Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition Player Uses Glitch To Top Donkey Kong Leaderboard

Yeah, I thought this was a bit weird when I saw the winner’s video. I wasn’t able to replicate this myself. It’s great to think creatively for a solution, but it does spoil the fun of good competition a little when this kind of thing happens.

@Savage_Joe lol, I was just about to say the same thing.

That’s awesome. Shouldn’t be disqualified.

funny how this game already has so many fail safes for glitches too. i personally think half the fun of watching speedruns is pushing the boundaries of beyond what the game thinks is possible, but i dont blame nintendo for discouraging that in their official speedrun game. theres a reason categories are already separated from glitchless and glitched runs

Is he called Billy Mitchell Jr. or Garrett Bobby Ferguson III?

Yeah I saw this and tried to recreate it because I thought because it passed the muster it was allowed. I only managed to get one ladder on one run and it didn’t save me any time because I suck.

Was kind of bummed when I saw this. I managed to get in the top 2% doing it honestly and I just felt deflated when I saw that top run. Just kind of defeats the spirit of the whole thing.

Personally, I think they should just separate categories. There’s a bunch of failsafes so why not disable them in one mode, and enable them in another? Something like this would be patched out of the glitchless mode but retained in a glitches permitted mode.

@boxyguy it's always going to be a point of debate whether glitches are fair play or not.

I'm of the school of thought that when playing a game you can use every tool available in your tool kit. Sometimes you can cheese a level in an unintended way without it being seen as a glitch.

I think using computer inputs, memory manipulation or action replays codes shouldn't be allowed. But being able to find a quicker way to the finish line, even if unintended, is the fun of speed running.

Haha, it seems the present truly mirrors the past

I don't really think there's anything wrong with using a glitch to get ahead if it's there, but it is weird that they missed this one with the others they addressed.

Glitches should not be part of this game, imho. The game was meant to be a competition of skill and although finding glitches is a skill on its own, I can't imagine that this is how Nintendo intended this game to work.

I was bummed when I saw it…
Is that glitch present on the original DK?

I was disappointed to see that record. I played that level over and over and over and got a 19.50. I wanted to see how that stacked up. I ranked #1891, but how many glitch runs are there? I didn’t even know that route was an option. Anyway, the whole thing makes me reconsider my time investment into this game.

@HammerGalladeBro
Must have been Todd Todgers!

@Overzeal

"Yeah I saw this and tried to recreate it because I thought because it passed the muster it was allowed. I only managed to get one ladder on one run and it didn’t save me any time because I suck."

(suggestion: never insult thy self (or any other (separate) self))

@Savage_Joe Billy "let's Cheat" Mitchell must be impressed hahahaha.

I confess, it was me! And I would have gotten away with it to if not for those meddling kids!!! 😔

Not cheating if the game lets you do it without outside hacking.

@ST3 That’s exactly how I felt. I wanted to see how my time stacked up overall and was shocked to see the “best run.” My big takeaway is that I think I will spend less time with this game and just play single player. I’m not interested in learning how to glitch old games, and unfortunately that takes this game from a small amount of content to begin with to even less. Ultimately, just disappointing.

I honestly expected a lot more times to be glitch related because when I did the events I hadn’t seen the news about Nintendo stopping you from doing so many. While it still felt unfair when i saw this i also never expected to be super close to the top anyway.

"Haters will see you walk on water and say it’s because you can’t swim."
Billy Mitchell

Billy Mitchell is innocent!

@Coxula it is wild how people act like he’s not one of, if not the top, greatest 80s arcade game players of all time.

Tbh - I don't know if he's guilty or not. From all I know is that the video that allegedly "proved" him guilty was deleted by the persons that claim him to be.
Calling him guilty might fit in the modern times where the person that's loudest on X automatically is proved to be right by the lemmings. God bless I'm old!

@axelhander I like Pat Contri's analogy like a decade ago to when players got busted in some online game for using exploits... he said not playing within the intended rules of the game is like playing Monopoly with your friends, and cheating when they're not looking. Arguing it's fair because the video game didn't stop you is like saying it's fair in... that example of Monopoly, to pull a little slight of hand is okay if your friends don't see you do it.
Being a good sport is playing by the intended rules of the game.

@ST3 Same. I was really into it last week, working on my DK score, but I’ve barely bothered this week. Especially with Mario Master. I got it down to an S-rank and that’s enough for me because I’m sure someone will find a glitch that lets you skip right to Bowser or something lol

I wanted to try this glitch for myself, so I turned on my WiiU...
Opened up NES Remix...
No saves...
Turned on my =NEW= 2DS XL
No Donkey Kong, only DK Jr!
WtF!?
And now I can't purchase a copy... :/

Tried to replicate this glitch and couldn't haha. Anyway, glitch aside, I've realised I'm not as good as I thought in these games and am slowly accepting the truth of that 😂 (best result top 500 / 0.8% and 7th my age, but more often hovering around the top 5%, while naively thinking I'd consistently be a top 100 contender 🙈)

@Liam_Doolan

Would you consider adding a poll to the article?

Maybe something like:
Should exploiting glitches be part of the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition?

• Yes, using glitches are fine!
• No, using glitches ruins the fun for me. Nintendo should remove all glitches and also remove runs that have used glitches from the world rankings.
• Yes and no! Challenges where there are glitches that can be exploited to get lower times should have two categories: 1. No glitches and 2. Glitches.

Since this is an in game glitch, not something from outside the game's code, I don't see it as cheating. Even Nintendo is highlighting this hahaha.

I was kind of wondering what was up with that.

If they were glitches in the original I'm fine with them being in there. Seeing as I'm not good enough to compete anyways haha.

I have no problem with players using the very well known and well documented glitches in these 30+ year old games while playing NWC on Switch.

Nintendo has been pretty thorough in not allowing most glitches by forcibly rewinding the game when the player performs them. I don't have a problem with this - it keeps players both new and old on a more even playing field.
I suppose they just missed this one. And rather than punish their players, they're just celebrating them instead. Which is an attitude I can agree with.

@KingMike Cool. In reality-ville, the game's logic enforces a ruleset, and exploring what IS allowed within, even if unintended by developers, is NOT cheating.

Your silly notion of being a "good sport" doesn't apply and the analogy is irrelevant.

That sucks. People should play the game as intended but some folks have weak views on sporting chances.

@axelhander That's one reason to be glad I don't play online then. Just let these "games" turn into a contest of who can break the game the most. Keep letting yourself think that glitch exploits makes you a good player.

"Given the Opportunity, Players Will Optimize Fun Out of a Game".

If glitches are to be allowed, then there should be an indicator on that record that it was a glitch run. And as others said, keep it separate from non-glitched runs. That way we mortals can at least feel we have a chance at the top.

@KingMike https://x.com/ScrubQuotesX

@axelhander Instead of giving a proper counter-argument you're doing that ad hominem kind of thing.

Reminder that even in speedrunning circles any% and glitchless% are separate categories and that even some exploits in some tournaments are straight up banned (even if they are technically "part of the game").

Yes, you should play in good sport when doing a competition.

And I am still agreeing with the monopoly analogy: you can straight up steal money from the box when they look away but it does not mean it's allowed.

@axelhander I don't think I even want to click that, given what a poor attitude you've shown.

@G_and_Thomas Yeah no, I did give a "proper counter-argument" by pointing out in the first place that what the game allows is, in fact, allowed, and testing the limits of what a game allows is what good gamers do.

Your "reminder" is irrelevant because if a glitchless% run is shown to use glitches, it's disqualified by whatever body/website/whatever governs the runs. Similarly, if the NWC game doesn't allow a strategy it stops you, barring outside hacking which is obviously cheating.

The Monopoly analogy is invalid, as stealing from the box is like outside hacking, but buying and selling optimally is not.

@KingMike It's a Twitter account that shows examples of people complaining about their losses in games, blaming things like "cheap" tactics and the like. Your post would be right at home there.

That's awesome! Good job!

@ST3 you don't understand the glitches that's part of the game? Ok

@axelhander Stealing from the bank is the "glitching" Monopoly analogy. That's not allowed in the defined ruleset, but you can still try. You'll get away with it if nobody sees you.
You said "if the game lets you do it", that argument is towards when the online game lacks its equivalent to the part where the other players catch you stealing in Monopoly (and explicitly tell you "No!")

@Deviant-Dork "Glitches are part of the game" but are not intended by the game nor level designers.

Of course for personal goals like speedrunning (then again there are various % categories as I said) but if you end up seeing people exploiting glitches to gain a clear advantage when others are using fair play then it's cheating, plain and simple.

Some online games explicitly have a rule that forbids users from using these glitches to win.

@KingMike : It reminds me how there are people studying the laws to manage to go around it. Sure some of the things are not illegal per se but are morally dubious or even just plain wrong to do.

You're not understanding. It's part of this game. It looks it may not have been part of the original game but is as part of this game, it is supposed to be there.

It is not cheating plain and simple.

@G_and_Thomas morals are relative. A billion people would tell you its unclean and morally wrong to have a dog, doesn't mean they are right.

@Deviant-Dork "morals are relative" Of course but we can agree that many people mistreat pets and even abandon them.

But let's not delve subjects. Opportunists that clearly abuse loophole in the law are not good people. Legally scamming people or committing crimes that are not enforced is not a good thing and actually is impinging on the evolution of humanity.

"It's part of this game" No it is not, glitches and oversights are not planned by the devs at all therefore they are not part of the game, part of the program yes but not the game itself.

Imagine doing a race with your friends but you decided to do big cuts to reach first place because they didn't tell you it was forbidden (since it was an expected, unwritten rule that most people are aware it exists), would that make you a good friend to begin with? Fair play is primordial in any kind of competition.

"it is supposed to be there" No it is not. Glitches are not supposed to be even a thing in video games. Usually when a game is released with bugs people complains and ask for patches, not justifying with "oh, since it's there it's supposed to be there".

I mean if someone gets scammed or manipulated in a way that the law does not punish it would you say to them that it's fair because it's not clearly illegal? That would not be right to do so.

In short: don't abuse exploits because it makes it an opportunist and someone that likes to do anything for their personal gains.

@G_and_Thomas nothing of what you said is relevant to this discussion.

It's a known preexisting glitch that is supposed to be in this version of it. FYI

Get it?