Can we beat every NES game in a week?

We’re going to try to beat 800 NES Games over the course of a week. This includes all the licensed NES games used by runners that have beaten every NES game, such as TheMexicanRunner. This also includes several selected Famicom, Unlicensed, and Homebrew games. There are certainly games missing, but 800 is enough for this year.

We need your help.

Join us June 15th – June 22nd to take down this list.

NES Odyssey FAQs

How do I participate?

Simply play an NES speedrun and record your efforts then submit it to the official submission form (released when the event begins). You can link to a highlighted vod, youtube upload, or time a timestamp from a broadcast. We’d prefer highlights for posterity, but a vod timestamp is good enough for verification.

We’ll have an automated spreadsheet that tracks all submissions and interesting data such as how many games are completed, how many games individual runners complete, the combined length of all runs submitted, how many times certain games have been run, etc., and will be highlighting several runs and accomplishments on Twitch.tv/BestofNES with live updates.

What version should I play?

In general we’d prefer the NTSC version, but PAL and Famicom versions of games are also acceptable. As an example, Ninja Gaiden III has a US and Famicom version that are very similar but the majority of people speedrun the Famicom version. Choosing that version is A-OK!
The major exception to this is when the NTSC, PAL, and Famicom versions of a game are wildly different. In this case, NTSC and PAL versions used in the traditional “beat every NES game” should work.

What categories are allowed?

In general we’d prefer the most popular and closest to Any% or “beat the game” categories. We do not include miscellaneous runs or category extensions in our list. We want to avoid “meme” runs and categories made only to introduce people to a game. Partial categories should be avoided unless they are the primary speedrun category or are generally accepted as “the way to speedrun”. A consistent example of an accepted game would be Sports Games and their “Win a Game” category.

Examples of partial categories that are acceptable:

• Tetris 2 “10 rounds” 
• Ultimate Basketball “Win a Game” and “100 Points”
• Michael Andretti’s World GP “Best Time Trial”
• Puzslot Any% (Level 10) are all acceptable.

All of the above games are primary categories or equivalent. Examples of categories we’d not allow are:

• Super Mario Bros. Minus World Ending
• Flying Warriors End%
• The Bard’s Tale Win%
• The Legend of Zelda ACE
• RBI Baseball II Lose a Game
• Elite Training

A simple rule to follow is “Am I choosing this category because it’s the easiest and fastest to complete, or am I choosing it because it is a good/normal way to speedrun this game?” If you have a specific category question feel free to ask in Discord! If you want to run a category and aren’t sure if it’d be allowed you can always run it anyway, we won’t stop you. It just might not count for the list! We also encourage anyone willing to do the “full game” categories to do so!

Do you accept multiple categories for one game?

Yes! Legitimate secondary categories are perfectly fine. You can do Any% No Up+A for Legend of Zelda and you could also do second quest. You could do Mega Man 2 Any% or Zipless or Buster Only. You could even do all of them! It’d be fun to track how many unique categories are completed for popular games as well.

I’m not fast. Can I participate?

Yes! Your time can be fast or slow, it doesn’t matter! This is about completing the runs over the course of a week as a community. If the world record is ten minutes but it takes you an hour, you’re still whittling down the list of games left to beat – every submission helps.

Even if someone has already completed a game you’re wanting to play, nothing stops you from submitting as well.

I want to run (a popular game), but I think others will submit it. Can I still play that game?

Yes! Popular games like Mega Man 2, Chip n’ Dale, and Super Mario Bros. 3 will likely be done by multiple people and that’s okay. 

It’s definitely a big help to do games that others likely won’t run, but don’t let that stop you from playing the games you love.

Can I use cheats or passwords?

Treat this like you would any other speedrun. Don’t use savestates or cheats unless they are specifically allowed by the speedrun on SRC. Earned passwords should always be okay to use, as should passwords for unique categories (e.g., TGL for The Guardian Legend).