Computer Space Restoration Gallery
Museum Spotlight
Nintendo World Championships '90 Cart
This month's Museum Spotlight is Nintendo World Championships ‘90 cart #132, originally owned by Josh Caraciolo, a tournament winner from the Philadelphia area who played in the age 12-17 group. Josh sold it to a guy named Dave (trustey1 on eBay) at a con called "Wizard World" earlier this summer (2012). Dave took offers on eBay but the deal fell through. We explained to Dave our intention of giving this item a permanent home in a physical museum and he sold it to us at a very fair price.
History: Nintendo hosted a series of competitive events across 29 cities in 1990. The competition was held using this custom game that lasts for 6 minutes and 21 seconds. It starts with Super Mario Brothers and switches to Rad Racer when you gather 50 coins. Finish the course in Rad Racer and it switches to Tetris where you play until time expires. There were 3 age categories and the contest spanned a 3-day period. The finalist for each age group in each city won a trophy, $250, and a trip for two to the World Finals at Universal Studios Hollywood. There are 116 special game cartridges in all: 90 gray cartridges were given out to finalists and 25 are gold colored and were given out as prizes in a separate contest held by Nintendo Power magazine.