The world's rarest video games

[[ES] Secret Squirrel]

Video games are bigger than Hollywood and the music industry these days. Small wonder then that some of the rarest retro items have been fetching astronomical prices around the world.

To illustrate this ‘Dave’ from Kansas recently sold a shrink-wrapped copy of Nintendo Entertainment System title ‘Stadium Events’ for over $40,000 (£26,000). Not bad for a game that was apparently destined for the charity shop!

Other Holy Grails of gaming history are demanding big money too. Here, in descending order, are the ten rarest or highest-priced – maybe you’ve got some of them hiding in your attic?

10. ‘Donkey Kong Country’ Competition Cartridge (Super NES)
This SNES cart was made for a contest held in Blockbuster video stores back in 1995. Mint copies sell for around $1,000 (£650), but you won’t find many of them, we think.

9. ‘Nintendo World Championships’ – Grey (NES)
90 of these were given to contestants during Nintendo’s 1990 compo. Games included on the cart were Super Mario, Rad Racer and Tetris. Collectors pay $6,000 (£4,000) if you can find one, but the ‘Gold’ version is where the real money’s at.

8. ‘Stadium Events’ (NES)
Kansas Dave’s copy was still factory-sealed, hence the $40,000 price tag. Used copies still sell for $13,000 (£8,500), though. Alas, the US version is much more valuable than the UK game.

7. ‘Blockbuster Championships 2’ (Mega Drive)
Another cart made for the video rental giant in 1995. Store owners were supposed to destroy the game after the competition but a few survive, making the $2,000 (£1,300) price tag seem entirely reasonable. No?

6. ‘Uncharted 2: Fortune Hunter Edition’ (PS3)
Sony gave 30 of these to lucky gamers who played Uncharted 2 online during a weekend event last October. The bundle pack includes a replica dagger from the game and a special book-style casing. Watch this one skyrocket in value, although its current worth is a mere $1,200 (£800).

5. ‘Air Raid’ (Atari 2600)
Is this the rarest commercially available Atari game ever? Collectors seem to think so, and will happily hand over up to $18,000 (£12,000) for a boxed copy. The cartridge on its own is worth £1,800.

4. ‘Nintendo World Championship’ – Gold (NES)
26 of these glistening carts were given to winners of Nintendo’s 1990 contest, which took place at Universal Studios. Only 13 have been accounted for so far, meaning one of these $18,000 (£12,000) games could be lurking in your stair-cupboard right now. Or maybe not...

3. ‘Kizuna Encounter’ (NeoGeo)
NeoGeo games are famously expensive, but none more so than this dodgy brawler. For once the PAL version is more expensive than any other, thanks to different packaging and inserts. Only five copies are known to exist, though. That’ll be $12,000 (£8,000), thankyouplease.

2. ‘1994 Powerfest Cartridge’ (Super NES)
We’re deep, deep into hens-teeth territory now. 33 of these were issued for Nintendo’s last ever competition event, but just a single copy is known to have survived intact – and that’ll cost an eye-watering $20,000 (£13,000).

1. ‘Nintendo Campus Challenge’ (NES)
The only known copy of this competition special fetched up at a New York garage sale in 2006. The cart compiled Super Mario Bros. 3, Pinbot and Dr. Mario – all of which cut out after just six minutes of play. And that’s shocking value considering the $20,100 (£13,100) it’s worth today.