(image source: Yahoo Auctions Page)This might be a rarity. Or not, I'm not sure.
Anyway, recently I've been surfing the Japanese internet for interesting Famicom stuff and today I came up with this: a black Super Mario Bros. Famicom cart.
As most Famicom collectors know, the standard Super Mario Bros. cart is a yellow-orange color. I've never seen one in black plastic before.
This one was put up on Yahoo Auctions on May 23. It got one bid for 50,000 yen (the auction finished a couple days ago). That is about 600 dollars.
It isn't clear if this thing is for real or a fake. In the description of the item at the bottom of the page the seller addresses this question, stating that he purchased it in a lot of 100 games from a single seller. The other games in the lot all had a mark on them "editor's division" (not sure if that is an accurate translation) and he believes they were all either sample items or leftover prizes from a competition or something. He states that none of the other games looked like counterfeits. The back has the number 851224 on it and it is a loose cart without the box.
Not sure what to make of it. I haven't seen anything else on the web about an item like this or how rare it might be. Kind of neat if it is real though.
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Hmmmm, I'm feeling skeptical about this one. My first thought would be that it's a pirate. Regardless, I definitely wouldn't pay $600 for it -- especially since the yellow cart looks a lot nicer :)
ReplyDeleteMe too. My worry is that even if this is some sort of legitimate, super rare officially released Super Mario Bros. cart, these things look like they would be incredibly easy to fake.
ReplyDeleteAnd, as you say, the yellow carts look better!
I had a question to pose to you... I was at a market today and came across a small pile of what I think were Famicom carts, they were the right size, shape and endearing bright colors. The thing was they appeared to be 4 in 1 type carts, e.g 4 in 1 Capcom games or 4 in 1 Mario games. The stall holder said his wife got them from Vietnam. Were these likely bootleg carts? He was selling them for AUD$5 each.
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteI would say that those are definitely bootlegs. There weren't any official "_ in 1" carts released for the Famicom. Five dollars each might be a good deal though. I'm not too sure though, pirates are actually pretty hard to find in Japan (more of a South East Asia/Chinese thing).
Thanks for the info Sean. If they are still there next time I go to this market I might grab them just for the novelty factor (I don't even have a Famicom...yet :P)
ReplyDeleteLOL, yeah I do that sometimes to - buy an unusual cart for a console I don't have but think I might get one day. Its hard to resist a bargain!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting... If it's genuine, it could be another Holy Grail for your collection! I used to have a gold Zelda NES cartridge which I thought might be valuable, but it turned out they were all gold... :(
ReplyDeleteLOL, yeah, some carts are just "regular" gold:)
ReplyDeleteYou have a treasure, and you really underpaid for it. That cart is most likely a Super Mario Comic Bon Bon prize cartridge. It's appearance matches one I purchased from a legitimate dealer while living in Japan for a significantly higher price. You could probably sell that for four times what you paid for it with some patience. Only 200 were ever made.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info, Regis!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I was not the winning bidder on this one...though now I wish I had been.