If you ’ve ever collected baseball cards , comical books , stamps , or maybe those limited version commemorative plates , you infer the conception of the " Holy Grail" detail . It ’s that last , hard - to - find , incredibly uncommon , usually expensive piece that you have to have before you may officially say your solicitation is complete . If you ’re a collector of vintage home telecasting game cartridges ( or " carts " ) , sometimes that can intend pay a pretty centime for the pièce de résistance .
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Back in the day , everyone had a Nintendo . Due to the console ’s popularity , there are a large number of collector unforced to give the equivalent of a new car for some of the systems ' very rare cart .
1. Stadium Events
Stadium Eventsrecently made headlines with two high - visibility eBay sales agreement . A North Carolina womanhood was pick out her service department and found an old Nintendo and a fistful of games , includingStadium issue . She put them up on eBay without high arithmetic mean and was amazed to see the bids steadily wax up to $ 13,105 by the time the auction terminate on February 13 , 2010 . While the secret plan itself is valuable , the win bidder was most concerned in the composition board corner it came in . Since most small fry threw the boxwood aside after tearing open a fresh plot , entire boxes for any game are really hard to come by , but specially so for Stadium event . EmptyStadium Eventboxes have been known to sell for $ 10,000 alone .
After hearing of the success of this eBay vendor , a military personnel in Kansas dig up up a manufacturing plant - sealed copy of the biz that he was just about to donate to Goodwill because he thought it was fairly much worthless . However , his biz became only the second known sealed written matter in universe . He ’d purchased the plot in 1987 , but could never receive the Fitness mat to go with it . It was still sealed because he ’d mean to retrovert it . When his eBay auction ended on February 26 , 2010 , the game sold for an astonishing $ 41,300 .
The same game repackaged by Nintendo , World Class Track Meet , generally deal for less than $ 3 on eBay .
2. 1990 Nintendo World Championships (Gray and Gold Editions)
Price Range : Robert Gray : $ 4,000 - $ 6,100 ; Gold : $ 15,000 - $ 21,000Why So Expensive?:In 1990 , Nintendo held a 30 - metropolis play tourney to see the best role player in the globe . Players had to get the best score in demo interpretation of three game " “ Super Mario Bros. ,Rad Racer , andTetris — all within a six - minute time terminus ad quem .
At the ending of each city ’s tournament , the winners of each of three eld groups were give particular grayChampionshipcartridges exactly like those used in the competitor , which intend only 90 of these cartridge were broadcast . The gold version was sent out to those who succeed a promotional contest in the pages ofNintendo Powermagazine . Only 26 atomic number 79 games were produce , so they ’re especially knockout to find and command a higher price today .
3. Nintendo Campus Challenge
Most copies of the game were destroyed after the contender ended , but one Nintendo employee kept his cart and betray it to Rob Walters at a garage sale in 2006 . This garage sale is legendary among retrogamers , as Rob bought all kinds of NES Holy Grails for only $ 1,000 . By the time he re - sell everything , he ’d made 50 meter that . Part of that $ 50,000 was theCampus Challengecartridge , which went for $ 14,000 . Shortly after , the emptor of the cart turn around and sold it on eBay for $ 20,100 . As far as anyone knows , it ’s the only written matter of the secret plan in the world .
ATARI 2600
The wood - ingrain grandpappy of place video biz arrangement still has a rabid fanbase . And those Atari enthusiasts wish to recapture the days of play these simple biz while drinking Pepsi from glass bottleful and listening to Foghat .
4. Atlantis II
Because this version was not mass produced , its jolly rarefied today . But if you find a written matter of the originalAtlantisat a garage sale , it might be a estimable melodic theme to pick it up anyway . The competition pushcart had the exact same colorful recording label of the regularAtlantis , but had a minor , white sticker slapped on the front that read " Atlantis II.“ The recording label was easily peel off , so a straightaway Google search will show you how to determine if you buy a $ 3 Atari game or a $ 6,000 one .
5. Air Raid
6. Star Wars Ewok Adventure
The game was shoot down by Parker Brothers ' marketing department , who felt the controls were too hard to master , so it was never bring on . The game ’s designer , Larry Gelberg , gave the one and only known prototype written matter to a friend ’s son , who later sold it for $ 1680 .
Neo Geo
The Neo Geo , first released in 1990 , was always a fleck of a niche nursing home video game cabinet , mainly because of its price — the system was $ 649 and game started at $ 200 . However , those who had a Neo Geo really loved it , so the collector ' market place has remained potent .
7. Kizuna Encounter
Why So Expensive?:One of the main games that all Neo Geo fanatics are front for is a peculiar version ofKizuna Encounter , a 1996 fighting game alike toMortal KombatorStreet Fighter . The game itself has take in solid limited review , but is n’t groundbreaking by any means . However , it was make in such small measure for the European marketplace that collectors speculate few than 15 written matter were made . The Japanese version , which is just the same except for dissimilar packaging , is moderately common and sell for about $ 50 .
8. Ultimate 11 (AKA Super Sidekicks 4)
In later 2009 , a private sales event was reportedly made between two member of the collector ' forums at neo-geo.com . The buyer paid an astonishing $ 55,000 to acquire bothKizuna EncounterandUltimate 11 . The original owner purchased the game around 10 years ago , whenKizunawas selling for $ 500 and Ultimate for $ 400 . The new owner has say he will not sell them , even if he were offer $ 100,000 .
9. Metal Slug
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