English Final Fantasy II video game: yours for $50,000

The holy grail for video game collectors, the English version of Final Fantasy II, is for sale on eBay

For many video game collectors, it has taken on near mythical status - the English language version of Final Fantasy II.

The role playing game was released for Nintendo's NES in 1988 but plans to introduce an English version of the game in 1991 were scuppered when Nintendo decided to put its efforts into producing the English version of Final Fantasy IV for its new SNES system instead.

Is this the holy grail for video game collectors?

Said by its owner to be the only one in existence, it is currently up for grabs on eBay, where an asking price of $50,000 has been set.

"A pre-production sample cartridge for any video game from this era is rare indeed, but for one to survive for a game that was never actually released is something of a miracle," writes its current owner, who acquired it from a private collector.

"I have been the proud owner of this cartridge for over nine years now, and as far as I am aware, this is the only legitimate copy of the game that exists.

"Any other copies you have seen of Final Fantasy II for the NES have been bootlegs, this is the real deal."

While here at Paul Fraser Collectibles we cannot vouch for the seller's credentials, we urge our readers to approach all eBay auctions with caution and remind you of the importance of provenance when buying collectibles.

The current record for a video game at auction stands at the $41,300 achieved in 2010 for a still-sealed copy of 1987 release Stadium Events for the NES.

Earlier this year an original Apple 1 computer, one of just six thought to be operational, sold for $374,500, beating the previous 2010 record of $213,000 for one of the machines by 75.8%.

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Images: eBay and Wikimedia Commons