$17500 Nintendo video game

[Robert Hall]

Here's something the gamers on here might find interesting:

$17500 for very rare game cartridge

Think $60 video games are too expensive? You won't hear any argument from us, but you might from JJ Hendricks, a collector who just paid a clinically insane $17,500 for an obscure NES game from 1990.

The game in question is an ultra-rare, gold-colored version of Nintendo World Championships, a cartridge specially produced for use in a Nintendo-sponsored gaming contest. According to Wikipedia only 26 were created, and Hendricks calls it the "Holy Grail" of video game collectors.

The game itself has a time limit of just 6 minutes and 21 seconds and consists of three short segments from other NES games: Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and Rad Racer. Players are scored according to their performance in each game, and their scores are totaled once the time limit expires. Doesn't sound too riveting to us, but then somehow we doubt Hendricks is in it for the gameplay.

And while $17,500 might seem a bit much for a collection of ones and zeroes, Hendricks actually got a bargain: the game was originally listed on eBay for a cool $25,000.

Edit: D'oh. I should have posted this to the "Off Topic" sub forum, but I keep forgetting it's there...my bad.

Edited July 7, 2009 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[FAPTurbo]

Man that's a steep price. Maybe if it were a version of Metroid with all of Samus' clothing off in all her 8-bit glory, then it'd be drooled over, but I doubt even the biggest NinteNerd would fork out 17 grand for this.

[Intrepidation]

[PurdueGuy]

Oh look, they took a Legend of Zelda cartidge, slapped a cheapo sticker on it, threw together some already existing games, added like 4 hours of programming for the scoring system, and now it's a super rare collectors item! I can somewhat understand it... but not totally. For some, rare will always equal valuable, and they can have it.

[XP715]

I'm a big time classic video game collector, with NES and SNES being my specialty, and not even I would pay that for a gold copy of the Nintendo World Championships cartridge. It was a giveaway from Nintendo Power Magazine; if anything I'd rather spend 1/8 the price and get one of the ~117 gray copies that was actually used in competition play. At least then I have a chance of buying it off the original owner who would have been a regional winner for their age group. But even then, I'd probably just have my fun with it and send it down the road to another collector. I'd rather have the money than a game I'll only play once or twice that probably three other people in the entire world will be impressed by. I even cringe at the thought of spending the money I'll need to get my hands on a copy of Stadium Events, the rarest North American NES title, which, if anybody has laying around, is worth a good chunk of change to me. Go check your basements and closets and attics!

[Intrepidation]

Emulator FTW

[XP715]

Yeah but I've always been a packrat; a lover of stuff. Plus I'm an old-fashioned nerd and like popping the cartridge in and playing it the way it was meant to be played.

But I have used emulators to play games I couldn't get my hands on otherwise, and also for taking screenshots when needed.

[Intrepidation]

Yeah but I've always been a packrat; a lover of stuff. Plus I'm an old-fashioned nerd and like popping the cartridge in and playing it the way it was meant to be played.

But I have used emulators to play games I couldn't get my hands on otherwise, and also for taking screenshots when needed.

I've still got my old Genesis kicking around. Ah the good old days of blowing off the cartridge to make it work.

[capriceman]

lol nothing like spending 30 minutes blowing and pressing up and down her just to get her to turn on.

kind of like your mom!

[Blake Noble]

Seriously?

I know where I can get that exact game for two bucks (well, if it's still there).

Time to cash in.

Edited July 19, 2009 by YellowJacket894

[Blake Noble]

Oh, and I got an Atari 2600 in a junkyard for free, complete with 17 games including Pac-Man, Asteroids, and the worst game ever made: the E.T. The Extra Terrestrial video game.

How much am I sitting on there?

Edited July 19, 2009 by YellowJacket894

[cletus8269]

Emulator FTW

+1

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