Glitch Controversy: Player Tops Nintendo World Championships Leaderboard in NES Edition

A player in the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition appears to have cheated their way to the top of one of the game’s leaderboards, according to newly surfaced footage documenting the player’s Donkey Kong run in the recently released Switch game.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is a collection of 13 Famicom games designed for competitive multiplayer play. It features four modes for different numbers of players, all rewarding speed. However, NWC: NES Edition is not intended to be a speedrunning game, which is why it theoretically doesn't allow glitches.

NWC: NES Edition Player Uses Glitch to Top Donkey Kong Leaderboard

In practice, at least one player has already used a glitch to climb to the top of a Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition weekly leaderboard. Specifically, the best run for the Barrel Roll Donkey Kong challenge during the July 22–29 period exploited a glitch that let the player climb multiple invisible ladders by sticking to the right side of the screen. This allowed them to complete the level with only a single jump, finishing the run in just 15.68 seconds. Twitter user MetroidMike64 was the first to report that this impressive time was achieved using a glitch.

The run later appeared on Nintendo Japan's official NWC: NES Edition website, sparking complaints among fans. Many vocal players expressed frustration, saying they felt discouraged from competing after realizing they were up against players exploiting glitches. However, the weekly ranking videos are likely automated, so the run's appearance on Nintendo's website does not necessarily mean the company is now allowing glitches to beat NWC: NES Edition challenges.

On the contrary, attempting to use glitches while pursuing NWC: NES Edition S Ranks usually results in the game suspending the run and displaying an error message informing the player they attempted a prohibited action. This is the case when trying to use the well-known Donkey Kong glitch that lets the player loop around the screen by climbing down instead of up at a specific spot on the bottom ladder. The same applies to any attempts to glitch out of bounds in the NWC: NES Edition version of Super Mario Bros.

It’s possible that allowing the Donkey Kong invisible long ladder glitch was simply an oversight on Nintendo’s part. However, the company has not officially addressed the issue. In the meantime, some fans have begun questioning the lack of live leaderboards in NWC: NES Edition, believing Nintendo was using the delay in publishing rankings to filter out glitch runs. But this recent leaderboard suggests that may not be the case.