you have full health, you can use the sword beam to attack from a distance. Find a sweet spot where Gleeoks attacks can't reach you, and fire away until you've bested the boss in a handful of seconds.

8 Motocross Maestro - Excitebike

A Need For Speed

There are only a few Excitebike challenges in the Nintendo World Championships, and all of them focus on similar goals - completing a lap around a track as quickly as possible. The final one in the set ups the ante by requiring you to finish two laps around the toughest course in the game.

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The key to success here is knowing when to use your turbo function and how to land on the ramps correctly. Overheating your motorcycle or wiping out will significantly hold you back from obtaining an S-rank, so don't be afraid to slow down a bit between inclines and make sure to hit the boost as you approach one to soar through the air like an angel on wheels.

7 Monochrome Hero - Kirby's Adventure

A Darker World

Kirby’s Adventure is the second game in the series and introduced the pink hero's infamous ability to suck up and absorb powers from enemies. Though the platforming might not be nearly as difficult as Super Mario Bros. or Ice Climbers, clearing the Monochrome Hero challenge with an S-rank might have you taking some deep breaths.

This mission requires you to run through the final stage of Rainbow Resort, the second-last world in the game. What makes this challenge frustrating is how slowly Kirby moves, and how much the game lags when there are more than two enemies on the screen. It's best to avoid enemies by jumping over them or by using the slide attack instead of inhaling them to make them go away faster.

6 World 1 Wizard - Super Mario Bros. 3

Time To Fly

Super Mario Bros. 3 broke the series tradition of making you clear courses in a particular order by including a world map that gives you the freedom to choose which levels to tackle next. Your goal here is to complete the first world of the game as quickly as possible by strategically choosing the most optimal route.

Clearing the first world of any game might feel like a daunting task, but the design of the overworld map in Super Mario Bros. 3 makes it possible to reach the end without having to play through every level. By skipping a couple of courses and avoiding enemies as frequently as possible, this challenge is pretty fun until you realize too far into a run that you won't beat your current record.

5 Ridley Riddence - Metroid

The Journey, Not The Destination

Like Kirby’s Adventure, Metroid is a game that struggles to run when there are more than a couple of enemies on the screen. This can make platforming in certain sections a nightmare, especially as you get bombarded by attacks and struggle to make any progress before you die.

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Hunters, space pirates, creatures, and other threats throughout the galaxy.

Your main mission in this challenge is to defeat Ridley, but getting to the boss fight is the truly agonizing part of the mission. The long hallway leading up to him demands precision platforming, as it's full of dangerous foes and a giant pool of lava that melts through your health if you fall into it. This is one challenge that's more about the trip than the destination.

4 Lost Legend - Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

Failure To Launch

The Lost Levels is the true sequel to Super Mario Bros. but was deemed too difficult for audiences outside of Japan, so it was hidden away until it was finally released with the Super Mario All-Stars bundle for the SNES. The company probably made the right decision back then, because the real Super Mario Bros. 2 is much more frustrating than it is fun.

This challenge requires you to clear one of the last stages in the game, which may test your patience beyond its limits. The level is mostly fine until you reach a spring that you need to jump on to clear a massive gap that often feels impossible to pull off. To make things worse, you must play as Luigi, who is much more difficult to control than Mario.

3 Mario Master - Super Mario Bros.

From Beginning To End

Most of the hardest challenges in Nintendo World Championships require you to take on a tough boss or play through a section of the game, but the final one for Super Mario Bros. intends to see how quickly you can clear the entire game. From 1-1 to 8-4, this trial will certainly test your reflexes and patience.

Fortunately, the use of warp pipes in 1-2 and 4-2 makes this mission much easier. You can get to World 8 usually within five minutes by using them, and the rest of the challenge just requires you to run through the final world as fast as you can. It's always a bummer to make it near the end and have to restart because you missed a jump or got a game over, but by the end, you should be able to tell your friends how quickly you can beat the original Super Mario Bros.

2 Condor Conqueror - Ice Climber

A Slippery Slope

While Super Smash Bros. helped pull the Ice Climbers out of obscurity, their cute appearance belies how frustrating their game can be. The controls are too slippery, avoiding enemies is a hassle, and jumping to new platforms is too difficult. These elements make every Ice Climber challenge a dreadful experience, but the worst of the bunch is the task.

Condor Conqueror requires you to climb a tall mountain and grab the flying dinosaur at the top. All the previous complaints come together to make this challenge as grueling as possible, but to make things worse, Ice Climbers levels include short timers that end the run if you don't make it far enough in time. Once you reach the peak, actually jumping and connecting with the condor is the last obstacle in your way before you can retire from your career as a mountain climber.

1 Underworld Wonder - Kid Icarus

Wonderfully Miserable

Kid Icarus is full of interesting ideas and mechanics that make it unique from anything else on the NES. Unfortunately, some of these features make the game annoying to play through, such as non-linear stage design and extremely high difficulty.

The final challenge in the Kid Icarus set will test everything you know about the game by sending you on a voyage to defeat Twinbellows, a giant two-headed dog. There are a ton of variables that will have you pulling out your hair, from getting lost to being attacked by a swarm of enemies in a small room. It won't take nearly as long as some other challenges, but it does require a lot of patience, a good memory, and someone close by to comfort you after you fail to finish it for the twentieth time.

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