What does Nintendo have up their sleeves this year? They’ve been the talk of the retro-gaming world over the past few months after their takedown of Yuzu and the whole provocation from Palworld by essentially ripping off every single Pokémon ever created, but which games are heading our way?
Well, we know that when it comes to official Nintendo titles, the only releases that have been announced are the Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD Remake and the remaster of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. I know there have been so many rumours about the Nintendo Switch dropping this year too and we’ve had news of a new Pokémon Legends title heading our way, but the announcements have been pretty slow. Still, a new ESRB rating for Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (thanks VGC) might mean that Ninty has a new release plan up its sleeve.
For those of you who are wondering what an ESRB rating is, the official Entertainment Software Ratings Board defines it as a listing that provides ‘information about what’s in a game or app so parents and consumers can make informed choices about which games are right for their family.’ It’s the kind of thing that stops you from buying Resident Evil for a 2-year-old, and in this case, sheds some light on a newly uncovered mystery.
Calling All Champions
The cartridge for the Nintendo World Championships was used at the 1990 event and featured a competitive mixture of parts from Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and Rad Racer. Get the highest score across all three games and become a champion – simple.
So why has an ESRB for a game released for a competition held back in 1990 suddenly appeared on the internet? Some of you might know this cartridge from our list of the rarest NES games and their prices, with Gold Cartridge variants, one of the rarest game carts in existence, being given to competition winners in Nintendo Power Magazine.
If you look at the ESRB rating above, you’ll see that this game rating is made for the Nintendo Switch, which in my mind means that we’re about to see a new collection dropping on the Switch, possibly as a shadow-dropped treat or as part of the Nintendo Online Subscription. I say new because the listing on ESRB mentions ‘a collection of 2D challenges’ and also mentions ‘pixelated characters using small swords’, none of which happened in Tetris that I can remember…
So what we look to have is a new game entirely, a title that Nintendo hasn’t announced yet and one that will possibly feature similar style challenges to the World Championships all those years ago. Of course, there could be the possibility that we’re about to have another World Championships to sort out the Retro Gaming elite amongst us, all wielding our Switches in a big hall somewhere, but it’s more likely that we’re about to see a Game & Watch-style collection heading to the Switch for the nostalgia nerds amongst us, a little like the NES Remix titles for the 3DS and Wii U. As always, I’ll keep you up to date with more information as and when I get it!
