40 years of hard work came to nothing overnight as more than 860 NES cartridges were stolen from a Washington man

Abstract:

Roger Holler, a Nintendo fan from Puyallup, Washington, suffered a burglary while away from home. More than 860 NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) game cartridges that he had collected for nearly 40 years were stolen, with an estimated value of $50,000 to $100,000. What's even more regrettable is that he is only short of the last three games to collect a complete set of NES US version games.

According to local media KING5, the theft occurred last week when Holler and his family were out. When they returned home on Sunday evening, they found someone had broken in and looted the shelves where Holler stored cassettes. These cartridges were accumulated since his mother gave him the first NES console when he was 11 years old, and after decades of traveling to stores, game shows and all over Washington state.

Holler estimates the collection is worth about $50,000 to $100,000. But to him, the sentimental value of these cassettes far outweighs their market price. During the collection process, he passed this love on to his family, especially his son Chris Sterling. Sterling recalled that he had been searching for games with his father since he was a child, and it was "heartbreaking" to see his father's life-long work taken away. Holler originally planned to pass the collection on to his grandchildren, hoping to one day sell it to fund their college tuition.

It has been more than 40 years since the NES console came out, and the popularity of the classic game market has not diminished. In June this year, at the Heritage Auctions auction, a sealed version of "Super Mario Bros." was sold for a record-breaking US$3 million. NES classic games occupied the top auction prices - the "Legend of Zelda" cartridge was sold for US$375,000, and the entire auction turnover exceeded US$5 million.

For players who want to relive Nintendo classics but are unwilling to chase physical cartridges at high prices, the Nintendo Switch Online service provides a library of NES and SNES games, including "Super Mario Bros. 3", "The Legend of Zelda" and "Super Mario World".