Aside from being a reliable e-commerce merchant website, eBay can occasionally surprise us with the most unusual and rare listings. On Sept. 14, we learned that a gold Nintendo Wii gifted to Queen Elizabeth II had gone live. According to recent reports, an item of relatively higher value is now up for auction on eBay.
Unreleased NES Games Spotted on eBay
Kotaku was among the first to recognize two unreleased NES games on the e-commerce platform. This is sure to draw the attention of many game collectors because the items are thought to be the only remaining copies and, despite their age, are still playable.
The listing was discovered and shared by Frank Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation via a series of tweets, according to the report. "Battlefields of Napoleon," the first NES game featured by the video preservation organization, is encased in what appears to be a prototype cartridge of the game.
The game also comes with its original packaging design, which is much simpler than most game card covers available today. According to the report, this package design could be a copy intended to be sent to Nintendo for printing on game boxes. Obviously, it did not happen, as people are waiting to see which bidder will get his hands on this one-of-a-kind NES game.
Broderbund published the said rare NES game in English. According to the New York Times, Broderbund was an American developer of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for a slew of popular 8-bit video games, including "Karateka," "Print Shop," and others.
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The second game, unlike the first, does not have a detailed cover design. The game, titled "SCANNER," is packaged in a cartridge with a plain white label that reads, "CES SAMPLE. Please return to: RARE COIN-IT INC." Supposedly, this copy is a demo version of a game created especially for the Nintendo Power Glove, according to reports.
How rare is this game? According to Kotaku, no one in public has ever seen or played this game, and no physical or digital dumps have ever surfaced. However, there have been reports that "Scanner" is a puzzle game with interesting mini-games.
Preservation Efforts
According to Engadget, Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation is attempting to buy these games in order to support efforts to preserve video games. However, he claimed that because they are likely to sell for high prices, the organization needs assistance in acquiring rare items.
🚨Attention video game preservation fans with money to spare🚨
— Frank Cifaldi @ Comic-Con (@frankcifaldi) October 11, 2022
There are currently TWO unreleased, one-of-a-kind, never-digitized games for the original NES on eBay right now. This has literally never happened before. Our resources are stretched thin, and we could use help. pic.twitter.com/54ym603mHM
Cifaldi says his Twitter DMs are open if people like to contribute to help them buy these significant historical titles. As of writing, his announcement gained close to 7,000 faves, and he also mentioned having to round up $4000 in funds.
So far, the initiative has received positive feedback from the gaming community. "The support we've seen for these has been surprising," Cifaldi tweets. "I'm so glad that so many of you understand the importance of items like these."
