08/14/2026
Let me take you back to 1985.
Nintendo launched the NES in North America in two test markets: New York and Los Angeles. What started there would soon become a phenomenon that swept across America. Every kid had to have an NES. Everyone wanted to play Super Mario Bros, shoot with the Zapper in Duck Hunt, and experience R.O.B. the Robot with games like Gyromite and Stack-Up.
But all of that excitement—the beginning of Nintendo’s domination of the American video game market—started with those test-market releases in 1985.
With the NES taking over, kids tore open their consoles and games immediately. These weren’t collectibles. They were toys, and they were meant to be played.
Somehow after 41 years these two games weren't opened and the story on this specific console and games pictured is insane.
Back in March, a customer walked into our store Mighty Mike Video Games St Pete FL with an incredible story. He had purchased a complete-in-box NES console from 2nd & Charles for just $100.
You would think that was the come up. For those unware a typical boxed NES goes for a couple hundred dollars. He opens the box and inside both Duck Hunt and Gyromite are sealed.
And they weren’t just ordinary copies. They were sealed test-market copies of Duck Hunt and Gyromite—survivors from the very beginning of the NES era in North America. The console and everything in the box is test market and appears unused. All NES consoles are serialized with this NES reading SN: 097263 which checks out as Nintendo produced 100,000 consoles for their test market.
We were fortunate enough to buy these incredible pieces of Nintendo history, and now, more than 40 years after they were originally released, both games and the console are officially for sale in our store.
