NWC Gold Carts - Have they all been found?

[Anthony1]

This question is specifically regarding the NWC gold cart, but I also ask this regarding any other Holy Grails....


Has every single copy of this game been found and accounted for? I know that these games change hands via Ebay, being sold from one collector to another, but are any of them still floating out in the wild?


What about the Starfox Super Weekend cart and Donkey Kong Country competition cart, etc, etc..... Which of these Holy Grails have all been discovered and are no longer circulating in the wild?

[mr_nihilism]

I'm curious about the NWC as well, though I doubt there are still any in the wild. Just my guess but those not known by now are probably compost.

[Austin]

I'd guess there are probably still a couple out in the wild.

But, yeah, I'm sure quite a few were probably destroyed or lost before anyone really knew what they had.

[Jumpman Jr.]

/awaits rbudrick's response :D

[jdchess]

/awaits rbudrick's response :D

Same here...he'd be the one to ask.

[Jumpman Jr.]

/awaits rbudrick's response :D

Same here...he'd be the one to ask.

Him or DreamTR... common guys, where are you!

[Blackjax]

I know there have been attempts to track all the NWC carts down through the original recievers, but from what i understand is that not all have been found.

Probably still a handful in attics, closets, or sadly, in the dump

[jcalder8]

I find it hard to believe that there would be many if any in the dump since you had to love the system so much just to get one in the first place. My thought would be that they could have been forgotten about but probably not thrown away.

[wrldstrman]

I find it hard to believe that there would be many if any in the dump since you had to love the system so much just to get one in the first place. My thought would be that they could have been forgotten about but probably not thrown away.

We look at it in a different way then the average person,most of us collect and play video games where a good many people probally got into it at the begining and lost interest after a while and moved on to other things.for a lot of moms an old nintendo sitting in the closet is useless and ends up at the dump or a yard sale. Im sure all of us have had something we through away that would be super valauable to someone else.I cringe when I think of all the old toys,comic books and stickers I had that my mom through out.Im sure the countrys landfills hold more than half of the games we would like to get our hands on..

[MachineGex]

Here is a funny little story about my find, so it is possible:
I found my gold NWC 3 years ago in the wild. I was at a flea market in CA. and ran accross a big box of NES games. The box had around 100 different NES games in it. A lady was selling it for her son so he could buy a couple PS2 games. I got the box for around $80-90. The games were all stacked with only the end label showing, so I just thought it was a zelda missing the label. That day I also found tons of other good finds. Once I got home I tossed the NES box aside since I was so excited about the other great finds, still not realizing the NWC was in the box. 3-4 months go by and I haven't even touched the box until someone asked if I had zelda for sale. I told them I have one without the label and they can have it for free. I go back to my office and pull the cart out. I almost exploded from excitement. I went on the internet and double checked that mine was the real deal. After a few months of wondering what to do with it I finally ebay'd it. I got alittle under $4000. I was gonna owe that much in taxes for the year. So, the gov't took my thunder from my biggest find ever. Oh well, I usually only like to keep games that I enjoy to play. Below is a picture of the find along with another good find. Funny thing is I have been looking for a copy of Little Samson & Panic Restaurant for years and have never found either in the wild. I can find a Gold NWC and a few prototypes, but not games on my want list. :/
www.videogex.com/gamefaqs.htm

[captain nintendo]

Well, I recently sold my Starfox Super Weekend cart here on DP, but did find it in the wild about 2 years ago. It was at a local EB Games. I am sure there are more out there somewhere.

[rbudrick]

Here is a funny little story about my find, so it is possible:
I found my gold NWC 3 years ago in the wild. I was at a flea market in CA. and ran accross a big box of NES games. The box had around 100 different NES games in it. A lady was selling it for her son so he could buy a couple PS2 games. I got the box for around $80-90. The games were all stacked with only the end label showing, so I just thought it was a zelda missing the label. That day I also found tons of other good finds. Once I got home I tossed the NES box aside since I was so excited about the other great finds, still not realizing the NWC was in the box. 3-4 months go by and I haven't even touched the box until someone asked if I had zelda for sale. I told them I have one without the label and they can have it for free. I go back to my office and pull the cart out. I almost exploded from excitement. I went on the internet and double checked that mine was the real deal. After a few months of wondering what to do with it I finally ebay'd it. I got alittle under $4000. I was gonna owe that much in taxes for the year. So, the gov't took my thunder from my biggest find ever. Oh well, I usually only like to keep games that I enjoy to play. Below is a picture of the find along with another good find. Funny thing is I have been looking for a copy of Little Samson & Panic Restaurant for years and have never found either in the wild. I can find a Gold NWC and a few prototypes, but not games on my want list.
www.videogex.com/gamefaqs.htm

MachineGex, are you bullshittin? ;) If not, do you have the contact info for who it was sold to?

Anyway, I guess the best way to approach this is, what do you mean by "accounted for." Do you mean does anyone know where each cart is now? The answer is no. But I'm working on it. I know of the owners of a few of them (somewhere between 4 and 7...memory is fuzzy now and my PC is down). DreamTR has actually had 7 pass through his hands, but sold most of them.

As many of you know, the gold ones were not numbered, so the only way to identify them is by the placement of the label (they are all placed on the cart a little bit differently...their allignments are different), and by surface scratches and artifacts....much like a fingerprint. I have pictures of several, and I think I have identified 6 or so unique carts, though I don't have the owners for each. It's another ongoing project that I've been very distracted from over the last couple of months. So, if anyone has some better info to track down the owners so I can get a cart pic and an interview, it is much appreciated.

-Rob

[jajaja]

After a few months of wondering what to do with it I finally ebay'd it. I got alittle under $4000.

How long ago was this?

[Roi]

tvp :)

[MachineGex]

I believe it sold for somewhere around $3700(give or take a "c" note). It has almost been 2 years, cause it was around tax time. I know the guy who bought it needed a Gold NWC and one other fairly common title to complete his set. He already owned a gray NWC cart. I know I have seen a copy(html) of the auction on the internet floating around, maybe someone at Gamefaqs. I went through my ebay feedback trying to figure out who it was but no luck. If you really want to figure out who the owner is, you could contact the ebay buyers around that time. It would be some work, probably 40 or so auctions around that time. Sorry about that. I am gonna go throught my old PC for emails, but I don't keep stuff that long. I think I still have my listing picture if that helps.
Send me a PM if you want to brain storm.

[portnoyd]

Probably player-2.

DreamTR is the best source for who what and where. I know he contacted everyone, but the only problem may be his hazy memory in recalling each winner.

[dojosky]

Never doubt tom (machinegex) I ve been to his store before and know him in person and I have seen his auction on ebay but forgot who bought it and I have even talked with him about that cart and how he found it etc and reason why he sold it for is exactly same story he mentioned here so its a FACT that he had it !

Hey tom good 2 see u here will be sending ya a PM shortly thanks ! Welcome to DP !!! :D

[Fighter17]

OMG:

OMG (http://cgi.ebay.com/Nintendo-World-Championship-NWC-gold-cart-1-of-26_W0QQitemZ8263847730QQcategoryZ62053QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem)

Buy it Now for $19,999.99

[Anthony1]

Wow, if some dumb ass buys that cart for 20 gerrr, I'll be amazed by that. Actually, I'm sure somebody will use the buy it now, but won't actually pay the dude. No way. It may be one of only 26 in existence, but unless Mark Cuban or Bill Gates is trying to comptete their collections, then it ain't gonna happen. I've seen a number of pictures of NWC Gold carts, and that is probably the worst condition of any of them that I've seen.


If I was going to pay anywhere near the kind of prices that people are paying, I would actually have to travel to that town and see the damn thing in person. I would have to know that it is totally legit.






You know, maybe a better question than have all 26 been found and accounted for, is the question of.... "How many fake NWC Gold carts are in existence, and how many unfortunately individuals have paid thousands for mock ups? Anything can be faked. And believe you me, there will be some Russian dude or some Yukrainian dude that is going to figure out how to make convincing fakes of these carts. With people paying that kind of money, it's going to attract some professional con-artists. We already know that a very large number of factory sealed games that are floating around are con jobs. What better con is there than a factory sealed game? No body would ever open it to find out!





:eek 2: :eek 2: :eek 2: :eek 2:

[NintenDk]

The NWC board is very complex, I don't think so

[InsaneDavid]

Fighter17, please TRUNCATE YOUR DAMN LINK URL! :angry:

Thank you. :D

[Jumpman Jr.]

OMG:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nintendo-World-Championship-NWC-gold-cart-1-of-26_W0QQitemZ8263847730QQcategoryZ62053QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem

Buy it Now for $19,999.99

There's a thread going on about that in the Ebay forum. That cart is actually owned by a member here and he listed it on account that it was 10 cent listing day on ebay.
I don't think he expects somebody to buy it, but its worth a try I guess.

[Fighter17]

Fighter17, please TRUNCATE YOUR DAMN LINK URL! :angry:

Thank you. :D

WTF is Truncate? :hmm:

[PapaStu]

Fighter17, please TRUNCATE YOUR DAMN LINK URL! :angry:

Thank you. :D

WTF is Truncate? :hmm:

Shorten it up by using the html tags...

[Darren870]

OMG:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nintendo-World-Championship-NWC-gold-cart-1-of-26_W0QQitemZ8263847730QQcategoryZ62053QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem

Buy it Now for $19,999.99

There's a thread going on about that in the Ebay forum. That cart is actually owned by a member here and he listed it on account that it was 10 cent listing day on ebay.
I don't think he expects somebody to buy it, but its worth a try I guess.

Sometimes I wonder how people don't connect the ebay names with the people here. Especially when the user names are both the same and the person has been here since 2002.

[Daria]

Fighter17, please TRUNCATE YOUR DAMN LINK URL! :angry:

Thank you. :D

WTF is Truncate? :hmm:

WTF is a Dictionary?

[D-Lite]

Funniest part of that eBay auction is the guy wants you to pay $20 G for the cart and then $7.95 for shipping and also tracking.
:/

[sniperCCJVQ]

Funniest part of that eBay auction is the guy wants you to pay $20 G for the cart and then $7.95 for shipping and also tracking.
:/

At that point, shipping should be free.

[Anthony1]

Funniest part of that eBay auction is the guy wants you to pay $20 G for the cart and then $7.95 for shipping and also tracking.
:/

At that point, shipping should be free.



Shit, at that price, it should be hand delivered by a naked Jessica Alba.

[rbudrick]

You know, maybe a better question than have all 26 been found and accounted for, is the question of.... "How many fake NWC Gold carts are in existence, and how many unfortunately individuals have paid thousands for mock ups?

The number is zero. The NWC cart uses a board that is used in no other cart. It is an extremely complex cartridge that would be basically impossible to fake as the real deal. One look at the board of any replica would give it away. On top of this, I have a list of several subtle attributes of NWC boards that I have made based on pics of others carts and looking at my own that I would take into account in case a fake ever did arise. If a fake ever showed up, it would never pass my tests. ;)

-Rob

[portnoyd]

The number is zero. The NWC cart uses a board that is used in no other cart. It is an extremely complex cartridge that would be basically impossible to fake as the real deal. One look at the board of any replica would give it away. On top of this, I have a list of several subtle attributes of NWC boards that I have made based on pics of others carts and looking at my own that I would take into account in case a fake ever did arise. If a fake ever showed up, it would never pass my tests. ;)

From the 'No proof to back it up' department, I remember getting into a discussion with someone (leonk maybe? memblers?) that said if they wanted to build a fake, they could, and you would never be able to tell this difference. That the fake board would be custom-made, and everything replicated to spec. They were very confident that a convincing fake could be produced.

Don't hold me on that. Maybe I'll find the post.

dave

[rbudrick]

From the 'No proof to back it up' department, I remember getting into a discussion with someone (leonk maybe? memblers?) that said if they wanted to build a fake, they could, and you would never be able to tell this difference. That the fake board would be custom-made, and everything replicated to spec. They were very confident that a convincing fake could be produced.

Don't hold me on that. Maybe I'll find the post.

dave

Lol, maybe so, but it would never convince me. ;) There's some very subtle details I've noted based on pics of the insides of quite a few NWC carts that could only occur in an original cart.

-Rob

[portnoyd]

Still haven't found the post, but I'm with you - if it's fake, it will be pointed out as fake.

[Postermen]

There may also be a few people who take a grey and mod a gold Zelda or other cart to fit. Would be the easiest way to make a few extra thousand.

[Anthony1]

You know, maybe a better question than have all 26 been found and accounted for, is the question of.... "How many fake NWC Gold carts are in existence, and how many unfortunately individuals have paid thousands for mock ups?

The number is zero. The NWC cart uses a board that is used in no other cart. It is an extremely complex cartridge that would be basically impossible to fake as the real deal. One look at the board of any replica would give it away. On top of this, I have a list of several subtle attributes of NWC boards that I have made based on pics of others carts and looking at my own that I would take into account in case a fake ever did arise. If a fake ever showed up, it would never pass my tests. ;)

-Rob



I don't know if you can say the number is zero, unless you've talked to every single owner, and every single owner has opened the cart up and examined the board. You might be able to easily spot a fake, but that doesn't mean other people will be able to.

[Iron Draggon]

I can't believe that anyone would actually open up a cart that rare just to look inside it. I'd be afraid of damaging it.

[rbudrick]

There may also be a few people who take a grey and mod a gold Zelda or other cart to fit. Would be the easiest way to make a few extra thousand.

Unlikely. With a close enough look at the label (I know exactly what process the labels were created by), I could tell if it is fake. Also, the method used to cut the hole for the switch would be in question, based on high-res scans I've taken of this area of some carts. Also, once I get pics of all 26 golds, which I don't think would be too long, if I really put some spring in my step and did the research to track down the owners, I will have a fingerprint for each one, thereby protecting every gold cart owner's investments.


I don't know if you can say the number is zero, unless you've talked to every single owner, and every single owner has opened the cart up and examined the board. You might be able to easily spot a fake, but that doesn't mean other people will be able to.

Right. So they should come to me and the rest of the community if it is in question. So far, every owner's story I have talked to has checked out.

-Rob

[Blackjax]

I'm trying to think of the ones I know of offhand...

- DreamTR has at least one left, and has said in the past that he's sold something in the neighborhood of 7 of them, although I don't recall whether he said he had them all at one time.

- The guy who runs http://www.nespit.com/ has one

- Someone who's name I won't mention (don't know if he had made it public knowlege) has one of the 7 that passed through DreamTR's hands

- Buyatari

- I believe Mike Etler has one, but that was a while ago

Other than that, I don't know where the other ones reside. Although to all of those saying that it wouldn't be impossible to fake, you're part correct. Yeah, it could be done, but its going to look absolutely nothing like the Nintendo version does - even re-tooling and recreating the board probably would be pretty obvious because of the age of the carts.

A grey to gold conversion using a zelda cart? Maybe, but again, it's going to be pretty obvious - especially when you're talking about a 15-ish year old cutout from a cartridge and one that was made today and wear on that edge, natural scratching on the spot that would be underneath the Zelda sticker, etc etc etc etc...

The only time i'd accept a perfectly clean, no scratched copy of one of these is if I somehow got hired by Nintendo and in some basement or warehouse, I ran across another copy, still in a bubble mailer from the contest back in the day. When you have something made of plastic and its got parts that are flat and shiny, scratches just occur naturally.

[Jumpman Jr.]

Doesn't that spending-nut, Wonder007 have one too?

[portnoyd]

player-2 has at least one. RareUSGold (hasn't posted in years) has one.

[aaron7]

I think the production and development costs of making a clone circuit board would outnumber the price you could sell the carts for by quite a bit!

[rpepper9]

I think that a legit looking NWC gold could be produced. If it would make me 3-4000.00 each I would give it a shot. There are places on the internet that you can order "printed" circut boards. If you were good at CAD or something you could draw out what the board should look like and have it printed. Then if you could put the EPRoms and dip switches on the board and flash them with the game. Slap it all in a gold Zelda cart and use your Photoshop to make a lable for it. It all seems pretty easy in theory.

You could even purchase a real one so you could dump the ROM yourself, and so you knew exactly what you were duplicating. If each game went for a min of 2500.00 it wouldn't take you long to sell enough of them to recoup your original investment. I don't think it would be impossible to do if you had some time and some dollars to get started.

[rbudrick]

I think the production and development costs of making a clone circuit board would outnumber the price you could sell the carts for by quite a bit!

Well, it's actually surprisingly cheap nowadays. Companies like futurlec have pretty cheap prices on things like that.


If it would make me 3-4000.00 each I would give it a shot.

You would? So you're basically admitting you would commit fraud. Interesting. :hmm:

-Rob