It’s an odd story that’s led to a not quite popular game like Stadium Events becoming one of the rarest and most expensive games in history. Bandai initially published Stadium Events in North America, but it has been reported that only 200 ever reached store shelves. Nintendo had issued an immediate recall of Stadium Events in order to re-brand the game as World Class Track Meet and release it as a first-party game. It was part of their push to market the Power Pad peripheral and Stadium Events gave the accessory a fitness application.
The exact reasons for 200 copies of Stadium Events managing to reach store shelves remains a gaming mystery lost to history. Either the game should have never been released, or a shipment size more typical for an NES release should have managed to get to store shelves – something like 10,000. Yet 200 copies of the game is what arrived, and now the game is under more demand than ever. Not bad for a compilation of four different sports mini-games.
The story regarding this specific copy of Stadium Events’ discovery is delightful and worth mentioning. According to a YouTube video the seller posted, the game was found by his mother at a thrift shop in Queens, New York. It was left on the seller’s bed, certainly a surprise that the son never expected. Here’s his description of the situation:
Hopefully now that the auction has ended and “Joe Shmoe” is getting $42,077 in payment, he shares some of the profits for the NES game Stadium Events with the mother who obviously still cares very much about her son.
Source: Joe Shmoe – YouTube
