Many people would have hard time believing that someone would spend over $1,000, if not, over $10,000 on a game. Well, that’s what many people are willing to dash out over the track and field video game, “Stadium Events.” So people would think, what? How boring… all they do is run. Yep, you got it! That was the basically it.
For those who may not be fully aware, the game Stadium Events is a rare NES title that was recalled Bandai shortly after release in the holiday season of 1987 and was exclusive to Woolworth Department Store. It was released to mainly test the market.
This game was way ahead of it’s time with being so interactive with an accessory pad. With that being said, Nintendo then bought the North American rights to the game for the Nintendo Console with eventually owning all the rights to game, previous games like it, and the interactive pad and technology.
Only around 2,000 copies of this game were made, and on top of that only around 200 were actually sold to customers. Nintendo demanded that all other copies to be destroyed while still only in test market phase. It is heard that only ten Stadium Events games are totally intact (Game, Manuel, Pad, Etc.) and only one being still factory sealed.
The cartridge alone sells for around $5,000 on eBay, with the game recently being sold for $41,300 and one set previous going for around $13,000. Crazy.
There has been other track and field style games in the past for nearly every gaming system and platform, none of course as rare or expensive as this one.
This includes:
the 1983 Konami arcade game Track and Field, where you competed in six events: the 100m, long jump, javelin, 110 hurdles, hammer throw, and the high jump.
It didn’t take long for Activision to jump into the track and field gaming trend as The Activision Decathlon was released for the Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, ColecoVision and MSX on March 18, 1983. This game being unique in of itself had the players go head to head in the events of a real-life decathlon.
Olympic Summer Games was a game that came out of SEGA that came out in 1996 based off the Atlanta Games. It was the third game of a loose “trilogy” of Olympic Games. It has 10 track field events.
International Track and Field 2000, this was released for the PlayStation in 1999 then the Nintendo 64 in 2000. The game covered around five track and field events as well as some in cycling, swimming and weight lifting.
International Track & Field Hyper Athlete was a 3-D updated version of the Track & Field series. It was released in for the PlayStation in 2008 and 2009. This game featured 11 track and field events.
The most recent track and field related release comes out the Nintendo DS. Called the New International Track & Field this games features twenty-four events from the steeple, 100m, to javelin and the triple jump. Also includes archery, swim, diving, shooting sports, and cycling to name a few. This game was actually called the Best Sports Game for the Nintendo DS by IGN in their 2008 video game awards, as well as IGN also made it a nominee for Best Local Multiplayer Game for the Nintendo DS.
Track and field games may not be a main line selling point for video games, but, it’s video games have made numerous appearances over the decades and we will continue to see them rise up in the future.
Any games I missed or should have added to the lift? Drop them in the comments below.
What Sport Do You Play? I Play Track 