10 Rare and Expensive Nintendo NES Games

The Nintendo NES was the first video game system for many gamers and is dear to their hearts because of the great gaming memories it provided. Some of those NES games are also rare and sell for quite a bit of money nowadays. Below is a list of the ten rarest Nintendo games and why they are so expensive.

1. Nintendo World Championsip Gold – $10,000 – Gray – $4,000
Nintendo World Championship is the most expensive video game of all time. It was made as part of a national video game contest that Nintendo held in 1990. The content winners received the gold cartridge, so there are only 26 in existence. The gray cartridge was used to run the contest and there are 90 available. Both sets are sought after collectibles and command a huge premium on the resale market.

2. Bubble Bath Girls – $1,000
An unauthorized game made for the Nintendo system. The game was published by Panesian and is for adults only. Nintendo did not approve them for release, but Panesian did anyway. It was mailed only and probably sold less than 1,000 copies.

3. Peek-A-Boo Poker – $950
Another unlicensed adult game for the NES. The game is a basic poker game with some adult themes. It was also only sold by mail order and is almost as popular as Bubble Bath Babes. The games are known to be very bad, but collectors still covet them because they are so rare.

4. Countless 6-in-1s – $800
Myriad made a collection of six games on one cartridge and published it without Nintendo’s approval. The company went bankrupt during production and never produced many copies. The same game was also re-released as Caltron 6-in-1. It has a different packaging but it’s just as rare.

5. Cheetah II – $400
The last of the unlicensed games to make the list, Cheetahman II was the sequel to a game that didn’t sell very well. The 1,500 copies they made were never officially released by the company, but they were eventually sold to the public. The game is well known for being one of the worst games ever made, but it still sells for hundreds of dollars because it’s so rare.

6. Stadium Events – $400
Stadium Events was released to the general public, but was withdrawn soon after so that Nintendo could release the game as “World Class Track Meet”. Only several hundred copies of this game were released to players before they were returned to the publisher and destroyed.

7. Bubble Bobble Part 2 – $80
Bubble Bobble Part 2 was released at the end of the NES’s life, two years after the Super Nintendo’s release. Because it came out so late, the game didn’t sell very well. Most of the players had already switched to the newer games.

8. Little Samson – $70
A very good platformer, like Super Mario Bros, Little Samson never found an audience when it first came out and sold poorly. Players now know how good the game is and pay a premium for the chance to play this great game.

9. California Grapes – $65
California Raisins was terminated by its developer in 1991, but was never released commercially because raisins had lost their popularity by then. Some copies eventually came to light, but it’s very rare.

10. Dragon Warrior IV – $55
The last Dragon Warrior game made for the NES system, IV’s sales suffered because it came out after people switched over to the Super Nintendo. Nintendo Power rated the game as the second best release of the year it came out, but that wasn’t enough to help sales.

Now that you know the rarest and most expensive games for the Nintendo NES, check out your collection and browse garage sales for these game rarities.