Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition announced

Nintendo has officially announced Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition for Nintendo Switch – a new speedrunning game that pays homage to the original Nintendo World Championships, one of the first ever esports-focussed games produced.

The Nintendo World Championships originally took place in 1990, and featured a variety of players competing in video game challenges set out by a specially-developed Nintendo World Championships 1990 game cartridge. These cartridges were only produced for the championships, and have since become rare collectors items, for their place in Nintendo history.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition will pay homage to this history, with some neat twists to update the concept for the modern era. As announced by Nintendo, the game will feature “more than 150 challenging moments from 13 classic NES games” to test player speedrun skills.

The game can connect online, and players will be able to chart scores against worldwide players, or against their friends with local co-op. There will also be an eight-player Party Mode where players can compete for bragging rights.

Read: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch) – Preview

Games featured in this iteration of the Nintendo World Championships all hail from the NES era, as you’d anticipate from the game’s title. There’s games based on Balloon Fight, Donkey Kong, Excitebike, Kid Icarus, Super Mario Bros. and its sequels, Metroid, Kirby’s Adventure, The Legend of Zelda, and more.

In a way, there’s also elements of WarioWare in this game (at least, the 9-Volt stages), as each title is transformed into a bite-sized, fast-paced mini-game to overcome.

Those keen to test their mettle will be able to hop into Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition from 18 July 2024. When the game launches, it will be available digitally, physically, and in a collectors box that comes with collectibles: five pins, 13 art cards, and a replica of the original Nintendo World Championships NES cartridge.