Items12The creator’s order
  1. 1Air Raid (1982)Air Raid (1982)Released Dec 31, 1982Men-A-Vision's Air Raid came in a baby-blue T-handle cartridge unlike anything else on the Atari 2600, its label showing flying saucers attacking a futuristic city. That odd shape is also the first test for fakes: an Air Raid cart in the standard shape is a reproduction. Copies kept turning up, yet…0
  2. 2Gamma-Attack (1983)Gamma-Attack (1983)Released Feb 1, 1983Gamma-Attack was programmed by Robert Esken Jr. and released by Gammation in 1983. Guinness World Records calls it widely believed to be the rarest cartridge in the world, with a single copy known to exist, and its owner listed that copy on eBay in 2008. Here is the tension that makes it…0
  3. 3Red Sea Crossing (1983)Red Sea Crossing (1983)Released Jun 1, 1983A Moses-themed Atari 2600 game that Steve Schustack wrote in 1983 and sold by mail order through a single magazine advertisement. Its existence went unrecorded until a copy turned up at a Cincinnati rummage sale in 2007, and doubters had a fair case until a 1983 Christianity Today advertisement…0
  4. 4Swordquest: Waterworld (1983)Swordquest: Waterworld (1983)Released Aug 1, 1983The third game in Atari's Swordquest contest series, and the one whose contest never happened. Waterworld was first offered only through the Atari Club and reached stores later. Atari, losing money fast, then canceled the contest: the national final was never held and its prize, the Crown of Life,…0
  5. 5World Class Track Meet (1986)World Class Track Meet (1986) 6.0/10 on IGDBReleased Dec 23, 1986Stadium Events, Bandai's North American NES release, 1987 Bandai released Stadium Events in North America in 1987 for its Family Fun Fitness mat. Nintendo then bought the North American rights to the mat, pulled the remaining stock from stores and relaunched it as the Power Pad, with the game…0
  6. 6Tetris (1989)Tetris (1989) 7.3/10 on IGDBReleased May 1, 1989Tengen's Tetris for the NES, May 1989 Atari's Tengen label released its own NES Tetris in May 1989, then lost its legal fight with Nintendo and was forced to recall and destroy the remaining copies after about a month on sale. Unlike most entries here, this one survives in real numbers, since…0
  7. 7Nintendo World Championships 1990 (1990)Nintendo World Championships 1990 (1990)Released Dec 31, 1990The competition cartridge from Nintendo's 1990 touring championship, which gave players six minutes and 21 seconds to collect 50 coins in Super Mario Bros., finish a custom track in Rad Racer and then score as many points as possible in Tetris. Gray carts were used at the events, and Nintendo Power…0
  8. 8Nintendo Campus Challenge 1991 (1990)Nintendo Campus Challenge 1991 (1990)Released Nov 29, 1990Nintendo made this cartridge for a run of 58 campus tournaments across the US, with special versions of Super Mario Bros. 3, Pin-Bot and Dr. Mario played against the clock, and the carts were supposed to be destroyed afterward. One escaped: an employee assigned to destroy it reportedly kept it,…0
  9. 9Little Samson (1992)Little Samson (1992) 7.0/10 on IGDBReleased Jun 26, 1992A Taito platformer developed by Takeru, Little Samson lets you switch among four heroes with different abilities, and it sold poorly when it came out in 1992. That is the whole secret of its rarity: no recall, no contest, just a very good NES game that few people bought. It is the cartridge on this…0
  10. 10Nintendo PowerFest '94 (1994)Nintendo PowerFest '94 (1994)Released Dec 31, 1994The Super Nintendo successor to the 1990 championship cart, used at Nintendo's 1994 town competitions: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels first, then Super Mario Kart, then a home run derby in Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball. The carts were not given out to winners, and only two are…0