{"id":14542,"date":"2026-08-04T01:12:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T01:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/?p=14542"},"modified":"2026-08-04T01:12:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T01:12:33","slug":"lost-one-of-a-kind-nintendo-ds-cartridge-hits-ebay-for-9100-pokepark-fishing-contest-designed-to-delete-itself-after-12-hours-game-so-rare-it-was-only-distributed-to-theme-park-attendees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/?p=14542","title":{"rendered":"Lost one-of-a-kind Nintendo DS cartridge hits eBay for $9,100 \u2014 PokePark Fishing Contest designed to delete itself after 12 hours, game so rare it was only distributed to theme park attendees in 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n Mark Tyson <\/strong>
\n •
\nAugust 1, 2026\n<\/div>\n\n

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A Nintendo DS game that was classified as \u2018lost media\u2019 for nearly two decades is currently within tantalizing reach of video gaming fans and archivists. All the fans need is about $9,100, and no rival bidders on an eBay auction<\/a> for an ultra-rare, perhaps one-of-a-kind, development cartridge thought to contain the PokePark Fishing Contest<\/em> DS minigame.<\/p>\n

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\"Ultra-rare<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: eBay<\/a>)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Japanese game archaeology enthusiast Yoshino @ Federation<\/a> (renpou.com) shared details of the eBay auction and its significance to their tens of thousands of social media followers. <\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s the deal with PokePark Fishing Contest DS, and why is it ultra-rare or even classified as \u2018lost media?\u2019 This fishing mini-game was lost for several reasons. Firstly, it was a download-only title. Secondly, its distribution was limited to those attending a short-lived Pok\u00e9mon <\/a>theme park venue in Japan (PokePark 2005). It also eluded archivists because it would be removed from a DS handheld<\/a> when it was powered off, or after a 12-hour limit, whichever triggered first.<\/p>\n

The eBay listing shows a large development and testing cartridge, front and back. There\u2019s also an image showing the cartridge working. However, the on-DS-screen proof of viability is limited to \u201ca Japanese-language screen indicating a high-score ranking communication program.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Germany-located seller, catbearpaws, says the cart was acquired as part of a private lot, and is selling the hardware as-is, with no promises regarding functionality, compatibility, or provenance. Catbearpaws has a 100% selling record and is asking for bids starting at \u20ac7,999 ($9,100), with less than three days left to run. They also may accept offers via the eBay Make Offer button\/process.<\/p>\n

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\"Ultra-rare<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Machine translation of eBay listing Nintendo DS screen content <\/span>(Image credit: eBay<\/a>)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our machine-translated version of the eBay listing screen content appears to confirm that this is indeed a dev cart that was used for hosting \u201cPokePark Fishing Contest DS\u201d assets of some kind. Whether a playable version of the game can be downloaded, transmitted, or extracted from this hardware remains to be seen. As mentioned, the seller isn\u2019t guaranteeing anything about this expensive but potentially important retro gaming<\/a> artifact.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

Read the full article →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Tyson • August 1, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-it-hardware"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}