Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition for Switch spotted on US ratings board website

There’s something mysterious brewing over at Nintendo; a new listing for a previously unannounced Switch game, called Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, has been spotted on the US’ Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) website.

Helpfully, the ESRB – which has rated the game ‘E’ for ‘Everyone’ if you’re curious – has a few details on Nintendo’s mysterious new title, describing it as a “collection of 2D challenges and platformer games in which players traverse through various modes (e.g., speedrun, survival)”.

“Several challenges involve reaching specific points, while others prompt players to defeat small enemies or survive brief battles,” the ESRB description continues. “Some games depict pixelated characters using small swords or arrows to strike at enemies; enemies typically get stunned or disappear in a flash.”

And that’s everything we know so far, aside from the fact it’ll contain in-app purchases. But is there anything else we can discern? Well not precisely, but it’s hard not to be reminded of Nintendo’s excellent, if short-lived NES Remix series for Wii U and 3DS, which bundled together numerous classic NES games then set players challenges that required them to approach each one in unusual ways – say, speedrunning or clearing an area without dying.

Notably, NES Remix 2 featured a Nintendo World Championships Remix mode (inspired by the US-wide competition tour held in 1990), which tasked players with completing challenges for a series of specific games in order to achieve a ranking score on the leaderboard. It certainly isn’t beyond the realm of possibility, then, that Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition might see the company revisiting that idea. Or, you know, maybe it’s something else.

But with a rating now secured, it hopefully won’t be long before we hear more. Perhaps it’s time to put the summoning caps back on and will another Nintendo Direct into existence.