How I Got Nintendo World Championships Gold

I recently bought Nintendo World Championships Gold and was able to reunite the Gold and Gray cartridges together. I'm sure they missed each other. The process of getting the Gold cartridge was actually pretty interesting and full of emotional highs and lows so I thought I would share it with the VGPC readers.

The NWC Gold I bought was the one recently listed on ebay. I contacted him about the condition and the history of it. I wanted to know where he got it and call those people to see if they could verify that it was authentic. After some due diligence and talking to two other people who owned this cartridge, I was confident it was real. I gave him an offer of $17,500, which was quite a bit lower than his asking price of $25,000.

He said he would think about it but wanted more for the game so he was going to wait for some more offers. Over the course of 3 weeks I called or emailed him once a week to see where we stood. A few offers emerged that were higher than mine, but they were bogus (probably just kids using their Mom's email accounts). On May 24th he emails and tells me he is going to sell it to someone else who is going to pay $18.5K in cash and pick it up locally. At this point I figured I would never hear about the game again and had lost my one chance of getting the Gold Nintendo World Championship.

Seven days later on May 31st, the seller emails me again saying the $18.5K offer fell through. It was a scammer trying to pay with Western Union and then have a "friend" pickup the item. My offer was now the best one and the seller decided to accept for $17.5K. I had just come to grips with the fact I wouldn't get the game and then everything changes in an instant. This definitely wouldn't be the last of the emotional highs and lows.

On June 1st we agree to complete the transaction via escrow.com. I wire my money to the escrow service on Monday June 8th (I was at E3 the week before so couldn't send the money any sooner).

The next day I expect shipment, but hear nothing from the seller. I give him a one day grace period and tell myself "maybe he had to work late, don't worry about it".

June 10th rolls around, still nothing. I call him. He says "I will mail it tonight". A FedEx tracking number is emailed to me that night. I get really excited, "I'm finally going to get the game". About 10 minutes later an email comes from FedEx - "Shipment Cancelled".

The next day the seller tells me it finally shipped and gives me the address he sent it to. THE ADDRESS IS WRONG. It is my neighbors place. I call him to see about changing the address and he tells me "Sorry, I've decided not to sell it. I love the game too much."

I tell him I feel cheated because we agreed to the terms, I sent payment, and he's been dragging his feet for more than a month since I first spoke with him. Plus I'm down a couple hundred dollars in escrow fees. We end the call and I am really upset the rest of the night.

The next day, June 12th, I email him saying we have a contract and I will not accept his cancellation. He calls me 15 minutes later apologizing repeatedly saying he felt really bad the rest of the night because he felt like he had cheated me too. He says he will ship it that night via FedEx overnight with guaranteed 8AM delivery. I'm a bit skeptical but double check he has the correct address and pray for the best.

That night FedEx emails with a tracking number again. 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours go by with no cancellation email. I refresh the tracking page on FedEx about 100 hundred times and finally it shows it was actually picked-up. I might finally get the game!

The next morning at 7:30AM the FedEx man comes to the door. I'm holding my 7 week old baby, probably have a ridiculously big smile on my face, and sign for the package. I quickly open everything up half expecting some other problem.

Nintendo World Championships Gold is neatly packaged inside with a custom built display case and looks just as good as I imagined it would. I have the "Holy Grail of Gaming" and the emotional ride is finally over.

Creative Common Nintendo World Championships Images

Some readers asked for large images of the cartridges I own with a creative commons license. The images are below and are listed with a Creative Commons license Attribution-Share Alike 3.0. This means anyone can use the images if they want to but you must attribute the source. Please link back to this article as your source if you post these images online.

1990 Nintendo World Championships Gold Large Image
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1990 Nintendo World Championships Gray Large Image
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