CGC Video Games Grades Rare Stadium Events for the Nintendo Entertainment System

Classic rarities keep making appearances in the CGC Video Games™ grading room! Recently, a submitter sent in a Stadium Events cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System, an exceptionally rare cartridge with a storied history. It received a grade of CGC 6.5 and is currently being offered in Heritage Auctions' Video Games Signature Auction, which is set to conclude on July 27-28, 2023.

Stadium Events was part of the Family Fun Fitness series for the Nintendo Entertainment System published by Bandai. The game was made for use with the Family Fitness pad — an accessory similar to the dance mat used with Dance Dance Revolution. Using the mat as a controller, players could compete in four Olympic events: the 100-meter dash, hurdle jumping, the long jump and the triple jump.

Bandai manufactured a small amount of Stadium Events cartridges for its first release in 1987. Of these limited cartridges, very few are said to have made it to store shelves. Shortly after this, Nintendo swooped in and bought the North American rights to the Family Fun Fitness pad. Within weeks, they rebranded the accessory as the Nintendo Power Pad and re-released it for sale.

As a result, all remaining examples of the Family Fitness pad were recalled from stores — along with all copies of Stadium Events — for either rebranding or destruction. In 1988, less than a year after the game’s first release, Stadium Events was re-released with a new name: World Class Track Meet.

Since so few copies of Stadium Events were released during its first production run, and even fewer sold, intact copies of Stadium Events are extremely rare. Stadium Events is considered one of the rarest titles for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and its value cannot be understated within the collecting community.

About CGC

Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for many other types of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for TCGs, sports cards and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. The newest division of CGC, CGC Home Video, provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes.