Super rare NES game hits eBay, current high bid is $5,500

An extremely rare NES game has attracted bids of over $5,000 through a new eBay auction. Only 116 copies of Nintendo World Championships were manufactured and were distributed in 1990 only to winners of a special competition. The game is considered one of the rarest and most valuable NES games in existence.

The current high bid is $5,500.99. The auction closes tomorrow, January 25.

As you'll immediately notice, the cartridge's label is ripped. "This is quite unfortunate but happened many decades ago by this point in time," the eBay seller muresean writers. But cosmetic damage is the only drawback, the seller says.

"The cart plays just fine and may some day be worth much more if someone decides to investigate a forensics lab's involvement to see if they can determine the official number by running tests on the cart," muresean said.

Nintendo World Championships features abridged versions of Super Mario, Tetris, and Rad Racer. Competition participants had 6 minutes, divided between the three games, to rack up the highest score possible. All 90 semifinalists received a grey cartridge like the one featured in the auction, while some golden carts were provided to participants as part of a Nintendo Power promotion.

In 2011, another copy of the Nintendo World Championships fetched $11,000 on eBay, though that version was in better condition.