DALLAS, TX.- By 1983, the nascent home video game industry in the U.S., led by Atari and Coleco, had crashed. The problem? Bad quality control and too much inventory. Yet by 1985 Japan's Nintendo had sold more than 2 million of its Famicom ("family computer") systems back at home, and American gamers who'd tried it agreed that it was the real deal. Nintendo – in the black at the time due to its wildly successful arcade games (Donkey Kong in particular) – wanted to launch its home video console in the U.S. but sought a soft launch considering the shaky market. Against a lot of odds, Nintendo chose New York City as a "beta-test" region for its first Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) for the U.S. market, and with some herculean effort on the part of its stateside team, had a wildly successful 1985 Christmas debut. The introduction of NES to American homes re-started a failing industry and kicked off the gaming era we live in today. Nintendo's sophistication and ambition revolutionized our relationship with games, period.

That debut console came packaged with a game Nintendo hoped people would latch onto quickly and happily: Duck Hunt. The game's place in video-gaming history is inarguable, and on April 20-22, in its Video Games Signature ® Auction, Heritage will offer the most pristine sealed original copy of this game to ever hit the market. It carries a Wata 9.6 A++ grade.

"The market may grapple with evaluating the estimated value of a video game, sealed or not," says Valarie Spiegel, Managing Director of Video Games at Heritage Auctions. "The IP to pop culture is just as important as the grade, and secondary to rarity. Every original copy of Duck Hunt without question is special, though I would call this one a ‘top-shelf copy.' It's in an unrivaled state of condition and has incredible historical provenance; it's from the first Nintendo test market in Manhattan after all."

She continues: "We anticipate Duck Hunt will be just one of many success stories in this historic sale. Video Games are part of the human experience. They've shaped our lives and the stories and characters and continue to do so. Every game is someone's favorite, but Duck Hunt sold more than 28 million copies in its time, and only two sealed copies from the Nintendo test market have been found."

This event in fact offers a number of historical gems for the category, and not just pedigreed games. A CGC 9.8-rated copy of first issue of the magazine Nintendo Power is on offer (the highest-graded copy of the issue and "…the most fondly remembered video game magazine of all time," says Spiegel). Its 1988 cover story, with art by Joan Gratz, featuress Super Mario Bros. 2; it depicts clay versions of Mario and Wart cavorting across a mushroomed landscape.

Another esoteric and desirable piece of gaming history is a circa-1993 MACS Rifle M16 Super Nintendo Controller, which is packaged here with its original console, TV, and game cartridge. This replica of a Jäger AP 74 assault rifle is actually a light gun controller that was meant to be used exclusively with the Multi-Purpose Arcade Combat Simulator (MACS) for a US Army training program created by Sculptured Software. These were made exclusively for the Army in a bid for Super Nintendo to be adapted into a military training program, and they definitely went all-out when they made these controllers. This one is fully functional, and in fact the "start" screen is lightly burned into the tube TV's picture. Talk about old-school. Back to games: a fun piece of gaming esoterica can be found in this Wata 9.4 A sealed copy of Chubby Cherub, from 1986. This is the only sealed copy of the oddly adorable and very hard-to-find game on Wata's December 2022 population report; in addition to its fun name, quirky protagonist, and cutesy graphics, Chubby Cherub is noteworthy for being one of the earliest third-party titles for the NES console. The Japanese Famicom version was based on a manga series called Obake no Q-taro, and was rebranded for Western audiences. This one is from the Carolina Collection, which began its rollout with Heritage in late 2019. Five other games from that collection are in this event, including the first sealed gloss sticker copy of Gyromite that Heritage has ever offered. This one is graded 9.0 A+ by Wata; the game was played with the R.O.B., the Robotic Operating Buddy that came with Nintendo's original NES console.

A 2004 copy of World of Warcraft, VGA 90+ NM+/MT Sealed [Collector's Edition] for PC/Mac Blizzard is a highlight, too – the highest-graded of two copies of the Collector's Edition of the game Heritage offers in this event. This auction marks the debut of the big-box release, and includes the full game on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM plus a one-month subscription to World of Warcraft; the official soundtrack; The Art of World of Warcraft (a 200+ page hardcover art book); a behind-the-scenes DVD; an exclusive in-game pet; a cloth map charting the continents of Kalimdor, Azeroth, Khaz Modan, and Lor daeron; a signed collector's edition game manual; and a 10-day free guest pass for a friend. Another notable lot is this 1982 copy of Atlantis II. It is a Wata-certified genuine "Defend Atlantis" contest copy with documents. The fabled city of Atlantis may be a myth, but this game – though incredibly rare – is very real. This is the first time a copy of Atlantis II has been sold at auction (note the groovy packaging's omission of "II"). Released eight years before the Nintendo World Championships, the game is the first "contest cartridge" ever made.