Hudson Soft Sample NES carts

[SpaceMonkeyX]

Hey, guys. My name is Rob, and I wrote a story for mentalfloss.com just over a year ago on Rare and Expensive Video Games (https://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/50335). The story was reprinted by CNN.com, which helped one reader realize he had a copy of Air Raid, a very rare Atari cart that went on to sell for $31,600 because he had the one and only known copy of the box for that game.

Ever since that story I've had quite a few people contact me and say, "I have a copy of Super Mario Brothers 2. What do you think that's worth?" So, believe me, I know what it's like to get stupid questions from people who think they have a gold mine in their attic. But I had someone contact me yesterday with something that I thought was actually worth doing a little research on, which is why I'm here tonight.

The guy said he was a toy buyer for Sears back in the 1980s. He has two sample NES carts from Hudson Soft - Adventure Island and Secret Castles. I've looked around online and can't seem to find anyone else that really mentions these carts, so I figured I'd come to you guys and see if maybe he really does have something on his hands or if they're pretty common and it's just that no one talks about them.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

http://img204.imageshack.us/i/hudsonsamples.jpg/

By the way, I have a much bigger version of this image if you'd like me to send it to you for closer inspection.

[Flake]

Quick question:

2 + 2.65 =

[YoshiEgg25]

Quick question:

2 + 2.65 =

[SpaceMonkeyX]

Um...4.65?

I'm sure I'm the butt of a joke here, but that's ok. Pick on the noob. I get it.

[Flake]

Um...4.65?

I'm sure I'm the butt of a joke here, but that's ok. Pick on the noob. I get it.

No joke, your post just sounded a little too much like a bot.

I would say try the main page ( www.racketboy.com ) and look through the guides on rare and valuable NES games. They are pretty comprehensive.

[SpaceMonkeyX]

Ah, sorry. Definitely not a bot.

Yeah, I already looked through the guide, but didn't find any mention of these types of sample games. Figured it was worth asking about on the forums to see if there was anyone who might be able to say if these are rare or even desired by collectors. I wasn't expecting to see them worth big bucks; I just thought that maybe someone might be able to shed a little light on them for me/him. Sounds like it might be a case where the guy should just throw them up on eBay and see what happens.

Thanks anyway.

[SpaceBooger]

Ah, sorry. Definitely not a bot.

Yeah, I already looked through the guide, but didn't find any mention of these types of sample games. Figured it was worth asking about on the forums to see if there was anyone who might be able to say if these are rare or even desired by collectors. I wasn't expecting to see them worth big bucks; I just thought that maybe someone might be able to shed a little light on them for me/him. Sounds like it might be a case where the guy should just throw them up on eBay and see what happens.

Thanks anyway.

Give it more time before you recommended that. This site is a great resource but some members only check in once a day or every couple of days.

[SpaceMonkeyX]

Sounds like good advice. Thanks!

[MrHealthy]

Now I am no expert, so take all I say with a grain of salt but the games in question are most likey these:

Adventure Island
and
Milon's Secret Castle

Now if the games were retail units they would not be rare nor would they be valuable. You could probably buy together for less then 5 dollars. However, because these are sample units, they are certainly much rarer. Of that you can be assured because its not every day that samples show up. However, how much rarer and whether or not these particular items hold any value is much harder to determine.

For the rarity, it would really depend on why these samples were produced in the first place. If they were made to be used with demo units in retail stores there would probably be at least a few dozen more hiding out in the wild (unless of course they were recalled and destroyed), while if they were ment for internal sampling only, there may only be a handful to begin with. Of course in either case, there is still much fewer of them then the retail counterparts.

As for the value, I already mentioned that the base games are near worthless, fetching only a few dollars each, unless the box is present in which case it can fetch between 20 and 80 dollars each (Milons Secret castle currenlty has a sealed copy going for 55 dollars on ebay: Link Here). But when dealing with samples and prototypes, it is much more like guess work when attaching value because there is often never been a public sale before. Based on the fact that the base games are near worthless, unless boxed, I would guess that these could bring in around 100 - 200 dollars together. If he was willing to seek out the right buyer he could maybe sell them for upwards of 500. But again, I am no expert.

I just hope some of this may have been helpful.

[Ziggy]

Is there no label on the front of the cart? Is it possible to open these carts and get pics of the PCB inside?