Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition Player Gets World Record Using Controversial Glitch

Do glitches count as cheating?

By Marc Deschamps

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition was released on Nintendo Switch last month, and one of the game's biggest highlights is the weekly batch of challenges found in World Championships mode. Each week, players compete for the fastest records in a select group of challenges spanning multiple games. Last week's batch featured Barrel Roll, a challenge in the NES version of Donkey Kong. The challenge tasks players with getting to the top of the first stage in Donkey Kong as quickly as possible. The results were revealed earlier this week, and it seems the winner was able to use a glitch to take the top spot. 

As discovered by X/Twitter user @MetroidMike64, the first place winner was able to record a time of 00:15.68 seconds, earning an S tier ranking in the challenge. However, they used the "invisible ladder" glitch to do so. The glitch allows players to quickly climb nonexistent ladders up the right side of the screen. Normally, girders one, three, and five only have ladders on the right side of the screen, forcing players to cross girders two and four to reach ladders on the left. However, by successfully pulling off the invisible ladder glitch, the player can create "invisible ladders" on girders two and four that allow them to get to the top significantly faster. 

Seeing a glitch user take the top spot has left a lot of players unhappy. On the Switch subreddit, some users have argued that a glitch should not have been allowed to qualify in the first place. Since most players were unaware of this glitch while competing for the top spot, they feel slightly cheated. It's worth noting that the top spot in a challenge doesn't come with a reward beyond bragging rights, but it's easy to see why people are frustrated. 

Is using a glitch cheating? It's honestly hard to say. Glitches have been a part of speedrunning for decades now, so it's not surprising to see a player using one in Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. However, there's an argument to be made that it goes against the spirit of the game, and it will be interesting to see if Nintendo decides to address this. It's possible they could do just that with a patch that removes the glitch, or some kind of statement about future challenges. 

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How do you feel about Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition? Should glitches be allowed in World Championships mode? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[H/T: Nintendo Life]

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