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Nintendo’s speedrunning collection made me see NES classics in a new way

Gotta go fast.

Named after Nintendo’s occasional in-person esports competition, the collection takes 13 of the company’s most iconic titles and divides them into more than 150 different challenges. The initial challenge I played in the solo mode involved getting the mushroom in the first level of the original Super Mario Bros. After that, I was swallowing an enemy as Kirby, running to the first ladder in Donkey Kong, and collecting the morph ball in Metroid. It has given me a strong urge to replay many of these classics by instilling in me a new sense of confidence: now, I might finally be able to beat The Adventure of Link and its skeleton knights, or Super Mario Bros. ’ devious sequel with its poison mushrooms.

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