Retro Gaming Rarity: How I Added My Most Valuable Gaming Treasure To My Gaming Collection.. in 1990!

In this video, I share the story of how I acquired what I consider to be the most valuable piece in my retro video gaming collection, my Nintendo World Championships Powerfest VIP Sticker from the 1990 Milwaukee event.

What gives something value is unique and special to each person. For some people, rarity makes something valuable. For others, it's the price tag associated with it. For me, the story of how I acquire something adds to the value, and price doesn't always translate to value.

In 1990, Nintendo took the game on the road and launched the Nintendo Power Fest, or as we all have come to refer to it now, the Nintendo World Championship. This was the competition that those super-expensive Grey Nintendo World Championship cartridges were first used. It was amazing, and I competed in it!

I was 13 when Power Fest came to the Mecca Auditorium in downtown Milwaukee. This was right in the prime NES era. Super Mario Bros 3 had just been released. The Gameboy was about a year old. The Wizard was teaching us why the Power Glove was so bad, and the Geo Metro was certainly not the car anyone dreamed of owning. I considered myself a pretty good video game player at the time, and I dreamed about hoisting the winner's trophy, being cheered by thousands. I may have even dreamed about seeing myself standing in some sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at me? … Why is it that Val Kilmer and I the only people that have that dream?

The way the competition itself worked was that you would be issued a punch card when you checked in to compete. You had 3 total opportunities to hit a certain score in that famous NWC tournament. If you fell short, as long as you still had one of your 3 punches left, you could try again. However, just like in boxing, if you went down 3 times you were knocked out of contention.

On my first attempt, I had the worst strategy possible, not understanding or taking advantage of the scoring multipliers. I spent too much time playing Super Marion Bros, crashed too often in Rad Racer, and didn't go for Tetrises in Tetris. After looking like a fool I went to school. I studied what others were doing. I learned from their mistakes. I changed my strategy. I knew I had what it took and on my second attempt...

I failed again. But I improved over my first attempt. Ok, pressure on, third and final attempt and I couldn't fail. I had to do it. I had to get to the semi-finals. And.. I DID IT! I actually managed to get to the semi-finals, where I earned a chance to move up in the tournament, but I also got some cool swag too.

Semi-Finalists received a number of collectibles, including an NWC Semi-Finalist hat I wore to school the very next day, a gold NWC Nintendo Seal of Approval Decal, and what you see here, my Orange VIP Badge. Unfortunately for me now, I thought the painter's hat was dumb-looking and I threw it away. I mean, it was a fugly hat, they did a terrible job with its design, but I still wish I had it today. I had stuck the gold sticker on the brim of the hat, so that went at the same time as the hat. But the VIP sticker, that... That beauty I still have!

And, no, it's not for sale.

#NintendoWorldChampionships #PowerFest #Rarity

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