Infinity War Has Made This Video Game Collectible's Price Jump, and Ties In With a Nod To Other Heroes

We’re still sifting through the number of Easter eggs included in Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity [...]

Defender

We're still sifting through the number of Easter eggs included in Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War (in which there are a ton), but one in particular that has our attention is the classic video game that Groot is playing.

The game, titled Arcade Defenders, is actually based on a classic Entex handheld Defender game that was released back in the 1980's. Upon closer inspection, despite the name change (which we'll get to in a minute), it looks and sounds like just the classic game -- and fans are eager to get their hands on one as a result.

This report from 8-Bit Central indicates that the price for the game has gone up quite a bit since its appearance in Infinity War, with several eBay auctions seeing a much higher price than indicated.

"Much like the recent surge in Adventure video game cartridges for the Atari 2600 due to its inclusion in the Ready Player One movie, this Defender handheld is getting pricey on eBay. Nothing like a celebrity endorsement to make any product suddenly valuable... even when a CG tree takes to an old handheld video game," the reporter noted on the blog page.

We took a good look at some auctions on eBay, and while the price of the game hasn't gotten catastrophic just yet, it's definitely getting up there. There's currently some models going for over $100, while some broken down editions are still fetching a pretty good price, around $70 or so. One with a box even managed to sell for around $250 -- not a bad little retro deal at all.

We're likely to see some price increases over the summer, especially as the movie's word-of-mouth continues to grow in the weeks ahead. So if you want a Defender to grab for your own, this is probably your best chance to get one.

As for the name change -- which, again, went from Defender to Arcade Defenders -- that actually ties in with another possible Easter egg. This change might have been a nod to the heroes from the Netflix series, including Daredevil and Jessica Jones -- even if it is a bit on the indirect side. It's a cool little change, although the directors didn't say anything about the Netflix tie-in. Sadly, that appears to be the closest we'll see to the Defenders being involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- at least, for the moment.

Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters now, and it's breaking all kinds of records.

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