Today, I am very proud to announce that I am the newest owner of a game that I never thought I would own, that is widely regarded as the most sought after item in video game collecting... Nintendo World Championships Gold!

First and foremost, I never would have owned this without the help of one of the most focused and dedicated collectors I know, and one of my personal friends, Nick Morgan!

As many of you know, a few weeks ago, a NWC Gold cartridge popped up on eBay for auction. Everything about this auction looked legitimate. The seller's description and story seemed honest, the pictures looked legit, and most importantly, the location of the auction, "Claremont, NH", matched up with one of the 26 cities that the NWC Gold cartridges were originally sent. The whereabouts of the Claremont, NH copy were previously unknown, so this copy popping up in this city, along with all the other evidence, made me believe that this copy was most likely authentic.

I immediately began positioning myself to be able to make the necessary bids in order to win. Sadly, as with many high dollar auctions like this, the seller pulled the auction. I emailed the seller to ask what happened and if he would be relisting it. He tells me he has an offer of $25k, and shows me the email (so I know he isn't lying). I told the seller I could offer $22k, pay in cash in person to avoid any fees or risk, and would schedule a time frame right away. To my surprise, the seller accepts.

Initially, I was happy. Even though $22k is more than I was hoping to pay, with an item like this, price isn't too important (within reason), because if you hesitate, it's gone, and you'll find yourself waiting years for another opportunity. I felt a giant weight on my shoulders. Turns out I had offered a little more money than I had, which usually isn't too big of a deal, but would take some work to come up with the money. I turned to eBay and NA, unloaded a few of my nicer collection pieces, and I was well on my way. Then came the challenge of travel arrangements. It's not very easy for me to disappear for a few days from work without a fair amount of notice. That, as well as the cost of travel, seriously dampened my happiness. Ultimately, it proved too much to handle. The seller kept asking me for a timeline, and I simply couldn't offer a concrete answer. The quest for NWC gold had come to an end.

Fast forward a few days later. I'm chatting with Nick Morgan on the phone about game collecting. Nick and I have a close personal relationship spanning 8 years, and is one of the collectors I'm closest with. The topic gets brought up of NWC Gold, and he tells me how he arranged to buy the Claremont, NH copy for $17k, and is driving up the very next day. Hahaha! I'm like "no shit!!" and I tell him all about how I was planning to buy it but couldn't pull it off. Nick already owns a NWC Gold in his collection, so this would be copy #2 for him. He explained he was simply offering on this cart to have some leverage over the next collector that was seriously interested. I laughed and said "Nick!, I am that next collector!". I waited for Nick to tell me what chunk of my collection he is interested in or the payment plan he was going to put me on. He passed on the opportunity to soak me for a few grand and instead tells me he that if he successfully picks it up, that I can have it for the same $17k price that he is buying it for himself. So that's exactly what happened. I'm speechless.

The next day, Nick calls me and tells me he successfully picked up the NWC Gold. I had to go get it, even if I only had roughly 36 hours to make it back to Huntsville, AL. I was only able to come up with $12k cash in such a short period of time, but Nick tells me that he absolutely wants me to own it, and to just give him $12k, and Paypal him the remaining $5k in the next few days. I fly into Philadelphia, Nick picks me up, takes me back to his house and BOOM! NWC Gold was mine. We played games for a bit, slammed some Philly cheesesteaks, ran up the Philadelphia art museum steps, and headed to bed. The next morning, after looking at Nick's collection and seeing his NWC Gold, I knew that the next couple hours I had in Jersey were going to be spent making a reproduction label for mine!

I had mixed emotions about putting a reproduction label on this cart. I was very concerned that it could effect the original condition and devalue it to the purists in our hobby. I was also concerned that it could somehow be passed off as original to another collector in the future. I wanted to put a reproduction label on it ONLY for purposes of aesthetics in displaying it in my own collection. The solution was to create a reproduction label that could easily be applied/removed at any time in a manor that does not effect the condition of the original, and to be completely honest and up-front about this here on NA, so that there could be no possible confusion in the future. So that is exactly what I did. Nick and I headed to Staples. It took a few attempts on various samples of paper (scanning Nicks original NWC Gold label every time!) before nailing the weight and sheen of the original. I finally printed the "one" on a laser printer using a semi-gloss heavyweight photo paper. I found double-sided removable tape by Scotch, which I used to affix the label to the cartridge. Since this is special double-sided removable tape it is easy to apply and remove this label from the cartridge at any time, in a way that does not effect the condition of the original. The result is absolutely beautiful. I know that it is a reproduction label, but when I hold it in my hands now and look at it, it just feels complete. It looks amazing, I'm still in awe that I own a NWC Gold, I am so happy with it now, and I am even more impressed by its beauty every day.

Here is the original condition, this is how it looks just after picking it up:



After cleaning it up, and giving it a little love:



Here's a pic of Nick and I cheesin' with our NWCs.



I can't help but keep staring at my NWC Gold cart over and over again. It looks so beautiful with the rest of my collection.

How about some pics?!

I've been busy....

Good shit man.

Nice! Congrats!

Nice fake label... Now I don't care what people do with their stuff, but to me, putting a fake label on this is questionable at best... All I can say is, at least we know it's fake. To me, this fake label, completely devalues something like this. I hope you used something that won't peel the gold off when you or the person you sell it to, wants to remove it.

And of all people to help you make a fake something or other...

Wow! Nice score and a great friend!

excellent story. Congrats man and nice collection by the way.

Nick looks like a total penis.

Congrats!

I think the repro label was the only way to go, looks great.

Congrats man, glad it went to a fantastic home.

Looks really awesome next to that Myriad and Stadium Events.

Very nice! Looks like it's gona have an awesome home!

congrats on the score laggy

Great story and awesome cart to have. I totally agree with the decision to put the repro label on it. It's a beautiful cart. Fuck the purists.

That collection is sexy, NWC is in a good home.

Oh come on now, why do a lot of people hate repro labels? Honestly? I can see how you wouldn't like a repro label (Sort of), but come on, if you think it completely takes away the value of it, that's just... that's going overboard IMO. ... Probably isn't a good idea to argue with the mods, in hindsight... This isn't one of the sites were you get banned or anything like that just for disagreeing with the mods opinions, right? ... Right...?

because many repro labels start out with the best intentions but fall short later on

I'd have to guess because they're fake and are often sold down the road, and I'm sure no one wants games with fake labels floating about, selling at prices they shouldn't be.

I can see why you wouldn't like repro labels, but it's people that think they make is worthless that I honestly just don't like at all., a LOT of people act like it's permanant, no, it isn't, more often then not you can still remove the label. IDK, I guess I'm just not a purist Anyways I'm just gonna try not replying anymore because on most sites that I've seen it's a death wish to argue with mods or admins, so yeah XD

It becomes a problem when people are deceitful or forgetful about it and something sells for more than it should

Personally I would be fine with a fake label, it more often then not looks like the real one, and it's not like it makes the game and case not work or something like that, the game is still the real deal, same with the case. Like I said, I guess I'm just not a purist, it seems like I'm in the minority when it comes to people not minding repro labels at all

OK, That's a good reason, but I still stand my ground in thinking that something like this can't jump from $22k to $0 just because of a repro label

Good stuff man! What a beaut

Yes, but as a community and such, fakes tend to be looked down upon for various reasons, especially for high profile items like NWCs. There's a big difference between a repro label for Mario Bros and one for NWC. No one is really gonna care about the Mario one cause the game is a dime a dozen, but for NWC, slapping a fake label on it isn't the wisest of choices.

Well it's still the only other option if you want it to have a label, you're not gonna find an actual label of it and slap it on there, it's a good alternative IMHO.

Hey Matt. What's new man.

Oh wow great story! Even better that you pulled it off 5K cheaper! Nick sounds like a nice friend to have
I'm neither for or against the label. With the few golds out there, I'm sure this will only get passed on with the knowledge that it is repro.