A rare Nintendo DS cartridge tied to the 2005 PokePark event has appeared on eBay, drawing attention from collectors and game preservationists. The item is the PokePark Fishing Contest game, a title that had been treated as lost media for nearly 20 years and is now being offered for about $9,100.
What makes the cartridge especially unusual is its reported design. According to the listing details highlighted in reports, the game was meant to delete itself after 12 hours, making surviving copies extraordinarily hard to find. Its limited distribution to theme park attendees in 2005 only adds to its scarcity.
Because of that combination of a short lifespan and a highly restricted release, the cartridge has become a major curiosity for fans interested in obscure Nintendo history. For archivists, the listing is notable not just as a collectible sale but as a chance to study and possibly preserve a game that many believed had effectively vanished.
The eBay appearance has put a tangible price on a piece of Nintendo DS history that was long considered out of reach. Whether it ends up in the hands of a private collector or someone focused on preservation, the sale underscores how valuable rare event-only games can become when almost no surviving examples are known.
