Nintendo has made it official: the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is on the way. The game was first noticed last week when it received a rating from the ESRB. Set for release on July 18 for the Switch, this new game is based on the classic contest of the same name and will be priced at $29.99.
It will include 150 speedrunning challenges spread across 13 games, including:
- 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
Players of the game can participate in the World Championship Mode, featuring weekly rotating challenges with five challenges each week and online leaderboards. Players can also watch replays of winning times to learn strategies. Additionally, there is a Party Mode allowing up to eight players to play locally.
The original Nintendo World Championships took place in 1990 in the US, where players competed on a special cartridge with challenges from Super Mario Bros, Rad Racer, and Tetris. The winner was determined by the highest cumulative score across all three games. The Nintendo World Championships cartridge given to finalists is now extremely rare and valuable, worth thousands of dollars.
A physical Deluxe Set edition of the game will be released on July 18, including the game, collectible pins, art cards, and a replica of the gold cartridge from the 1990 championships.
