If you are a retrophile such as myself, then I must ask you to please pick your jaw up off the floor after seeing the above headline and image. A fabled golden Nintendo World Championships 1990 (NWC) cart recently sold within a collection of 23 other games in an online auction for $21,400 — it began on March 18th.
There are only 116 NWC carts in circulation today. Ninety of these cartridges were clad in the standard gray casing, but there were 26 special golden cartridges that were given away through a Nintendo Power contest that ran just before the 1990 championship tour. There were only two ways you could possibly get your meathooks on one of the 116 carts: become a finalist in the championships or be a winner in said contest. That’s it.
As you can see, the odds of you or I getting our hands on one or, rather, even seeing one in person are ridiculously slim. The notority of these blessed game cartridges has made them the top pick for avid collector’s all over the world and continues to be considered the most sought after piece of gaming history.
However, this auction holds a very unique and interesting tale. Hit the jump to continue reading and find out!
The story behind the auction itself is almost as amazing as the rarity of the game it contains. It was started by a father who had lost his son in the Iraq war. The auction description states that his son passed away a few years ago and now he is deciding to sell some of his son’s belongings. Ironically, he would’ve kept this collection for his daughter, but the NES they owned no longer works.
It is quite tragic for anyone to lose somebody they care for, regardless of the circumstances. Perhaps this auction was his son’s final way of paying back his father and easing the pain.
Another thing to note, is that the auction began at a mere $24 — one dollar per game seemed to be a fair price in the seller’s eye. Can you imagine going to someone’s yard sale and seeing the literal “Holy Grail” of gaming marked for one buck? I think I’d probably pass out just by seeing the friggin’ thing.
Nonetheless, a unique treasure of gaming’s past deserves an equally unique story to go along with it. See the auction for yourself.
[Thanks to our reader Mario for giving us a buzz on the Destructophone.]
