I'll charge you thousands of dollars to collect 50 coins in SMB3, too
Nintendo Campus Challenge 1991 cart proves yet again that collectors have oodles of money
As a retro game fan, if I had a ton of money to blow I'd probably point my browser over to this eBay auction for a Nintendo Campus Challenge cart and lay down the law. $8,500 of your American currency? Pfft, tis child's play.
Forged by Nintendo's blacksmiths back in 1991, the carts were to be used in 58 tournaments across the US and then destroyed so as not to let its secrets into the wild, lest they fall into the wrong hands. Alas, one sneaky employee tasked with destroying their copy disobeyed and clung to what has now become the only known surviving copy. Then they sold it at a garage sale in 2006 after leaving the company and are probably eating their very own hands as they see how high the so-far 38 bidders are going.
On the cart are special versions of Super Mario Bros. 3, Pin-Bot and Dr. Mario. Contestants have 6 minutes and 21 seconds to play through the challenges and snag as many points as possible by first collecting 50 coins in SMB3, then 100,000 points in Pin-Bot and finishing off with Dr. Mario until the timer dings.
Not counting the initial garage sale, the cart has been sold once before — for $17,500. We'll see in two days whether the seller breaks even.
1. malnin
05 Oct 2009, 19:34 BST
Collecters sure do have more money then they know what to do with. Whoa free shipping! I'm so getting it then!
2. MetalMario
05 Oct 2009, 19:38 BST
My gosh.
I want that.
3. JamieO
05 Oct 2009, 19:40 BST
Aha, even at $17,500... Bargain! How many are available? I'll take two.
4. Reala
05 Oct 2009, 19:46 BST
Seems totally crazy to me, when you think of what you could buy instead.
5. bro2dragons
05 Oct 2009, 19:48 BST
you know... for that amount of money, you could probably pay nintendo to make you another one... and then it would half the price of the other guy's... just for spite.
6. Blue Protoman
05 Oct 2009, 20:09 BST
I hope someone dumps the ROM. I wanna play it.
7. jhuhn
05 Oct 2009, 20:36 BST
and we Canadians would have to report income when selling a product on eBay, or any online web site....glad I get referrals at Amazon.
8. ArtMcCarthyDotCom
05 Oct 2009, 20:56 BST
Just got a copy of 1990 world championship... to bad it is a bootleg version.
9. ryanknight717
05 Oct 2009, 20:59 BST
wow. the only one left in existance. I expected a higher price, though
10. irken004
05 Oct 2009, 21:22 BST
Hey I found this piece of news yesterday!
11. cheetahman91
05 Oct 2009, 21:48 BST
Holy ****! That's outrageous! (excuse my french)
12. KingMike
05 Oct 2009, 22:23 BST
I thought the 17.5K figure was for the gold 1990 cart (26 copies in existence), not this 1991 cart.
I think somebody was selling bootlegs of the '91 cart awhile ago.
13. RevolverLink
05 Oct 2009, 23:23 BST
This cart kinda reminds me of Retro Game Challenge.
14. Zweck36
05 Oct 2009, 23:57 BST
Is this the cart that was used in the movie the wizard, during the SMB3 competition?
15. WaveBoy
06 Oct 2009, 00:26 BST
What a waste of cash....If you're loaded than why not, but if you're making mediocre to decent cash and you're a hardcore retro fanatatic and would actuall spend that much to get it, then you're crazy...Imagin what you could buy instead with that amount of cash...
Personally i would never spend over $100 for a game retro game...And isn't 'SNOW BROS' one of thee' most expensive games on the nes?
16. gblock
06 Oct 2009, 00:28 BST
Zweck36, no. They played the actuall full SMB3 in The Wizard.
I'd love to see the ROM dumped, but the only way to get it w/o spending a crapton of money is to get it here: http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=68
And it's onsale for $65 (instead of the regular $85).
17. i8cookie
06 Oct 2009, 09:17 BST
Whats stopping someone making a copy of this cartridge? putting it on a blank nes cartridge, scuffing it up so it looks like the old one and selling it a 'one of a kind' on ebay for $8000+?
18. colmtheperson
06 Oct 2009, 14:40 BST
I wonder is it region locked? We europeans could spend 8.5K on a game and not be able to play it. How cruel would that be?
19. SoulSilver IV
06 Oct 2009, 15:46 BST
@ colmtheperson
Then you'd just buy a freeloader.
20. Devil_Hunter_Dante
06 Oct 2009, 16:51 BST
Wow thats a lot of money.
21. Swerd_Murd
06 Oct 2009, 22:20 BST
lol tbh someone could probably just reprogram this exact challenge in no time. Rom-hacking could probably do it quickly.
22. primeris
08 Oct 2009, 01:10 BST
I'd feel like a total tool blowing into an $8,500 NES cart.
23. Luigi78
09 Oct 2009, 19:54 BST
Yay.I won it!! And only $20,000 what a bargain, can't wait to play it
Anyone wanna borrow it once I'm done?
24. cheetahman91
09 Oct 2009, 22:36 BST
@luigi78: Gimme it!!!
25. i8cookie
11 Oct 2009, 10:29 BST
did you really win it?
26. StarDust
12 Oct 2009, 06:56 BST
@luigi78: BS!
Seriously, though 20,100 dollars - a new world record for an NES cart. I do kinda feel sorry for the poor chap, though - I mean, what can you really do with a 20K game cartridge? Bragging rights
27. WaveBoy
16 Oct 2009, 00:36 BST
Screw this, I have Jack Bros(with everything) for the Virtual Boy muhaha.
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