The Ultra-Rare Video Game Over 25% Of People Want To Own

Retro game collecting has become quite a popular pastime over the years. Adults who grew up with certain consoles often feel nostalgia for a bygone era and look to collecting as a fun way to recapture their youth. For instance, if you played NES as a kid, you might make it your goal to not only snatch up cartridges you used to own, but to purchase some of the rarer games from Nintendo's past.

Not everyone buys older games for sentimental reasons, of course. Because there are a select few video games that are worth more than a car, some may view the hobby as a hot investment opportunity. Of course, if you do decide to break into retro collecting, it's important to educate yourself beforehand, as there are plenty of classic games that aren't worth as much as you would expect. 

Whether you're in search of the rarest Game Boy game, the rarest Atari 2600 game, or even the rarest PS3 game, each generation has its own selection of holy grail collectibles. But what is the most desired video game out there? 

To find an answer to this question, SVG polled 508 gamers in the US. This is what they had to say.

If you grew up during the late '80s and early '90s, chances are good that you remember the Nintendo World Championships. It was a major competition that brought the best gamers together to compete for glory, playing special cartridges with timed rounds from "Super Mario Bros.," "Rad Racer," and "Tetris." Of course, these custom carts were made in very limited quantities for competitive use only. There was also an even smaller number of gold variants printed for winners of a Nintendo Power competition.

Perhaps it's the game's importance in Nintendo's history that inspired almost 26% of voters to choose "Nintendo World Championships" as their most-desired video game. While it may not be the absolute most valuable Nintendo game, it's certainly up there — and it comes with a fascinating story. Sure, a pristine copy of "Super Mario Bros." may have sold for $114,000 in 2020, but if you don't care about specific variants or condition, you could find a copy of that game anywhere. An "NWC" cart is not so easy to come by.

The second hottest collectible, according to the poll, was "Air Raid" for the Atari 2600, which earned 20% of the vote. In third place was "Nintendo Campus Challenge" at 18%.