A holy grail of vintage video game collecting has entered the fray! CGC recently certified a sealed (yes, sealed!) copy of Stadium Events for the Nintendo Entertainment System — one of the rarest video games for the console, and of all time. The sealed copy of Stadium Events for the NES (1987) was authenticated and graded CGC 7.5 A after being received as a CrossOver submission from another third-party grading company, demonstrating the trust that collectors have in CGC’s expert and impartial video game grading services.
“We have graded nearly a dozen Stadium Events cartridges, but this is one of the first sealed copies we’ve had the pleasure of authenticating, grading, and encapsulating,” said Kenneth Thrower, Director of Grading at CGC Video Games. “It’s thrilling to be part of the journey of such an incredible piece of video game history.”
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Stadium Events was originally published by Bandai and Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System as the first entry into the Family Fun Fitness series, a group of games that encouraged children and their families to get up and move while playing video games. Family Fun Fitness: Stadium Events was compatible with the Family Fun Fitness pad — an accessory similar to the dance mat used with Dance Dance Revolution and other similar games.
Unfortunately, very few copies of Family Fun Fitness: Stadium Events made it to store shelves before they were suddenly recalled by Nintendo. Shortly after Family Fun Fitness: Stadium Events was released in stores, Nintendo completed a deal to purchase the North American rights to the Family Fun Fitness pad — the accessory that came with the game. Along with purchasing the rights, Nintendo decided to change the name of the accessory from the Family Fun Fitness pad to the Nintendo Power Pad. Unfortunately, that meant that any existing copies of Family Fun Fitness: Stadium Events that were on store shelves had to be recalled so the accessory could be rebranded. While they were at it, Nintendo also decided to change the name of the game itself. At the end of it all, the game was entirely re-released with a new name: World Class Track Meet.
Because so few copies of Stadium Events were released during its first production run, and even fewer sold, sealed copies of the game are incredibly hard to find. This CGC-certified copy will go down in history as one of the holy grails of video game collecting.
Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games, and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs, 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. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray, and more. CGC also offers seamless solutions for autograph collectors with CGC Signature Series and JSA Authentic Autograph services.
CGC is part of the Certified Collectibles Group, a global provider of expert and impartial authentication and grading services for collectibles. Since 1987, the Certified Collectibles Group companies have certified more than 110 million collectibles, including coins, banknotes, comic books, cards, autographs, and stamps.
