A rare Nintendo DS development cartridge linked to the long-lost Pokémon spin-off PokéPark: Fishing Rally DS has sold on eBay for €9,505 – approximately £8,136. The auction ended with an unknown buyer, sparking renewed hope that the game, considered lost media for nearly two decades, may finally be preserved.
The cartridge surfaced last week in an eBay listing described as a Nintendo DS Development/Test Cartridge. According to a user on X named Tiramisu090401, the Japanese text printed on the cartridge includes the phrase “Poké Park Let’s Play DS,” a clear reference to the missing title. That same user cautioned that it is not yet certain whether the cartridge contains the full game or simply the software used for distributing and managing rankings during the original events.
A game that vanished after 2005
PokéPark: Fishing Rally DS was never sold at retail. Instead, players in Japan and Taiwan could only download it to their Nintendo DS consoles by visiting specific physical locations during a limited promotion in 2005. Even more unusually, the download was temporary: the game would disappear when the system was switched off or after a short time limit expired. That is why the title became legendary among Pokémon fans as lost media – no official cartridges were believed to exist, and the software was effectively unrecoverable once the events ended.
Two other games carry the PokéPark name, but both were released for the Wii, making this DS-only entry a unique outlier. With no known ROM dumps or backups, this eBay discovery could represent the only surviving copy of the software. The listing quickly made the rounds in Pokémon communities, with collectors speculating about the cartridge's true contents.
What exactly is PokéPark: Fishing Rally DS?
As the name suggests, the game is a simple fishing title in which players catch various water-type Pokémon and are graded on the size and rarity of each catch. The gameplay is not deep – one could say it is about as shallow as the shallow end of a swimming pool – but the rarity of the cartridge itself makes it extremely valuable. The game was part of a promotion tied to the Pokémon franchise's Japanese events, and its limited distribution ensured that almost no one outside of those events ever played it.
Tiramisu090401 explained the ambiguity of the find: “It says ‘Poké Park Let’s Play DS,’ so it’s definitely related, but I’m not entirely sure if it’s really a cartridge with the function to distribute the software itself. It says ‘Ranking Ishin’ on the screen, so there’s also the possibility that it was a cartridge for managing the ranking reception and transmission.” That uncertainty has not dampened enthusiasm, as even a distribution cartridge would be a significant piece of Pokémon history.
Why collectors pay huge sums for Nintendo rarities
The €9,505 sale price reflects a broader trend in the video game collecting market. Nintendo is responsible for some of the most expensive cartridges ever sold, largely because so many titles were distributed exclusively at events and competitions. The most famous example is the NES cartridge from the 1990 Nintendo World Championships, which was given only to participants and contains modified versions of Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and Rad Racer. One eBay listing for that cartridge currently sits at $175,000 (about £130,000), while an even rarer gold variant was listed at $207,400 (about £154,000) in 2024.
While PokéPark: Fishing Rally DS may never reach those heights, its sale demonstrates how much value the Pokémon brand adds to any artefact, especially one with a lost-media backstory. The Pokémon franchise, now 30 years old, has produced nine mainline generations – from the original Red and Green to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and next year's Pokémon Winds and Waves – and fans remain eager to uncover every hidden piece of its history.
What happens next?
The anonymous buyer has not yet shared any information about the cartridge's contents. For the Pokémon community, the hope is that the buyer will allow the software to be preserved and studied, potentially making the long-lost game playable for the first time in two decades. Even if the cartridge turns out to be only a distribution or ranking tool, it would still be a valuable piece of the puzzle.
Until then, the mystery remains. The eBay listing has closed, but the discussion continues across social media as fans wait to see whether this remarkable Nintendo DS relic will finally reveal its secrets. The sale may have set a new benchmark for lost Nintendo software, and it underscores the demand for rare video game artefacts in today's collector market.
