Recently, the rare Famicom Disk System copy of the original The Legend of Zelda was sold for thousands of dollars, all because of its size, a sticker features the name of a popular instant noodle brand. As was first told by Japanese writer and game collector Jironosuke, then by the acclaimed author, Tom James, the Yahoo auction ended yesterday after which the aforementioned action adventure game variant sold for 463 yen ($3,966 USD at the time of this writing). The only difference between the title and the original release, however, is the presence of the logo to the Charumera brand that goes on the disc label. According to the auction listing and the Gaming Alexandria investigation from last year, the Charumera version of The Legend of Zelda was given away to 500 lucky participants of a 1986 lottery lottery drawing hosted by Nintendo and the food company to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Among other awards, the competition awarded Famicom and Famicom Disk Systems enumsated with the name Myojo Charumera. When gaming conservists got caught up with the Zelda variant in 2020, many wondered whether the Charumera version had changed in any way. The first study of the games and his origins revealed that, during a deep dive into the game’s origins (courtesy of a copy bought on eBay for $1,000), the original code was identical to the original release. The one other copy of this noodle that I have found online sold for $1,500 in 2016 by a spanish seller. The map resemblance to legends of localization of the game in the wild cost 35,800 yen or just three thousand dollar compared to the actual price of the game in Japanese art galleries. The last two years, however, have risen considerably by the price of precious retro games collectors. Will Charumera Zelda be the latest wallet-draining rarity for collectors? Probably not. It’s funny that anything as simple as a ramen logo on a sticker is enough to raise the price even this high.
