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Nintendo is sponsoring a tournament for Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition that will feature several prominent virtual YouTubers, or VTubers, from Japanese VTuber agency Hololive. Usada Pekora, Nekomata Okayu, Inugami Korone, and Himemori Luna will participate as contestants, while Shirakami Fubuki will be the host. It is scheduled to air on July 29th at 8pm JST on Hololive’s official YouTube channel.
The 4 contestants will compete in 10 events, handpicked from over 150 events offered in the game, via the single-player “Time Attack” mode. Each contestant will take turns, and they can each try an event two times- with the faster time of the two attempts being admitted into the rankings.
For every event, first place will receive 4 points, second place will get 3 points, third place will get 2 points, and last place 1 point. Whoever has the highest total score by the end of all 10 events will be crowned the victor.
The 10 events will be:
- Super Mario Bros. – Get the Super Mushroom
- The Legend of Zelda – Defeat all the Keese and get the key
- Balloon Fight – Pop 3 balloons
- Kirby’s Dream Land – Defeat Whispy Woods
- Donkey Kong – Climb the first ladder
- Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA) – Dash through the desert and enter the pyramid
- Zelda 2 – Defeat the Guma
- Ice Climbers – Collect all eggplants
- Metroid – Get the Morph Ball
- Super Mario Bros. 3 – Clear World 1-1
The official announcement page on Nintendo’s Japanese website also seems to suggest that the contestants might be using the special Nintendo Famicom (NES) Controllers during the tournament.
VTubers are YouTubers or streamers who use a virtual avatar on screen, and who usually employ some sort of motion capture or motion tracking technology to make their avatars come to life.
Hololive is one of the biggest VTuber agencies out there, home to dozens of virtual YouTubers with millions of subscribers in Japan and across the world- and it even has a division aimed at English audiences. Many Vtubers have streamed Nintendo games on their channels in the past; Korone recently streamed Metroid Prime Remastered, while Okayu played through Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door a month ago. Laplus Darkness, another Japanese Vtuber from Hololive, also held a Mario Kart 8: Deluxe tournament earlier this year, but this new tournament appears to be the first time that Nintendo has sponsored one of their events.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition released recently and is now available for purchase in both a standard digital version and a deluxe physical edition. Readers can check out our review of the game here.