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Nintendo World Championship 1990
On my third post we explored the legal history of King Kong and I name dropped the 1989 film The Wizard. The film was, at its core, an advertisement for Nintendo with the climax of the film being a competition in which people from the world over tried to claim the title of World Champion at Nintendo games. One year later in 1990 Nintendo hosted a real life version as part of Powerfest and ultimately created the two most sought after games of all time!
People from the world over competed in a special game made by Nintendo for the title of Nintendo World Champion, the competitors were separated into age categories. The game was three separate Nintendo titles; Super Mario Bros, Rad Racer and Tetris. In Super Mario Bros the player must collect 50 coins as quickly as possible. In Rad Racer the player had to complete the first lap as quickly as possible. In Tetris the player had to achieve the highest score possible in the time limit. The winner of each category was given the actual copy of the game used in the competitions and the runners up were given goodies. These versions were grey and individually numbered as well as incredibly valuable. Today these games go for several thousands of pounds at auctions and by online sellers. Despite the incredible value and rarity of this game there is another version even more rare and much more valuable.
The magazine Nintendo Power ran their own competition based off of the Nintendo World Championship for its readers. This cartridge was gold and only 26 were ever made. This cartridge can go from £18,000 to the highest recorded selling price of £30,000. This game is considered the Holy Grail to video game collectors. Despite all of this there exists yet another version of the game, a blue reproduction cartridge which is not rare or particularly valuable but the gameplay is the same as the grey and gold versions. What makes this game so valuable is largely the fact that it is in huge demand, every game collector wants the grey or gold cartridge and due to their short supply they command huge prices online.
