Nintendo World Championships NES Edition Confirmed After ESRB Rating Leak

After an ESRB rating for the game appeared out of thin air last week, Nintendo has officially revealed Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, a compilation of NES-themed minigames focused on speed. The company has also confirmed a July 18 release date.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition will feature over 150 minigames spanning 13 different NES titles. The trailer revealing the game shows off a few of the many challenges, which include collecting the first mushroom in Super Mario Bros., defeating Octoroks in The Legend Of Zelda, and more.

The trailer also highlighted many of the competitors from Nintendo World Championships live events from the past. Some of the featured contestants include two world champions in Thomas G., who claimed victory in the 2017 competition, and Jeff Hansen, who was the first-ever Nintendo World Champion after winning the 1990 event.

The 13 games included in Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition are as follows:

• Balloon Fight
• Donkey Kong
• Excitebike
• Ice Climber
• Kid Icarus
• Kirby’s Adventure
• Metroid
• Super Mario Bros.
• Super Mario Bros. 2
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels
• The Legend of Zelda
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

The announcement comes after Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa posted on Nintendo’s social media accounts that the Nintendo Switch’s successor will be revealed within the next fiscal year–which means we will see the latest Nintendo console by April 2025. When asked later about the upcoming console, Furukawa said “Switch next model is the appropriate way to describe it.”

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition launches on July 18 exclusively for Nintendo Switch, and it can be purchased digitally for $30, or in a special physical Deluxe Edition–which includes stickers, art, and a replica of the golden 1990 Nintendo World Championships cartridge–for $60. An authentic version of the golden cartridge is one of the rarest Nintendo games in the world, as it fetched $84,000 in a recent Heritage Auctions sale.