So a single round of gaming that is only available from 8 stores across the entire US, with a total of (assuming no breaks or delays) 9 hours gaming per store for potential gamers to file through?  And half of the 16 finalists are hand-picked by Nintendo anyway, instead of having to do any form of qualification?


You'd think that, during the digital age where people download games all the time, Nintendo would be able to set up something that was a little bit more inclusive or creative. But no - it's the same old Nintendo theme: maximize hype while minimizing availability or any actually effort required on their end.


I don't know how things worked in the past, but details for this event are underwhelming.

The last time they did this, in 1990, they hit 29 cities across America, and spent 3 days in each city (except LA which got 2 weekends,for 6 total days).  Each city had 3 finalists, one from each age group, move on to the World Championship stage in Hollywood. That's a total of 90 finalists.

Here's the info from Wikipedia.

So yeah, the 2015 reboot is way underwhelming. 8 cities total, and 8 city finalists + 8 "special guests". That's nothing compared the 1990.


And the worst part of this whole thing is that they've announced the 8 qualifier cities just 11 freaking days before the events. So if you want to participate and don't live near one of these cities, you have to make last-minute travel plans. Good luck finding an affordable flight and getting any time off approved on such incredibly short notice. It's just downright insulting to their fans to handle it like this.

So if I wanted to join in I would somehow have to get my boss to give me that day off (schedule is already set), then drive 7 freaking hours just for a chance. What kind of BS is this? Same with the E3 demos, instead of letting people download the demos, they put them in a freaking small 50 stores across the entire country. And I bet the 8 people that get to avoid the qualifiers will be top level tournament players who already get special treatment (like those who got invited to E3 last year for free).

The limit is really disheartening.  They could've hit the 50 cities from last year to hold the qualifiers.  Maybe it's a cost cutting measure, but it's not good to announce something big and then doing it half-assedly.

You guys do realise that, regardless of what the name suggests, the Nintendo World Championship is not a legitimate event but rather a glorified PR exhibition for Nintendo products, right?

So, what's your point?

I'm pretty sure I'll be going to the Schumburg event.  wheee!

And yes, I quoted that post on purpose.

"Boy in 1990 they sure did this way better!"  I agree but are you surprised that 2015 Nintendo does things worse than 1990 Nintendo?  Different people were involved back then.  If anything those years are almost like polar opposites in terms of Nintendo's cultural relevance.

In a funny way you could say that they're going to less cities because it's the Wii U which is so far removed from the NES in popularity that a smaller scale tournament almost makes sense.  Seriously though in 1990 Nintendo was such a cultural phenomenon with kids that the market was practically begging for such an event.  In 2015 this exists entirely as a promotion to attract attention at E3 during a time where Nintendo matters so little that they need all the help they can get.  It's not as big because it was never intended to be and frankly it doesn't deserve to be.  If Nintendo had been doing these world championships every year this entire time then by 2015 it would have been a scaled down to a shell of itself anyway.

Been a lot of that going around lately. Remember when Nintendo used to be about the games?  ;)

I'm going to go ahead and dispute your argument that the 1990 version of the Nintendo World Championships were any less a glorified ad campaign.  Many, MANY companies use tournaments or competitions as a means of selling their product, Nintendo 25 years ago isn't any less motivated by profit than they are today.

Oh it was an ad but a lot of stuff is while not feeling like such to the target market.  For example in the old days the purpose of concert tours was basically to be an ad for the album but fans still wanted to go to a concert and see the band live.  It was both an ad and a product the consumer actually wanted.  As a kid in 1990 my reaction to the Nintendo World Championships was "OH AWESOME!!"  Nintendo was just so big and every kid loved the idea of entering some "worldwide" tournament for it.  It was an ad but also something we all wanted.

In 2015 that is not the case.  The only people who know about this are 30+ year old geeks that remember the 1990 tournament.  It is not a major cultural event like the 1990 one was but it never was supposed to be.  The marketing goal of the 1990 tournament was to continue to push Nintendo as a major force in children's popular culture.  The goal of the 2015 tournament is to just get a bit more attention at E3.  The scope is much smaller so we get a smaller event with less cities.

Unfortunately, it's the same weekend as Pokemon regionals, so I won't be able to go. On a side note, I think the Best Buy demos were at a decent amount more than 50 locations last year (considering we had 3 here in Wisconsin, I hope so). 2013 was more like 50.

I can't argue the differences in the public perception, I think we realize many of the age bracket that were excited about this in 1990 has moved on to other gaming platforms largely, but the intent of the tournament is largely the same today from Nintendo's standpoint - fan service and hosting an "event" that'll bring public awareness to the Nintendo brand.  If you follow gaming news at all, you can't deny this has hit the front page of gaming websites.