Nintendo Test Market Consoles
The Nintendo Test Market systems have become very sought after for many collectors. Finding these not pieced together is very tough these days. Finding a set that has the original sticker sealed games, all the paperwork including the warranty card, and a low serial number is pretty rare. These sets are such a big part of history, as this was the rejuvenation of the video game industry in the U.S. and is what is now the most recognizable name in the gaming world, Nintendo.
Nintendo released what is now considered the Test Market consoles to select retailers in New York City in October 1985. They released 100,000 of these units. They are considered the Test Market consoles because Nintendo did not know how well they would actually sell. In fact, they gave the retailers a buyback guarantee. The guarantee was after 90 days if the system had not sold they could just give the systems back to Nintendo at no cost or risk to them. The systems were released with Gyromite, Duck Hunt, the Zapper and R.O.B. This later would be known as the Deluxe Set.. however, the original Test Market console boxes did not say Deluxe Set on them. The test market consoles were made with a thicker, smoother shell than the consoles that came later. Later versions were rigid. Test market consoles have a smooth top. It’s noticeable to the touch and if you have good pictures of the console you can tell if it’s smooth or rigid similar to an NES game cartridge shell.
Sales were encouraging throughout the holiday season, though sources vary on how many consoles were sold then. In 1986, Nintendo said it sold nearly 90,000 units in nine weeks during its 1985 New York City test run. Nintendo added Los Angeles as a test market in February 1986, followed by Chicago and San Francisco, then other top 12 US markets, and nationwide sales in September. It and Sega, which was similarly exporting its Master System to the US, planned to spend $15 million in the fourth quarter of 1986 to market their consoles; later, Nintendo said it planned to spend $16 million and Sega said more than $9 million. Nintendo obtained a distribution deal with toy company Worlds of Wonder, which leveraged its popular Teddy Ruxpin and Lazer Tag products to solicit more stores to carry the console. The largest retailer Sears sold it through its Christmas catalog and the second-largest retailer Kmart sold it in 700 stores. Nintendo sold 1.1 million consoles in 1986, estimating that it could have sold 1.4 million if inventory had held out. Nintendo earned $310 million in sales, out of total 1986 video game industry sales of $430 million, compared to the total of 1985 industry sales of $100 million.
For the nationwide launch, the NES was available in two different packages: The fully-featured $249 USD “Deluxe Set” as configured during the New York City launch, and a scaled-down “Control Deck” package which includes two gamepads and a copy of Super Mario Bros.
Test Market sets came with Gyromite and Duck Hunt. However, they were not the average versions you commonly see. They are now known as sticker seal games. All of the test market systems came with matte sticker seal (pictured here, the small black sticker on the top of the game) versions of Gyromite and Duck Hunt. These were made before games came in cellophane. The sticker was how they sealed the game. Most test market sets you see now are pieced together. They usually don’t have the sticker seal games or low serial numbers. Another rare thing to find in test market sets is the warranty card. The warranty card came with the set and had a sticker on it that matched the serial number on the NES console. These are extremely 
rare to find with the actual console they belong to because you were supposed to send them to Nintendo to claim your warranty. Although the first 100k serial numbers are considered the test market consoles, they were still making them afterward. For example, if you bought a console in June 1986 it’s possible it was a test market console set. It may have a serial number over 100k but it would still have been in the test market version box and would have had the same smooth top console, and matte sticker seal games. There is no clear evidence of what serial number began when they started calling them Deluxe sets but we’d it expect it to be anything over 300k.
The NES test market: Nintendo’s 1985 gamble on one city
Fall 1985. As far as most stores were concerned, video games were dead. Retailers were still sitting on piles of unsold Atari cartridges and had zero interest in another console. So Nintendo of America decided to prove them wrong one city at a time.
Why New York
Nintendo never planned a big national splash. Bruce Lowry, NOA’s vice president of sales at the time, has said the original idea was a quiet launch in Kentucky, somewhere a mistake wouldn’t sink the company.
Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi had other plans. He picked New York City: the toughest retail market in the country, the biggest stores, and the center of the media world. Win there and you can win anywhere. Lose there and everyone hears about it.
October 18, 1985
The first shipment of 100,000 systems hit New York stores like FAO Schwarz. Every box was the full package: the console, two controllers, R.O.B., the Zapper, and Gyromite and Duck Hunt.
That bundle was the whole strategy. R.O.B. and the Zapper made the NES look like a toy and a gadget, not another game machine. Lowry has said the team avoided calling it a video game console at all.
Eighteen games were on shelves at launch:
10-Yard Fight, Baseball, Clu Clu Land, Donkey Kong Jr. Math, Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Golf, Gyromite, Hogan’s Alley, Ice Climber, Kung Fu, Pinball, Soccer, Stack-Up, Super Mario Bros., Tennis, Wild Gunman, and Wrecking Crew.
IGN’s Lucas M. Thomas has pointed to Baseball as a big reason the test launch landed. On the other end of the shelf, Lowry recently named Donkey Kong Jr. Math the worst game Nintendo released that first year. Nintendo pictured it as an educational hit. Stores couldn’t give it away.
The Zapper almost had a boring name
The Zapper was headed to stores as a plain old light gun. Then Nintendo ran a focus group of moms in Paramus, New Jersey. When the moderator pitched a Nintendo light gun and Duck Hunt, about a third of the room walked out.
Nintendo brought in a second group right after with one change: the name. Same product, now called the Zapper. That group loved it.
How the test went
Sources don’t agree on exact holiday numbers, but in 1986 Nintendo said it sold close to 90,000 units in nine weeks during the New York run. Good enough to keep going.
Los Angeles joined in February 1986, followed by Chicago and San Francisco, then the rest of the top 12 US markets. The NES went nationwide in September 1986.
Nintendo got help getting into stores from toy company Worlds of Wonder, which used the pull of Teddy Ruxpin and Lazer Tag to convince retailers. Sears, the biggest retailer in the country, put the NES in its Christmas catalog. Kmart, number two, carried it in 700 stores. Nintendo planned to spend $16 million marketing the system in the fourth quarter of 1986. Sega planned a little over $9 million for the Master System.
The result: 1.1 million consoles sold in 1986, and Nintendo figured it could have sold 1.4 million if inventory had held up. Nintendo pulled in $310 million of the industry’s $430 million that year. The entire video game industry had done $100 million in 1985.
Lowry missed the victory lap. He left Nintendo in 1986 to help start Sega of America and has called it probably the biggest mistake of his career.
Two boxes for the national launch
When the NES went nationwide, shoppers had two choices:
- The Deluxe Set for $249, packed just like the New York test market set
- The Control Deck, a stripped down bundle with two controllers and Super Mario Bros.
Collector notes: spotting a real test market set
If you’re hunting a true test market set, here’s what to look for.
- Sticker seal games. Test market Gyromite and Duck Hunt came sealed with a small black matte sticker on top of the box. This was before Nintendo switched to cellophane.
- Low serial numbers. The first 100,000 serials are generally treated as test market consoles.
- The warranty card. Each set came with a warranty card carrying a sticker that matched the console’s serial number. You were supposed to mail it to Nintendo to register your warranty, so finding one still with its matching console is extremely rare.
- Smooth top console. Test market units have the smooth top shell.
Most test market sets you’ll see for sale today are pieced together. They’re usually missing the sticker seal games, the low serial, or both.
One wrinkle: Nintendo kept building this version after the first 100,000. A set bought as late as June 1986 could still be a test market set with a serial above 100k, in the test market box, with the smooth top console and matte sticker seal games. There’s no clear evidence of where the Deluxe Set name kicked in. Our best guess is somewhere past 300k.
Test market gear keeps breaking records
Forty one years later, the NES launch era is still making headlines.
A $3 million Super Mario Bros. On June 12, 2026, Heritage Auctions sold a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. for $3 million, the highest price any video game has ever brought at public auction. It graded PSA 9.6 A++ and sold together with the Control Deck console it was originally bundled with, which tied back to the Los Angeles test market period. The copy had turned up just two months before the sale.
The seal is what made it special. Instead of shrink wrap, it was closed with a glossy sticker from an early 1986 production run. Heritage says only three sealed copies of that variant are known, and this was the best of the three. Compare that glossy sticker to the matte stickers on test market Gyromite and Duck Hunt and you can see how much the tiny details matter here. It beat the previous $2 million record from a 2021 private sale, though plenty of collectors still debate whether prices like this reflect real demand.
A $120,000 Deluxe Set. Heritage also sold a factory-sealed 1986 NES Deluxe Set graded VGA 85 NM+, with R.O.B., the Zapper, Duck Hunt, and Gyromite, for $120,000. That’s the highest auction price ever paid for a console that was actually sold in stores.
A rare piece of the LA test. Even the old newspaper ads are collectible now. A June 4, 1986 Los Angeles Times ad for a Montgomery Ward NES sale, R.O.B. and all, has surfaced as a primary source from the LA test market, three months before the nationwide launch.
The gray box that started it all
A city full of skeptical buyers took a chance on a robot, a light gun, and a gray box that looked like a VCR. That gamble rebuilt the entire industry.
Got a test market set? Drop your serial number in the comments. We want to see it
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