A Book Store Just Sold A Brand-New Copy Of This 25-Year-Old Sega Classic

Every now and then an extremely old game – usually in mint condition – is dug up in a bargain bin somewhere, leaving the gaming community to wonder where the fuck it’s been sitting all this time. In February, a copy of 1992’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for Sega Game Gear was purchased for a mere $6.99 USD ($9.23) in the US.

While it wasn’t as popular as Nintendo‘s Game Boy, Sega’s handheld gaming system had a dedicated following, thanks in part to the success of the Sonic franchise.

Industry analyst Mat Piscatella of NPD Group pointed out the sale of the 25-year-old game (the original release date was November 17, 1992 for the Game Gear version) on Twitter. Apparently he just likes to keep an eye on this kind of thing.

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

Like, was it just buried in some back room the last twenty years? Did it get lost underneath some retail fixture? Was it a twenty something year old pre-order? What was the reaction when that person who bought it saw it? So many questions I have.

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) April 28, 2018

This is the game in question. pic.twitter.com/Q6bss1WBPc

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) April 28, 2018

Amazingly, someone saw Mat’s request and responded with some details.

My brother in law did Mat pic.twitter.com/kVFlF4In4o

— MELLO (@MihaelMELLO_K) April 29, 2018

According to user @mihaelMELLO_K, the game was purchased in February in the US state of Wisconsin. After checking the going price for the unit on eBay, they decided to open it up and play the game rather than sell it. If you’re wondering, the average price for the game online is only about $25 AUD.

There’s still so many questions – where the fuck has this game been sitting since 1992? Why did the store Half-Price Books have it? Why did they decide to keep it in their inventory for all this time?

Pity it wasn’t one of the rare games that fetches upwards of $10K online.

Source: Uproxx
Image: Sega