Rare N64 game now on eBay

By Ellie Gibson Published 10 July, 2006

Echo Delta - yours for just £825.

Calling all Nintendo 64 fans with more money than sense: a prototype cartridge for never-released game Echo Delta has appeared on eBay.

As you can see on the auction page, Echo Delta sees you taking to the ocean floor, collecting resources and raising sunken vessels.

According to the seller, "It is addicting and has really great sound, awesome animation and control.

"Starcraft 64 and maybe Ogre Battle can sort of be compared since that's all we got but... The underwater element is really unique and unexpectedly surprising, giving way to its own whole world and genre."

The game has a Buy-It-Now price of $1520 (just under £825), but the seller will accept offers. And, er, postage is free.

"The game plays flawless, free of bugs," apparently; "It is amazing that it is finished but never came out."

Echo Delta was in co-development at Clever Trick, who don't appear to have done anything else, and Marigul Management, who developed Custom Robo, Doubutsu Banchou and Hey You, Pikachu! "If all goes well," the seller reckons, "We'll see another unreleased game by the same group or parent company that produced Echo Delta." Hmm...

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • urban #1 6 years ago

    interesting, it seems like a damn good game, the two player head to head...definatly
    Edited by 1 at 10/07/06 @ 11:46

  • Zuiyo #2 6 years ago

    Who would want to pay that kind of money for an N64 game... you could almost buy a PS3 with that!

  • Artemis_Matsas #3 6 years ago

    Is ANYONE going to buy this?????

    Well... i guess that there is one born every minute!

  • skillian #4 6 years ago

    Is there only one of these about?

    I hope the guy (or gal) who buys it knows how to make a ROM ;)

  • foxy2006 #5 6 years ago

    "addicting" is not a bloody word .
    I wish people would stop using it

    \lights pipe and kicks off slippers

  • Cappy #6 6 years ago

    Sadly, at that kind of price its going to a collector and they're not likely to release a ROM image because it ruins the value and unique status of their purchase.
    Edited by 1 at 10/07/06 @ 12:06

  • chupachups #7 6 years ago

    -"addicting" is not a bloody word .
    I wish people would stop using it -

    The one that gets me is "burlgarise". What's wrong with "burgle"?

    Does anyone "driverise" their car?

  • Totoriko #8 6 years ago

    Hi SIr,
    will you posts to NiGeriah?

  • Aria #9 6 years ago

    "Who would want to pay that kind of money for an N64 game... you could almost buy a PS3 with that! "

    Almost...

  • Retroid #10 6 years ago

    "addicting"

    /Stabs seller to death

  • Floppy #11 6 years ago

    Oh, not an N64 game by Rare on eBay then... as I was going to say there are loads of 'Rare' N64 games on eBay.

  • itamae #12 6 years ago

    /Stabs seller to death

    That's a considerably less expensive way to get the game. :-)

  • mingster #13 6 years ago

    he says addicting as english is not his first language.

    he apoligizes at the end for his lack of english grammer so don't complain.

    I bet your grasp of a second language is worse than his, if not non-existant

  • Zero Beat #14 6 years ago

    Yes, his first language is American.

  • the_dudefather #15 6 years ago

    i would hope the buyer would release the rom of it, but that might lower the value of it a bit (it would still be a 'real' cart tho)

    remember a thing like this happened with sonic xtreme a few years back, but it was all a hoax (a bunch of sega fans bunched togather to buy it and release it freely but it was an ex-forum guy getting revenge or something)

  • chupachups #16 6 years ago

    Anyone know why this wasn't released?

  • Milbe #17 6 years ago

    "Anyone know why this wasn't released? "

    maybe it was not that good afterall...

  • chupachups #18 6 years ago

    ""Anyone know why this wasn't released? ""
    "maybe it was not that good afterall..."

    If it was finished you'd think they'd want to recoup some of their development costs though?

  • skillian #19 6 years ago

    If you can't find a publisher you can't get published.

  • smelly #20 6 years ago

    If it was finished you'd think they'd want to recoup some of their development costs though?

    It costs LOADS to get a game (Especially on the n64 - which involves making lots of circuit boards, etc) duplicated, distributed, put into shops, advertised, etc.
    Edited by 1 at 10/07/06 @ 15:36

  • dudefella #21 6 years ago

    The game looks pretty crap!

  • neuroniky #22 6 years ago

    As a collector item, this would be an holy grail to get. I'm not into N64 collecting, but if I'd find a thing like that for my Intellivision collection it would be ACE to get it. When you have all the "standard" things, all the game that have come out, all the rare games that are hard to find... it's a thing like that that makes your collection the best in the world, and it really makes it stand among the other.

  • drumbaby #23 6 years ago

    Yeah, I got that game for 27p from a car boot sale. It's rubbish.

  • Xerx3s #24 6 years ago

    Well, I'm not a Ninty collector (or well, I collect their stuff but it is not the main collection), but I have spend quite some money on some items in my atari collection. :\

    Prototypes can be very expensive and this is rather cheap. But then again, it is rather new (unlike some other things that I have seen).

    And history is full of games that reach 90%+ development stage and never get released. No money = no game. Simple as that.

  • Royal Fool #25 6 years ago

    This reminds me of that forgotten PC classic, Sub Culture.

    http://ww w.mobygames.com/game/windows/su...

  • Xerx3s #26 6 years ago

    Sub Culture was a brilliant game indeed. Many hours of great fun.

  • L0cky #27 6 years ago

    moreish

  • Kikimaru #28 6 years ago

    While this one-off N64 is indeed rare, it wouldn't be the holy grail of collectors' items - that would go to European Neo-Geo games (some of which exceed estimated values of $5000)...
    Meh. I'm happy with my copy of PAL Rez (which I play to death, screw the "collectors' value";)

  • chupachups #29 6 years ago

    -While this one-off N64 is indeed rare, it wouldn't be the holy grail of collectors' items - that would go to European Neo-Geo games (some of which exceed estimated values of $5000)...
    Meh. I'm happy with my copy of PAL Rez (which I play to death, screw the "collectors' value";)-

    If you venture into things where people aren't sure whether they even exist, maybe one of the most sought after items would be "Mire Mare" by Ultimate/Rare. They advertised the game at the end of Underwurlde for the Spectrum, and released all the other games they advertised, but Mire Mare never appeared.

  • aine #30 6 years ago

    While this one-off N64 is indeed rare, it wouldn't be the holy grail of collectors' items - that would go to European Neo-Geo games (some of which exceed estimated values of $5000)...

    ...

    is it just me, or are Neo-Geo collectors completely mental? Even one-off, highly sought-after prototypes on other systems (like, say, the NES Earthbound US version) don't go for that much.

  • fawe3 #31 6 years ago

    Lets hope the one that buys it makes a rom out of it ;)

  • mustardkid #32 6 years ago

    addicting is a word he's just used it in the wrong context.