The Nintendo Switch offers a wealth of different games ranging from hot new releases to beloved classics. A new classic, which was extremely hard to find a legal copy of, could be coming to the platform. Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition has been rated by the ESRB, which means it should come out in the near future.
X user @Stealth40k first spotted the listing on the ESRB website (via IGN). The game is rated "E for Everyone," as it doesn't contain any objectionable content unless you consider high degrees of classic Nintendo gaming objectionable.
An original Nintendo World Championship cartridge is hard to come by. Currently, there's one listed on eBay, and the seller is asking for $175,000. Only a few were made at the 1990 U.S. tournament. The cartridge featured difficult minigames based on Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer and Tetris — three popular games at the time.
If an exact version of the game launches on Switch, it'll be interesting to see if the value of the actual cartridge is impacted. It could cause a drop, as people will no longer need to buy one to play it legally (emulators have always been an option for playing it illegally). It could also cause a spike if players decide they want the real deal after trying it on their Switch.
Interestingly, though, it doesn't sound like this is a faithful recreation of the original, at least based on the ESRB's description of the game:
"This is a collection of 2D challenges and platformer games in which players traverse through various modes (e.g., speedrun, survival)," reads the ESRB's description. "Several challenges involve reaching specific points, while others prompt players to defeat small enemies or survive brief battles. Some games depict pixelated characters using small swords or arrows to strike at enemies; enemies typically get stunned or disappear in a flash."
As Nintendo Life notes, that sounds a lot more like the game NES Remix, which launched on the Wii U and 3DS in 2013. It could be a game based around the theme of the Nintendo World Championship but not actually include the original minigames from the 1990 cartridge. It could also be a placeholder listing — time will tell.
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