You might not know this if you grew up in the later eras of Nintendo, but the company ran an esports competition called the Nintendo World Championships way back in 1990. The event toured 29 American cities and players from across the country gathered to compete using a custom Nintendo Entertainment System Game Pak. The cartridge used in the event went on to become a prized collectors’ item, but now, players will get a chance to buy a physical item directly inspired by it.
On Wednesday, Nintendo shared a trailer for the upcoming game, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. The game recreates the competitive spirit of the event and will allow players to speedrun more than 150 “challenging moments” from across 13 NES games like Super Mario Bros. and Metroid. In addition to the virtual eShop download, the company announced Nintendo World Championships would be getting a physical edition as well. And while it’s not replacement for those rare early NES cartridges from the actual competition — the physical version of the game has plenty to ooh and aah over.
You can buy the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition – Deluxe Set off of Nintendo’s website. It will go on sale July 18 and cost $59.99. (The virtual game-only version costs $29.99.) The Deluxe Set comes with a Gold replica NES cartridge and stand to commemorate the 1990 World Championships, the Nintendo Switch game card, 13 art cards, and a set of five pins. The golden NES pack cartridge is not playable, but this physical version touts details like embossed pixel art of the Nintendo games featured in the World Championships event.
Image: Nintendo
The set is so pretty that prospective buyers are already expressing concern about scalpers in the comment section under the trailer on YouTube. So if you want to buy a unique physical edition then make sure you watch Nintendo’s site on July 18.
