Gaming is not a cheap hobby, but those who are in charge of collecting video games in a much more serious way are already used to paying exorbitant amounts of money for their favorite titles. However, there are also levels upon levels in collecting and that is why here we present you the five most expensive video games that have been sold throughout history.
nintendo campus challenge
Nintendo Campus Challenge was a pretty weird title, even by Nintendo standards. The Big N visited around 35 college campuses so students could try out this game, and hopefully even buy one of their consoles. The cartridge included diluted versions of Super Mario World, F-Zero, and Pilotwings, so it was only built as a marketing tool with these small demos. In 2009, this game was sold at auction for $20,000, and the funny thing is that the first bid was only $1.
power fest ’94
Nintendo PowerFest ’94 was another game designed specifically for promotional purposes. Basically, four teams had to compete to get the highest score possible in three Nintendo games: Super Mario Kart, Ken Griffey Jr. Home Run Derby, and Super Mario All-Stars, all of them included on the cartridge. Nintendo only produced 35 of these cartridges, but currently there is only a record of two of them, but only one has been sold for $25 thousand dollars while the other is auctioned for $300 thousand dollars.
air-raid
This cartridge stands out for its “T” shaped design, and was originally released for the Atari 2600 on January 1, 1982. Its gameplay is quite similar to that of Space Invaders, although this time we won’t be fighting aliens. The game was not that good so there was no reason for its publisher to release more copies on the market, and it was precisely this that caused its price to skyrocket. Back in 2012, a copy of this extremely rare title sold for a total of $33,433.
Nintendo World Championships
Nintendo World Championships was another game designed for competitive gaming. This title hit the market in 1990, and only around 116 cartridges were produced. Interestingly, 26 of these were placed in gold cartridges, while the rest used the classic gray ones we all know. This collection included Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris. Players had six minutes and 21 seconds to reach the highest score possible, and in 2014, one of them with a gold cartridge sold for more than $100,000 on eBay.
Super Mario Bros.
Retailing for $2 million, this unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. is the most expensive game ever. The reason it was priced so high is due to its immaculate condition, the fact that it has never been opened before, and that it was a limited printing edition. Super Mario Bros. sold around 50 million copies when it debuted in the mid-’80s, so it’s not that hard to get a physical copy, but it is under these conditions.
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