One of the rarest old school Nintendo game cartridges has been listed on eBay and is expected to fetch a high price for its auction. Back in 1990 only 116 copies of the game cartridge "Nintendo World Championships" were manufactured as competition prizes for that year. None were ever made available again on general sale.
The label on the game cartridge is torn and "Mario" has been written on what's left of the label's remains in ballpoint pen, which will likely drive down the price of the already rare and expensive game.
"This is quite unfortunate but happened many decades ago," the description reads, adding that the original owner didn't have "a clue what they actually had." This would make sense, many old cartridges from that era have been through worse but a game this rare should have been handled with extreme care. Many other owners of the game refuse to even let people see the prized item. Despite the blemish, the game is still expected to fetch a very high price.
The game features a shortened version of Super Mario, Tetris and Rad Racer. It was on these three classics that those in the competition realm were tasked with scoring the most points in six minutes. The winners received carious prizes but all 90 of the semi-finalists got a grey cartridge like the one on auction. IGN notes that some cartridges were made for separate Nintendo Power competition.
According to the listing on eBay, the auction ends tomorrow with a bids going as high as $5,800. Apparently, the last time one of these was publically sold was in 2011 at a charity auction even where it was bought for the high price of $11,000. However, it's worth noting that the one was in significantly better condition.
How much would you be willing to pay to be the proud owner of one of the rarest, if not the most rare, Nintendo cartridge? Comment and share your thoughts on this addition to the antique gamers' collection with us below.
