Just so we're clear, this wasn't bought online or done in an auction or on eBay or anything of the sort.
Someone walked into a retail establishment, saw a boxed-up, fresh copy of Sonic 2 for the Sega Game Gear that was still in its wrapping and paid cold cash for it. Why's that significant? Because, for one, the Game Gear was discontinued in 1997 - that's 21 years ago - and there's also the fact that a copy of Sonic 2 for the Sega Game Gear was still on sale and someone hadn't snapped it up sooner.
The discovery came from retail analyst Mat Piscatella, who works for the NPD Group, a market research company based in the US.
Someone in the U.S. market bought a brand new copy of Sonic 2 for the Game Gear at retail in March, 2018. I want to know who this person is, where they bought it, and how that all happened.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) April 28, 2018
I'm going to ask the folks on my side if they can tell me a retailer and perhaps a location. This should help the search. I... I don't think I can let this go.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) April 28, 2018
The best part about all of this? Through the power of Twitter, someone actually knew the person who bought the game and Mat is now tracking through the reports to see if this was in fact the sale that came up on the report.
My brother in law did Mat pic.twitter.com/kVFlF4In4o
— MELLO (@MihaelMELLO_K) April 29, 2018
The NPD's report only tracks sales put through on EPOS through EDI, meaning it was counted as a sale in a tracked, retail environment and the stock was counted as new stock - not a resale or the like.
If the copy listed above is in fact the one in question he did, in fact, pay $6.99 for it, there's a very good chance he could be in for a bit of a cash windfall as a sealed, fresh copy of Sonic 2 on the Game Gear is pretty valuable to collectors.
Via Twitter
