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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.
See
another scratch off: Super Mario Bros.
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.
See
another scratch off: Super Mario Bros. 2
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 one of the more characteristic card arts
put on the auction block, a winning victory pose Little
Mac of Punch-Out!! fame, and a cool Metroid
original reverse side card art.
Metroid Original Reverse Side Card Art
Little Mac Topps Original Card Art / Overlay
