Video game collectors are pooling their resources together in an effort to preserve two Nintendo Entertainment System games on sale now as part of two separate eBay auctions. These games are so rare that they were never actually released to the public nor have they been digitized in any way online for others to examine their contents. It’s a situation that Frank Cifaldi, the founder and co-director of the Video Game History Foundation, said has “literally never happened before,” and as such, the call’s been put out to make sure these games go to a suitable home.
The first of the games is called Battlefields of Napoleon while the second is Scanner, a game designed for the Power Glove. In a thread on Twitter explaining the situation, Cifaldi explained what makes these particular listings interested aside from the fact that they’re unreleased titles.
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“Both of these are really cool,” Cifaldi said. “The first one, Battlefields of Napoleon, is a completed game. And when I say ‘completed,’ I mean the packaging is done! It comes with the actual files that would be mailed to Nintendo for printing! Using these we can make perfect digital versions.”
As for Scanner, Cifaldi reminded video game connoisseurs that there was only one released game released for the Power Glove “that actually takes advantage of it,” but with this one now on sale, “here’s a second.”
Cifaldi said in the Twitter thread that the Video Game History Foundation would normally just buy these games and get them off the eBay market in order to preserve them, but after what’s been “kind of a rough year,” the organization is looking for help. As such, Cifaldi’s accepting donations from those who wish to assist in the preservation of these games. Tax-deductible donations and guaranteed responses if one or both of the auctions are successful were among details talked about, but Cifaldi said his Twitter DMs are open for more info and donations.
Cifaldi also said that the games were expected to go for thousands of dollars on eBay, and it appears he wasn’t wrong. While the listings weren’t linked to in the Twitter thread, likely in efforts to keep the bids down, we’ve seen them hovering around $6,000 currently.
The listings will close within the next couple of days, so we’ll see soon if Cifaldi’s efforts were successful.ย
