The gaming industry has been around for decades. Over time, as it happens in other industries, rare editions of games have grown in price – especially those that remained in perfect condition decades after release (in a whole box and in factory film). This article contains examples of the most expensive purchases made by collectors.
Nintendo World Championship
The Nintendo World Championship compilation for the NES console is rightfully considered one of the most coveted among seekers of video game antiquities. The cartridge was created specifically for the championship of the same name, which was held in 1990 – it contains competitive mini-games based on Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris. The circulation was severely limited: 90 cartridges in gray (they were given to the participants after the end of the competition) and 26 in gold (they were drawn in a related competition hosted by Nintendo Power Magazine).
One of these gold cartridges was sold on eBay in 2014 for $ 100 thousand, which at the current exchange rate is approximately equal to 6.3 million rubles. And this is for the game in an imperfect condition (the box was previously glued to the magazine, and when it was torn off, the label was damaged).
Extra Terrestrials
You may well have heard about this game from the recent news. In July, the Extra Terrestrials cartridge (not to be confused with the infamous E.T. game) for the Atari 2600 was sold on eBay for $ 90,000, which at the current exchange rate is about 5.7 million rubles. The cost was influenced by a very limited edition: the developers released literally 100 copies of the game. It is also believed to be the only commercial Atari 2600 game made in Canada.
Extra Terrestrials has been one of the victims of the Atari crash . Skill Screen Games was going to release a game based on Steven Spielberg’s movie by Christmas 1983, but due to production overlays, it failed. In 1984, when the crisis struck, buyers were not interested in console games – they were expensive, offered a stripped-down experience compared to arcade versions, and no one could guarantee the quality. Stores had to sell goods for pennies just to empty the warehouses. Therefore, Skill Screen Games employees, who had already invested $ 15 thousand in the project, literally went from door to door and tried to sell the available copies in order to somehow cover the costs.
Stadium Events
A cartridge with a fitness game Stadium Events for the NES was sold for $ 42 thousand (approximately 2.6 million rubles) in July 2017 on eBay. The price, again, was influenced by the rarity of the publication. The first edition in the United States went on sale in 1987 as part of the Family Fun Fitness series: it was developed for a specialized fitness mat, which was offered to be purchased separately. A year later, Nintendo acquired the rights to the project and mat from Bandai and re-released the game called WorldClass Track Meet. Of course, the new publisher immediately removed the old copies of Stadium Events from sale. They were supposed to be destroyed, but somehow over 200 copies survived.
This particular copy of Stadium Events was discovered in a second-hand by the mother-in-law of the auction organizer – miraculously, the game remained unopened. Fortunately, then there was a gamer son with her, who knew what kind of rarity it was.
Air raid
Another example of the fabulously expensive cartridge for the Atari 2600 is Men-a-Vision’s Air Raid shooter (more precisely, shoot’em up), which is highly sought after by collectors due to its small circulation. At the June auction, a copy of the game was sold for $ 33,000 (approximately 2.1 million rubles). This is the third out of the discovered boxed versions of Air Raid: in addition, there was an instruction manual.
Red sea crossing
The “holy grail of Atari gaming” is how the publisher promoted Red Sea Crossing for the Atari 2600 in 1983. Only a few knew about its existence: an advertisement for the novelty was printed in a religious magazine. The reason was simple – Red Sea Crossing described the exodus of Jews from Egypt. After the 1983 crisis, the game was forgotten for a long time, until in 2007 its cartridge was bought by an unnamed enthusiast at a “garage sale”. Then he resold the find in 2012 – for $ 10 thousand (about 660 thousand rubles) at the GameGavel auction.
Super copa
Super Copa football manager for SNES (1994) was distributed only in Spain and Portugal – they released the game Tony Meola’s Sidekicks under this name. It is not as rare as the cartridges mentioned above, but it is very difficult to find an unopened copy, which is why such copies are in demand and respect among collectors. So, in 2015, Super Copa packed in factory film for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was sold for $ 6,900 (about 438 thousand rubles).
The story of this copy is simple: it was sold by a former employee of Nintendo Power Magazine, who received the game and kept it to sell it many years later.
Batman Forever Woolworths Limited Edition
This SNES edition was only available from Woolworths in the UK in 1995. The game itself was mediocre, sales were low, and the packaging was very fragile. Because of this, there are almost no copies of Batman Forever in perfect condition: the only known unopened copy of the limit was sold for £ 3 thousand (approximately 239 thousand rubles) in February 2018.
In addition to the game, Batman Forever Woolworths Limited Edition includes a souvenir Batman notebook and a VHS cassette of a documentary about the creation of the game.
Dead Space Ultra Limited Edition
However, the price can skyrocket not only for ancient cartridges. Did you know about the existence of Dead Space Ultra Limited Edition? Electronic Arts released just 1,000 copies of this $ 149.99 edition in 2008. It is not surprising that the price tag for it at auctions is now simply cosmic.
In November 2018, an unopened Dead Space Ultra Limited Edition was sold for $ 2,500 (approximately 159 thousand rubles). It includes just the Dead Space Downfall animated DVD on DVD, bonus content, lithographic concept art, a 97-page artbook with illustrations and developer commentary, a 160-page comic strip, and an Ishimura astronaut patch.
Collectors do not spare money for rare editions of games. Of course, many of them will remain on the shelf waiting for the next auction. But it doesn’t matter at all. The main thing is that the “Holy Grails” thus survive to this day, and with them – the history of the video game industry .
