The global video game market today valued at over $85 billion . We've come a long way from Magnavox Odyssey , the first console ever sold in 1972. Countless games have been created since then. One website estimated it at 1 181 019 games, but then admitted that this doesn't include old PC games or console games for systems like the NES, SNES, Commodore 64, and many others. And while it's true, it may be impossible to guess how many of them ever existed, it's safe to say there are millions.
Of all these millions, some were definitely harder to obtain than others. We may never know about custom games or even some of those Magnavox Odyssey titles so rare they haven't existed for decades. But there are some rare games that have achieved near-mythical status among gamers. Let's check out the 10 most coveted.
10. Where in North Dakota is Carmen San Diego?
Back in 1985, Carmen Sandiego was first introduced to the world. «Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?» was so popular computer game, That in the modern era, it even spawned a TV show and a Netflix series. And it taught children geography, so they learned while being entertained.
Created by German developer Brøderbund, it spawned one surprisingly rare but official spin-off game called «Where in North Dakota is Carmen Sandiego?» . It was . the only one version of the game ever created for a specific state .
Around 5,000 copies were produced jointly in schools in North Dakota, To teach children about the state, but they were designed for the Apple II and consisted of a series of floppy disks. Chances are, some of you have never seen a floppy disk, so you can imagine what happened to this game. Technology advanced, and many of them were simply destroyed.
A 2015 copy was found, and the game data was preserved, but as for the floppy disks themselves? Those might never be seen again.
9. Mangia
Every now and then a truly bizarre game comes along that simply baffles everyone who plays it. Mangia — is one such game, if you can find it. It was released for the Atari 2600 back in 1983, and the gameplay is definitely weird.
Players control the child, whom mother feeds pasta . You eat plate after plate until you explode. But you can throw pasta to the cat or dog, but if your mom catches you, she'll feed you three times as much.
Back in 2012, a copy of the game was sold on eBay for $1,000 . At the time, only a couple of copies were known to exist anywhere. Nowadays they are sold at a price of 370 to 760 dollars , but only one or two copies are sold in any given year.
8. Lakers vs. Celtics for Sega Mega Drive
There are several games «Lakers vs. Celtics» , but the version released for the Sega Mega Drive back in 1990 for European gamers is undoubtedly the rarest of them all. This is because it is believed that the game was actually about to be recalled due to NBA licensing issues in Europe at the time. As a result, only 192 copies were ever released, and only14 of them exist today. It was so rare that for many years no one was sure that it even existed . At that time, the game was officially released or officially approved for sale.
The Sega Mega Drive was simply a Sega Genesis outside of North America, so the game itself wasn't unique. North American copies of the game are fairly easy to find. But the packaging, manual, and return form were unique to this limited edition, making it stand out. Of the few copies in circulation, one sold on eBay in 2017 for nearly $4,500.
7. Crossing the Red Sea
When it comes to making serious money on rare games, Red Sea Crossing I should chime in. The Atari 2600 game was heavily inspired by a much more familiar game. Frogger . You help your little character get from one place to another, avoiding deadly obstacles. Only in this case, you're not a frog, you're Moses, and the game is a sidescroller. In 2012, a copy of the game was sold at auction for $10,400.
Red Sea Crossing It was developed by an independent programmer back in 1983, and apparently only 100 copies were ever released. Of those, only two are known to still exist. Until 2007, most of the gaming world didn't even know the game existed. That same year, the person who sold it at auction found it at a garage sale.
After some research, several old magazine ads for the game were found, which described it as coming with a coloring book and an audio cassette. Another copy of the game was once was sold on eBay for $14,000 . To date, no one has found a copy with the book and cassette included.
6. Birthday Mania
Kids love video games, and that's been true since their inception. That's probably why programmer Anthony Tokar came up with the idea Birthday Mania Back in 1984, he developed the game himself after learning to program for fun and advertised it in the Newark Star Ledger newspaper in New Jersey. The game could be personalized for a child's birthday. The buyer would send Tokar a check, and he would program the child's name onto the title screen. After that, the gameplay was simple: players had to blow out falling birthday candles.
It is believed that only 100 were ever sold. 10 or so copies games, partly because gaming was in a recession in 1983, and also because the game was never released commercially, but instead was only available if you saw it advertised in New Jersey classifieds.
In 2009, a copy of the game sold for $6,500, though it would likely fetch more if another one were released today. Tokar signed over the rights to the game several years ago with the stipulation that if anyone were to reproduce and sell it, the proceeds would go to the proceeds will go to charity .
5. Air Raid for Atari 2600
Released in 1982, Air Raid was supplied in very unique sky-blue body , which also had a little handle on top so you could actually yank it out of your 2600 like a boss. These days, it's also worth a neat little sun as a replica., found at Goodwill, It sold in 2021 for $10,590.79. This was actually less than a sealed copy sold with an instruction manual in 2012, which cost a hefty $33,433.30.
The game was discovered Goodwill employee , which was intended to test the game's worth. Its unusual color and shape truly make it stand out. At the time, Goodwill reported that only 12 copies had been found and sold, but other sources note that only five known sales of collector's copies have been made.
4. Nintendo World Championship
The idea of a professional gamer is part of culture today, but even a few years ago, many people would have rolled their eyes at the idea. Of course, no one could play video games for a living. But the idea has been festering for decades. Take, for example, 1990 Nintendo World Championships . This was far from the first major video game tournament. Atari held one in 1981 with a $50,000 prize pool.
In 1989, Fred Savage starred in the film «"Wizard"» about a pair of brothers heading to California to play in a Nintendo tournament. The entire film was essentially a massive advertisement for Nintendo, and it paid off. It also ensured that every kid knew the video game tournament was real. A year later, the 1990 Nintendo World Championship attracted 8,000 players in 29 cities. The tournament even had its own exclusive game World Championships , which couldn't be played outside of the tournament itself. The cartridge featured three games: Tetris, Rad Racer и Super Mario Bros. It is estimated that around 100 games were smuggled out.
In 2014, a copy from with a torn label was sold for $100,000. Another was sold at auction in 2021 for $180,000, It also admits that the game was once sold for a $550,000 Tom Brady rookie card.
3. Mean Girls
«Mean Girls» was a surprise hit in 2004, starring Lindsay Lohan and written by Tina Fey. The film became something of a cult classic and even inspired its own video game, which was released for the Nintendo DS about five years after the film's release.
It was considered , that the game in which Lohan wasn't even featured. The cover, supposedly due to its reputation at the time, was never released for quite some time. However, that didn't stop someone from finding it. After years of hunting, investigating, and pleading, a woman named Raven, who had made a career detailing lost and forgotten DS games, caught the attention of one of the Mean Girls developers, who shared с her copy .
The game was debugged and emulated, and finally, a playable version was released. The DS version may have been released in Europe in very limited quantities, but no one claimed to have an authentic copy, so perhaps that's not the case. If so, it's possible there are literally no authentic copies in the wild.
2. Events at the stadium
Sports games have been popular since they first appeared. Pong , after all, a sports game. In 1987, during the glory days of the Nintendo NES, the game was released Stadium Events , which allowed players to compete in four different Olympic-style events. The game itself is unremarkable, especially since it was re-released in 1988 as World Class Track Meet . And this is the secret of this game's rarity. It is known , which is under the original name exists total about a dozen copies .
Two thousand copies of the original game were printed, and 200 were shipped to stores. The game, created by Bandai, was played with something called the Family Fun Fitness Pad, one of those floor mats made popular by Dance Dance Revolution . However, Nintendo purchased the rights to the tablet during the game's shipping and then recalled all shipped copies so it could be renamed the Nintendo Power Pad.
Unsold games were sent back to the company, but some would have already been sold, and it is these rare versions that are available in the wild today. One copy was sold for $13,105 in 2010. Factory-sealed copy sold for $41,300 . The problem is that there are so many common versions that people try to pass off as the real thing.
1. Sealed Super Mario Bros.
So when it comes to the most valuable game of all time and the rarest, it's hard to beat Super Mario Bros. But how could this be? It's arguably one of, if not the most famous, games of all time. It all comes down to the details.
In April 2021, a sealed copy Super Mario Bros was sold for a staggering $660,000 . The game had been sitting untouched in a drawer for 35 years, sealed, untouched and almost perfect. But it wasn't the most expensive game of all time. Just a few months later, another copy Super Mario Bros was sold at auction for a staggering $2 million , making it the most expensive video game purchase in history.
Like the $660,000 replica, this one was professionally assessed and was in pristine condition. In addition, it was released in a limited edition circulation, which made it rarer than the usual ones Super Mario Bros, that you might have found there. Given all these factors, this may be the only version of the game that meets all the existing criteria.