First Loves: Significant Console and Controller Prototypes from Atari and Nintendo Lead Heritage’s Feb. 21-22 Video Games Auction. Sony’s first PlayStation console joins ultra-rare variants of Streets of Rage and Super Mario Bros. 3
Any gamer — especially of a certain vintage — will recognize it immediately, although this one is black instead of gray, and its buttons are in gray tones instead of punctuated in red, yellow, blue and green. This prototype for the mid-1990s Nintendo Ultra 64 — the system’s original name before it was officially rebranded as the Nintendo 64 — is a seminal creation that laid the groundwork for one of the most iconic controllers in gaming history, guiding millions of players through 3D-polygonal sessions in Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye 007 and Super Smash Bros.
The smooth trident shape anchored by a charcoal-colored stick was molded to be the hand-held portal to new worlds, a controller that gamers clutched for hours at a time as they made their way across whole new universes. It is but one highlight of Heritage’s February 21 - 22 Video Games Signature® Auction, and it comes from the collection of Zac Gieg, who in the gaming world is an icon in his own right.
“Only two or three are known to exist,” says Gieg of the Ultra 64 prototype. He is the founder of Just Press Play — an ever-expanding empire of game stores that he has built year over year, game over game. Though the size and colors of the Nintendo prototype differ from the finalized shipped version, “people my age know what that controller is as soon as they look at it,” he says. As a youngster in Lancaster, PA, Gieg preordered the first official Ultra 64 system from Toys“R”Us, and once it landed in his hands he never looked back. Regarding the Ultra 64 controller offered in Heritage’s event, he points out that “as long as collectors have been collecting video games, they’ve quietly collected consoles and controllers, and prototypes are more valuable.”
“This prototype predates the 1995 Shoshinkai trade show, where Nintendo unveiled Ultra 64 controllers that retained the same oversized analog stick but introduced the multi-colored buttons that would become a signature of the final design,” says Valarie Spiegel, Heritage's Managing Director of Video Games. “Its large analog stick reflects Nintendo’s experimentation with ergonomics and precision during development, while the blank space where the Nintendo logo would later appear underscores its early-stage design. Representing a pivotal moment in Nintendo’s innovation, this controller bridges the gap between the Ultra 64’s ambitious vision and the N64 we know today. A rare piece of gaming history, it offers a fascinating glimpse into the evolution of 3D gaming as Nintendo molded the future of interactive entertainment.”
Another museum-worthy prototype offered in February is this 1982 Atari Video System X console — the successor to the Atari VCS and a piece of gaming history which as Gieg says, “is primitive. But you needed to have these things, to take these steps, in order to move on to systems like the Switch.” At the Summer CES in Chicago, Atari unveiled its highly anticipated prototype console, initially dubbed the "Video System X" (VSX), and shortly after, this debut the system was rebranded as the Atari 5200. “There can’t be more than a handful of these VSX prototypes,” says Gieg.
Heritage’s signature Video Games auctions always teem with rare and significant video games in sky-high grades, though this particular event is also led by the above prototypes and includes two others: a pair of Nintendo Wii Controllers with GameCube Connectors, circa 2006 (these prototypes were virtually unknown until a Japanese auction house sold a set in 2018); and a CGC-certified NES game Ninja Taro. This is the only known copy of Ninja Taro for the NES, a game advertised heavily in the early 1990s but never officially released. “Originally developed by UPL, creators of the popular Ninja-kun series, Ninja Taro was planned for a North American release by American Sammy in 1990,” says Spiegel. “The game was showcased at major events like the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and advertised in gaming magazines. But the NES version never saw the light of day.”
Games are still central to Heritage’s signature Video Games auctions, and another historic offering in the event is this landmark high-grade 1991 copy of the favorite beat-‘em-up: Streets of Rage — a series synonymous with Sega Genesis. At 9.8 A Sealed, it’s the highest-graded copy of this variant of Streets of Rage on Wata's August 2024 census out of only three, and it’s also Heritage’s first time offering a sealed copy. Another auction highlight is an early-production left-side “Bros.” copy of Super Mario Bros. 3. With only 17 examples of the variant listed by Wata, this copy is a coveted rarity distinguished by the "Bros." text positioned on the left side of the box over Mario's right hand — it was later shifted to the right for aesthetic purposes — and these initial copies are especially sought-after. "With its diverse selection of rare, iconic and exceptionally preserved vintage games and video game artifacts, this auction highlights the enduring legacy of video games and the passion of those who collect them," says Spiegel
Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
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