Continuing a trend of rapidly growing demand among collectors, rare video games and Wata-certified video game prototypes are being offered in Heritage Auctions’ Comics & Comic Art Auction May 16-18, 2019, in Dallas, Texas.
Among the gaming rarities are Donkey Kong 3 Wata 9.2 A, variant: sealed hangtab, and Nintendo World Championships 1990 Gray Wata 5.5 – each of which carries a preauction estimate of $20,000 and up.
“This Donkey Kong 3 is the fourth revision of this black box game, indicated in part by the presence of the hangtab under the shrink wrap,” Heritage Auctions Consignment Director Valarie McLeckie said. “This particular variant had a very small print window, and there are fewer than five of this variant confirmed in sealed condition. We anticipate this will be a very popular item with collectors.”
The Nintendo World Championships cartridge is one of less than 100 left from the 1990 Nintendo World Championships U.S. Tour. During this tour, competitors’ parents had expressed concern that it was somewhat unfair for there to be a Nintendo Power giveaway for a gold version of the cartridge, while the kids actually participating wouldn’t get one to keep for themselves. This copy being offered at Heritage is one that had been given to satisfy those concerns, and it’s currently believed that only 50 or 60 remain in existence, with many of those having torn labels or other wear and tear.
Prototype games being offered here include Adventure Island Prototype Wata Certified and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos Prototype Wata Certified.
“Until now, prototype collecting was not as accessible to collectors because authenticating these handmade cartridges requires a great deal of specialized knowledge,” McLeckie said. “Each prototype is completely unique as there were no standardized means of creation for these test cartridges. Now, with Wata certifying them, anyone can be much more confident that the prototype games they’re buying are genuine.”
Wata also preserves each prototype’s data by “dumping” and storing it on a secure database which will only be accessible using its unique Matrix code, a feature that will be released in the near future.
A full look at all lots available in this auction can be found at Heritage’s website.
