1990 NWC Strategies

Hello there. I've been looking at some of the previous runs and noticed that not a whole lot of people know about some of the strats that some players use when playing on the competition cart. I'm here to just kind of remind players that these strats exist so that future runs can be optimized more.

1. The score in Super Mario Bros determines the pattern you get in Tetris.
Unlike NES Tetris, Tetris in 1990 NWC isn't random. Let's say you get all 50 coins without getting any extra points from enemies or power ups you'll get a score of 10,000. That score will then correlate to the pattern you'll get in Tetris. Some patterns are better than others. I personally go for the score 10,300 although I've seen players go for 10,400 or 10,500. You can then memorize the pattern and prioritize on speed.

2. You can end Rad Racer early by crashing.
Normally Rad Racer ends by your car slowly speeding down all the way to 0 KM/H. However if you crash right before you cross the finish line your speed will come to a halt and is much faster compared to finishing normally. You can figure out when to crash by looking at your score. I recommend crashing when your score is 60,060 or higher. Anything lower will result in your car nearly missing the finish.

3. You can start 1990 NWC automatically by using a zapper.
If you have a zapper laying around you can plug it into controller port 2 and for whatever reason it'll automatically start the game. This is useful if you want to get a ton of runs in without having to press start on the second controller constantly. Alternatively if you're playing on a Famicom you can use the Konami Hypershot controllers and press the Run button on Player 2 to start the game.

Hope this post helps someone out there.
(Reposted from the Forums)

Any% (25 lines) tutorial

The Definitive Speedrun and Highscore Guide to NWC 90

# This is a comprehensive guide to highscore/speedruns of the Nintendo World Championships 1990

(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-ukYqDp0fcVawABNfj2ZHmRNzhV4o43Qg5RaecQBnFc/edit?usp=sharing)

This guide is updated by TegaMech and includes all the recent strategies and routes for beginners and pros alike

Bro3256

TegaMech

jammitch

Nintendo World Championships 1990

Nintendo Entertainment System

USA / NTSC

25 Lines

50 Lines

106265

253960

513675

573675

530920

206965

819850

2925870

2002525

3313350

2747460

4572360

4590685

766165

1084245

1753355

2332515

2460980

2581280

2668365

3936106

4060100

4172985

4526725

5119350

1585410

2077970

1341355

5325345

5352200

1557930

522580

1495545

4181170

631550

775215

325090

1308165

2,091,995

6224315

6727575

6340355

6769150

7330420

Tetris Lines

High Score (default)

Changes and Suggestions

TASing Mario and Rad Racer 

Reproductions

New NWC NES edition game coming out! 

Mario theorycrafting

SMB-only WR is not "easily beatable" due to framerules

Runaway

Crazy_8_The_Ace

XLCena

ZV_Zola

Skeeter

Zarc0nis

Nome	Autore
1990 NWC Strategies	Bro3256 4 years ago
Any% (25 lines) tutorial	jammitch 4 years ago
The Definitive Speedrun and Highscore Guide to NWC 90	TegaMech 30 days ago