Nintendo Cereal System

These turn up a couple of times a year (although less and less), and usually end up fetching over $100.00 for an empty box. Sealed copies are much rarer and while I can`t remember the exact price the last one sold for, it was somewhere between $200-$500.

The Nintendo Cereal System was a breakfast cereal produced by a company called Ralston Cereals in 1988. It was trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Nintendo Entertainment System, and promoted two of the most popular games on the NES at that time, Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.

The box of the cereal was divided into two sections, one for each game. One side, called Super Mario Bros. Action Series, had fruity-flavoured Marios, Super Mushrooms, Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Bowsers, and the other, called Zelda Adventure Series, had berry-flavored Links, hearts, boomerangs, keys, and shields.

The cereal has great kid pull by itself, but upped the ante by always including stickers of a Nintendo character and Nintendo “Power Cards” (a set of 12 trading cards) on the back panel. It also had offers to win NES Power Pads or a Super Mario cereal bowl.

Empty Box Auction Here

This actually comes from mywantlist, one seller who has been clearing out some crazy stuff over the last year. They have a bunch of other stuff now, but two things caught my eye (both overpriced).

CES Prototype SNES System Box

This auction is for a PROTOTYPE Super Nintendo SNES System BOX that was on display at the CES show when the system was first introduced. It was done before the final production boxes were ready, so you can see some differences in the pics. First, on the front the controllers appear to be in different places (i.e., not together) than in the final production boxes. Next, the last pic shows that there’s no writing on the flaps. In fact, here you can see that this is a mock-up box with end flaps that don’t open! Instead, this is high quality photographic paper that is affixed to the mock-up box (since actual printing would not have been done yet). And although there are other subtle differences, the final really cool difference I want to point out is that the cartridge pictured inside the SNES system says “SUPER MARIO WORLD: Super Mario Bros. 4” on the label!! It’s a little hard to see on the actual cartridge picture in the 3rd and 4th pic, but you can tell if you know it’s there. What makes it clear is the writing on the actual box that calls it SMB4 by name! (See the 5th pic.)

Palcom NES TMNT Turtles System Box

What makes this awesome is that it’s the special Limited Edition Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) packaging. There’s an awesome slip cover that slides over the box, which then has stickers that indicate TMNT game is included instead of Super Mario Bros. (SMB). The unit has never even been removed from the plastic insert, and even the styrofoam was only opened to take these pics. Now, note that this is the European version because that’s the only place this was released.