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Topps Game Pak Trading Cards
The Topps
Company Inc., famous for their production of sports
trading cards, struck a deal with Nintendo in 1989 to
produce a variety of merchandise for the hot Nintendo
character license. One of these products included plastic
Mario and Link bubble gum dispensers, shown below.
Their most popular Nintendo-endorsed
product, however, had to have been the Game Pak trading
cards. Perhaps "trading cards" may not the
right way to describe them. Inside of a typical five-card
game pak, retailing for two quarters, contained three
scratch off card games and two peel off stickers.
The scratch off games played
the same way as scratch off lottery tickets. The idea
was to battle enemies, get K.O.s, or move across the
screen by getting lucky and scratching the correct matching
pictures as directed to you on
the back of the card.
For example, on a Super
Mario Bros. scratch off card, the directions read: "Find
3 arrows and you win. Uncover 3 Buzzy Beetles and you
lose!" It was a clever idea that Topps was aiming
at, translating the feel of playing a Nintendo video
game, but, also like used lottery tickets, these scratch
offs essentially became disposable litter after only
one game. (Unlike lottery tickets was the chance for
you to win anything, though. "THIS PRODUCT IS FOR
FUN--NO PRIZES AWARDED" was on the front of every
unopened pack.) To make up for the brevity, there were
several of these scratch off cards to play through,
60 in all.
In relation to the number
of different scratch offs, the peel off stickers numbered
33 total. On the back side of the stickers were Top
Secret Tips, game hints and strategies on winning more
points. (It is often commented that the nasal, shady
detective who is supposedly "shhhing" with
an upturn finger to keep his secrets secret looks like
he is actually sticking the finger up his nose.)
These trading cards were
quite the hit with kids and widely available everywhere.
I had quite a few of them, as did my cousin.
In 2006, The Topps Vault,
located in New York, NY, under the name thetoppsvault,
put up on eBay several of the actual original Nintendo
color art and black and white overlays used by cameras
to create the cards.
Taken from the actual auction
description:
Direct
from Topps' legendary vault, this is the actual color
art used in the creative process of this 1989 Topps
release. One is the original color art, the other is
the overlay containing the camera-ready B&W line
art. In order to create the reverse side cartoon image,
the overlay is placed over this mini art board. Each
piece measures (2 1/2" X 3 1/2"). This art
and overlay sheet come encased in hard plastic holders
to maintain its delicate and original state.
Some of the card art went fairly high,
in particular both The Legend of Zelda auctions.
The Zelda title went for over $70 and an image
of Link holding the triforce for around $55. I managed
to pick up some of the more characteristic card artworks
put on the auction block, like a Little Mac of Punch-Out!!
fame, a cool Samus Aran original reverse side card
art, and an affordable Cobrat
(a snake enemy from Super Mario Bros. 2). Both
Cobrat and Samus turned out to be prototypes of stickers
that Topps never released.
Samus Aran Topps Original Reverse Side Card Art
Little Mac Topps Original Card Art / Camera-Ready Overlay
About a year later, Topps then began
selling something even more desirable - the original
art and card overlays for their Nintendo scratch-offs.
Many of these were actually unproduced artworks, including
an entire line of never-before-seen Metroid scratch-off
cards. It was hard because there were so many of them,
but I controlled myself and chose only three that I
remembered collecting as a child.
 
Super Mario Bros. 2 Topps Original Card Art /
Camera-Ready Overlay
The first is my favorite of the lot,
and it's the absolute best example from the Super
Mario Bros. 2 Topps cards. Here we have Tryclyde
blasting fireballs at our famous plumber friend. The
B&W line overlay is on top and the coloring is at
the bottom. As you can see by comparing the prototype
with the released card, the scratch-offs are missing,
so they must have been applied by a machine at a later
time. Another difference is the size. Unlike the Topps
sticker prototypes, which are the same dimensions as
the mass produced stickers, these prototype scratch-offs
are much bigger and measure a whopping 4" x 5 1/2".
Click the photo for a larger view.
 
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Topps Original
Card Art / Camera-Ready Overlay
Another scratch-off prototype artwork,
this time from my favorite Zelda game on the
NES - The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Again you can see that the scratch-offs are not yet
added. You'll also notice that the sky is blue instead
of black. I think that's because the black and white
overlay would have covered the sky in black. The scene
is taken from one of the randomized Hyrule forest screens
that your character is forced to go through if you run
into an enemy on the overworld map. Click the photo
for a larger view.
Double Dragon Topps Original Card Art / Camera-Ready
Overlay
I cannot seem to locate my matching
card for this last piece, unfortunately, but I have
confirmed that it is a released Topps card from the
series Double Dragon. The most affordable of
the three scratch-off prototypes, this one caught my
eye because of the bright 80's colors in the background.
Nothing says badass like throwing crates from a pink
construction site! The card's image comes from the first
screen of the second level in Double Dragon.
Listing of Topps Vault Auctioned Nintendo
Card Art
Direct from Topps' legendary vault, this is the
actual color art used in the creative process of this
1989 Topps release. One is the original color art, the
other is the overlay containing the camera-ready B&W
line art. In order to create the reverse side cartoon
image, the overlay is placed over this mini art board.
Each piece measures (2 1/2" X 3 1/2"). This
art and overlay sheet come encased in hard plastic holders
to maintain its delicate and original state.
 Birdo
Metroid
Mario
Driving
Mario
Logo
Mario
Madness
Mario
Pulling Up Mushroom
Legend
of Zelda Logo
Link
Raising Triforce
Punch-Out!!
Little Mac
Punch-Out!!
Super Macho Man
Super
Mario Bros. 2 Squatting Mario
Snake-A-Boo
Skeleton
Warrior
Koopa
Shell Bowling
Various:
Punch-Out!!
Various:
Hammer Bros., Toad, Mushrooms
Various:
I'm Batty Over Video Games
Various:
Cactus, Bomb, Fairy
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