1990 Nintendo World Championships Instructions
- June 13, 2024
- Nintendo
Table of Contents
1990 Nintendo World Championships
Introduction
Thank you for selecting the Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo World Championships 1990 Reproduction Cartridge.
OBJECT OF THE GAME/GAME DESCRIPTION
In 1990 Nintendo held one of the greatest gaming events in history: The
Nintendo World Championships! This event traveled to large arenas in thirty
cities in the U.S. Thousands of gamers around the country got a chance to
compete for the crown as the Nintendo World Champion of their age group. To
compete, gamers had to grab fifty coins in Super Mario Bros., complete the
first track in Rad Racer, and finally, reach the highest score they could in
Tetris. At the event, all three games were combined into a special cartridge
made specifically for the NWC. Ninety of these cartridges were given to the
finalists of the event, andtwenty-six gold-cased cartridges were given to
winners of a Nintendo Power magazine competition. Outside of the NWC staff and
these winners, few people in the public had ever seen these cartridges until
the age of theInternet when some pictures and auctions began to pop up. Having
only 116 known copies of the cartridge inpublic hands, the cartridge became
very valuable among collectors, fetching thousands of dollars each, with
therarer gold cartridges bringing in multiple times the value of the standard
gray cartridges. A few other cartridgesunrelated to these winners have been
found, but the cartridge remains extremely rare and valuable. Gamers around
the world have longed for a chance to play this coveted cartridge, but due to
the cost and rarity, it has been impossible. Plus, a reproduction of the
cartridge was also considered impossible due to the complex circuitry of the
original. Well, not any more! Finally, you can experience the thrill of the
competition in your own home with the Nintendo World Championships 1990
Reproduction Cartridge!
Controls
Controller
To start the game, press the Start button on Controller 2, not Controller 1.
In the original competition this was a safeguard in place to make sure all
competitors started and ended at the same time (it is said there was a
mechanism in place that somehowdid the equivalent of hitting all competitors’
Controller 2 Start buttons at once). The game will last for 6 minutes and 21
seconds, the official time used in the competition. Although the original NWC
cartridges had switches to set different competition times, your cartridge
does not and will work only at the official competition time After pressing
Start on Controller 2, the game is played via Controller 1
Note that none of the three games can be paused via the Start button as the
original standalone versions can. Once started, you must play the game through
to its end! Neither the Start nor Select* buttons on Controller 1 are used for
any of the three games When the game is finished, you must press Reset on the
Control Deck to play a new game.
Super Mario Bros
The controls for Mario match the standalone cartridge. Mario will have 99
lives, unlike the standalone version.
- A button …………………Mario jumps, swims.
- B button …………………….. Mario runs (when used with Left or Right), throws fireballs
- Left and Right ……………………. Moves Mario left and right.
- Down ………………….. Mario crouches when Super Mario, climbs down vines.
- Up ……………… Mario climbs up vines
Rad Racer
The controls for Rad Racer are almost the same as the standalone version.
Your car cannot overheat as in the standalone version, allowing you to
maintain maximum speed for longer periods. Also, the timer stays at 99. Note
that you are not able to choose between the 328 Twin Turbo or the F1 Machine
as in the original. You must drive the 328 Twin Turbo.
- A button ………………. Accelerate.
- B button ………………….. Brake
- Loft and Right ………………….Steers left and right.
- Up …………………… Turbo acceleration for higher speeds.
- Down ………………..Does not change music as in the original version. In the NC, this button does nothing.
Tetris
The controls for Tetris match the standalone cartridge, though there are
fewer possible block patterns (see page 11 for how to determine the block
pattern you will receive). You can play only the Type A game, except you score
points only for making lines, not for every block that touches down, as in the
standalone version. You cannot choose height or speed as in the original
version (you start at Level 0). If yo accidentally lose by piling the blocks
to the top of the screen you must wait for the time to run out on your game to
see your final score This was to originally to ensure everyone in the
tournament ended at the same time.
- A button ……………………..Rotates block 90 degrees clockwise.
- B button ……………………..Rotates block 90 degrees counter-clockwise
- Left and Right ………………………..Moves block left and right.
- Down ……………………….Drops block quickly.
Scoring
When the time runs out, the game ends and your score is displayed. This is calculated by multiplying your Super Mario Bros. score by one, multiplying your Rad Racer score by ten, and multiplying your Tetris score by twenty-five. The three products are then added together for your final score. When the original 1990 competition began, the only real rule was to reach the highest score possible. When some competitors were found to reach very high scores in Super Mario Bros. alone using techniques Nintendo had not even thought players would use in the competition and without ever even claving up to the other two games, a new rule was put in place: Competitors must at least play the other two (make it to Tetris) to qualify. This may be a useful rule to enforce when competing among friends with your cartridge!
Tips from NWC Champ Thor Aackerlund and Runner-Up Rich Ambler
It was Thor Aackerlund and Rich Ambler who fought it out in the final round of the 1990 competition. Though there were three age groups competing (11 and under, 12 to 17 and 18 and over), the top two scores overall were held by Aackerlund and Ambler. Aackerlund took home the gold and Ambler finished second. The highest four scores overall were as follows (some areapproximated).
- Thor Aackerlund……………………….2,809,995
- Rich Ambler………………………….Over 2,700,000
- Robin Mihara……………………….Over 2,500,000
- Jeff Falco………………………Over 2,300,000
As mentioned on page seven, some competitors were using very unorthodox techniques to get high scores. These competitors found if a player repeatedly used the famous “bounce a koopa off the stairs” trick in stage 1-3 of SMB (see next page), a large amount of points could be racked up. Some folks got nearly a million points overall by doing this. Players would get almost fifty coins, do the trick repeatedly, wait until folks around them started Tetris, and then quickly finished SMB and Rad Racer in the nick of time, just barely making it to Tetris. This technique won many folks a city championship early on, but it was far too inadequate a method to win the finals in Hollywood
The best players were reaching scores of well over 2 million using mostly
their mastery of Tetris. Aackerlund said, “The best players were all finishing
Super Mario Bros. and Rad Racer at almost the exact same time. Toward the end
of the competition everyone had pretty much the same pattern.” Furthermore, he
said everyone would get 50 coins without ever leaving stage 1-1 of Super Mario
Bros. by mostly using the ten-coin block in that level and then dying and
doing it again and again. He stressed that it is far easier to rack up a huge
score from Tetris since its score is multiplied by twenty-five, unlike SMB,
which is only multiplied by one. On top of this, he explained that NWC Tetris
is far less random than the original… there’s only a small set of Tetris block
pattern orders you can get! Memorize these and you can have a huge advantage!
Additionally, Aackertund mentioned another reason why folks stayed in
1-1: the flagpole, timer countdown and *walking out of the castle and down the
pipe” sequence takes too long! It’s best to avoid getting fireworks for this
reason too.
Rich Ambler sold his NWC cartridge in an online sale earlier this decade, but when he did, he also wrote a personal letter to this person explaining plenty of tips and techniques. This letter made it to our hands is an excerpt from this letter.
SUPER MARIO BROS
Are there really unlimited 1-UPg? Plus, can you tell me how to get the
fireworks and what they mean?
The famous “bounce a koopa off the stairs” technique, as shown in Nintendo Power magazine issue 1. You don’t get points for 1-ups, but you do receive quite a few points for jumping on the koopa As soon as you start receiving 1-ups, or rather, when you reach the 8000 point mark of the point tally from the koopa, stop and start jumping on the koope again to start accumulating more points. Note: Most MWC finalists will teil you this techrique, while effective in getting somewhat high scores, will get you nowhere against a Tetris master. Also, if you must finish any levels in SMB, try not to get the fireworks they waste precious time.
The following letter excerpt from Rich Ambler has never before been published, with some tips that have never been revealed before. Mastering Aackerlund and Ambler’s tips should allow you to rack up some extremely high scores! The start of the letter just explains the rules of the game and the controls, but the section with tips is as follows.
“The fastest way to get 50 coins in SMB is to get them in the first stage. The minimum amount of POSSIBLE points in SMB is 10,000. There are two types of tracks in Rad Racer. These two types of tracks are accessible depending on which SMB stage you get your 50 coins in. Track type 1 is the best (less aggressive Volkswagen Bugs). Track type 2 is the worst (extremely aggressive WW bugs). Track type 1 is only accessible if you get 50 coins on any ODD SMB world level (1-1, 1-3, etc.). Track type 2 is only accessible if you get 50 coins in any EVEN SMB world level (1-2, 1-4, etc.). If you start the game on Rad Racer”, track type 1 is the default. It is possible to go completely through Rad Racer at 255km/h on track type 1. Instead of ‘power sliding into the finish in Rad Racer, it is recommended that you crash on the right side of the screen when your Rad Racer score hits 6060 precisely, never before! This method is faster than ‘power sliding’ to a complete stop. To control which Tetris pattern you get is determined by the amount of points you score in SMB. The formula is as follows: Fifty coins equal 10,000 points. Each 100 points thereafter equals a different pattern. The two “best” patterns, in my opinion, are 10,300 or 10,400 (the sweet spot). Squashing Goombas equals 100 points each. Try to score ONLY with Tetrises. Anything less lowers your scoring potential. Throwing off Tetris pieces in the final seconds of play to get in that last long bar for a Tetris can mean a HUGE difference in your final score. “In my prime, I was finally able to score over 6.5 million points in 6 min., 21sec. of tournament play. A 4.5 million for me is above average.
There you have it from the two greatest players of the NWC! Use those tips from the experts to best your friends and family in competition!
NWC Winner Information
- 11 and under winner …………………………..Jeff Hansen, Score 2,009,950
- 12-17 winner ……………………………… Thor Aackerlund, Score 2,809,995
- 18 and over winner ……………………………Robert Whiteman, Score 1,956,960
Cheats
The NWC cartridges (and, of course, this Reproduction Cartridge) have some little-known Easter eggs.
Want to practice by starting the game on Rad Racer? On Controller 2, hold the B button and press Select at the title screen. You will be taken directly to Rad Racer! If you finish the game this way you will have no score from SMB, but you will have plenty of extra time for Rad Racer andTetris! There is currently no known cheat to start on Tetris. The NWC cartridges also have a built-in timer screen. Though not very useful as a cheat, if you hold the A button and press start on Controller 2, a timer will appear onscreen and count up to the amount of time the cartridge was set to via the four switches. Since your Reproduction Cartridge has no switches and is set permanently to the official competition time of 6 minutes, 21 seconds (on an original NWC cartridge, this would mean switch three is up and the other three switches are down), this trick is even less useful. When the timer finishes, the total time will be displayed in the total final score, though it will show zero points were earned in each game.
The Game Genie cheat device can also be used on the NWC cartridge and the Reproduction Cartridge. Use this code to turn all Tetris blocks into long blocks:
- OXXOASSU
- ZOXOPSPL
- XVXOZIVO
Your first block won’t be a long block, but the rest will. Also your “next block” display will be wrong. This code was adapted from a code for the standalone version of Tetris. Many other Game Genie codes can be adapted or use with the NWC cartridges. Unfortunately, one feature you will not be able to adjust via Game Genie is the timer, as it is not controllable via software and is built into the hardware of the cartridge.
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Manual written and designed by Rob Budrick Graphic Design by Lauren Thompson.