Following the glorious resurrection of The Nintendo World Championships, we thought it would be a good time to reminisce over the events of 25 years ago, when the original competition took place at Universal Studios, Hollywood.
The video below is a handy summary of this epic period, showing the hopeful contestants and the games that pushed them to their very limits. The energy projected by ebullient host Terry Lee Torok is palpable - but my God, the hairstyles and clothing will bring back painful memories for anyone old enough to recall the desolate fashion wasteland that was the early '90s.
This year's championships will be somewhat different, we would imagine - the games will look a lot more advanced, for a start. However, we can't help but pine for a more innocent era when hosts could utter the line "Nervously fingering on that controller" and not a single soul would bat an eyelid.
And that music! Cowabunga, dudes!. Watch and enjoy.
Comments 44
Gonna be epic in the new modern day
I love that ancient giant head Mario mascot!
The past is both fascinating and terrifying.
background music @ :30-1:25...is that "beat dis" by bomb the bass?
It was great to be an kid of the 1990's before all of this virtual crap
Even though I was born in '99 (The very end of the 90's) I will always be a 90's kid at heart. Just listen to that rad disco jam!
@ #8, Dude I have to laugh and agree, Stupid beards.
Loved the 90's for this exact reason, there was a strange allure to watching this type of thing.
Best era for dance music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSsSeKHnzoE&list=RD7sjNbycdFXY&index=5
It's funny how Ice Hockey games retained this late 80s / early 90s vibe for another 8-10 years haha! Good ol' 90s Mega nostalgia seeing and hearing all that!
Universal Studios and Nintendo. To think this all happened after the Donkey Kong/King Kong lawsuit.
This is too awesome for words.
What are you saying i do not understand
I'd love to see a follow up on the past winners.
@ekreig skinny jeans for guys will not be remembered fondly.
Not a cell phone in sight, no Internet or its trolls, 1990 seems like an eternity ago.
Fred Savage said he wants to go! That would be awesome! It would be cool if the cast from The Wizard would show up
I'm going to go to this year's World Championship.
My mom went to the 1990 one when she was 15, and now Ill be going to the 2015 one while I'm 15.
Funny, how it all comes back around right?
One one. Oldieeeeeeeeeeees.
I was six years old then and I would have died to be there. Anyone think about how this is going into tie into the news that Universal Studios is going to have Nintendo attractions?
the 90's truly were the best time to be a kid (and yes early 90's kid here) and such great music that i miss.
@RegalSin
Part of me wishes I could've been a kid in the 90's. I was born in '98 so I wasn't alive for much of it
@Shy_Guy
I love that movie! Fred Savage was the best back in his kid acting days.
@Zelda64L
Nice! I was wondering if anyone on this site was going, or had gone to the 1990 Championships. Kinda awesome having a mom who was a true 90's gamer. Best of luck, maybe we'll see you on the finals podium eh?
Born in 1984. Got my NES for Christmas in 1990 with a copy of Mega Man 3 and the Super Mario Bros combo with Duck Hunt and that Olympics game with the pad. Been gaming ever since.
@Moshugan
MISCOLORED ancient giant head Mario mascot!
@Shy_Guy
That would be awesome! Born in '83, The Wizard was my favorite movie growing up--watched it tons of times, and still do every now and then. It would be really cool if the cast made an appearance (Christian Slater, Beau Bridges, etc.).
Yeah, the '90s will always be the decade I'm fondest of, for many reasons.
Them's were the days, before girls knew how to straighten hair and boys were camper than Christmas!! Strange seeing it all look Sooooo American aswell, guess you forget how different fashions were across the pond before all the celebrity fashions became world wide norms ...
What I'd give to experience this.
I remember competing, there, when I was eight. In acid-washed jeans, no less.
@kendorage Yeah bomb the bass from into the dragon album which was way ahead of its time back then
I long for the good old days. Me and my younger autistic brother stow away in the back of an ice cream truck just to get there...he could play a mean double dragon.
Hmmm, and now Nintendo and universal studios are partnering again? And e3 is going with this theme. I wonder what the plans for the partnership will be? IT would be cool if they brought back an annual Nintendo world championship.
@ULTRA-64 Yeah right, the world was a much bigger place back then. As an American, it would have been hard to imagine relying on the UK for my Nintendo news before the Internet boom.
With all this reminiscing about the wizard and Nintendo world championship. I looked into the history of the wizard and read the movie had a different title in each European country. In today's media landscape, giving a Hollywood movie eight different titles depending on where it was distributed (except China, maybe) would seem strange and confusing.
Glory days!!!
wow that was intense!
They were quite advanced for that time. Didn't they win gold and silver Mario amiibos?
All of this stuff just reeks of "remember how great Nintendo used to be?" As if to distract us from how lame they tend to be now.
@Blastcorp64 it really is weird how the world has shrunken since the dawn of the internet. Makes England even smaller
Nice name btw, balstcorps is the cart in my n64 right at this moment! A big favourite of mine....
Ugh that hair. I'm happy to admit I was mulletless through the mullet rage.
I wonder how many of the champions that are still living will partake in the new competition this year? would be awesome just to see a veterans match up.
Too easy knocking fashion from the late 80s, early 90s. Like so many have said above, it's rather narrowminded to condescend the era from today's viewpoint when almost all that is dictated to us as en vogue is void of originality. But what does this humble gaming nerd know about fashion?
I'm sorry guys but the 90s didn't have better fashion.
GUYS i was in the Chicago based one. I made it past the first round. then they said you have to return the next day for quarter finals.. My parents didn't even consider returning again. Totally out of the question.
I also remember gameboys on display for the first time. The first time i saw tetris on a portable.
I also remember going and watching a boy show off his skills. He was the winner in california or something and he showed off how to get coins faster in the 1st part where you have to get i think 50 coins.. then you have to do 2 laps of rad racer? and then finally you have an overall time limit to get as many points as possible in tetris NES. SO cool. but that memory is so deep. hard to remember all the details. Also without internet back then, I had not clue who won.
@JaxonH Yeah, my dad was a big gamer too, though he was 20 when the Championships went down.
I had played some PC games from when I was 3-7, but I really started gaming when I got a Gameboy Color and Pokemon Blue in 2005 (yeah, I know, the DS was already out but like a 5-yr-old like me knew that.)
We had a N64 with some really good games too (though I sucked at most) but I've loved video games ever since I got my beloved Gameboy.
Muh childhood! Being born in 83 I got a good mix of 80s and 90s. I'm forever a 90s kid as I fondly miss the good Ole days of games music and movies from that era.
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