Rare Crystal Chronicles GameCube sells for $7,500 as collectors chase limited Nintendo variants

According to eBay sellers and Consolevariations, the Crystal Chronicles bundle was limited to 150 units and was available only as a prize in a magazine sweepstakes. The console came in Crystal White, a cream-like color that distinguishes it from the more common Pearl White model sold in Europe. It was packaged with a Game Boy Player and a copy of Crystal Chronicles.

The Game Boy Player was an add-on that let the GameCube play Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges on a television. In North America, the add-on was sold only in Jet Black, while other colors were available in Japan; Crystal White is among the rarest.

The $7,500 sale was the most recent of the two Crystal Chronicles consoles to top $5,000 this year, Engadget reported. A listing in May sold for just under $7,000. An unboxed, slightly scuffed unit was listed on eBay for $3,750.

Other GameCube variants also carry high prices. The Heineken GameCube can be found on eBay for as much as $15,500. In 2002, the Dutch brewer ran a sweepstakes on its website that was limited to 100 units, 50 in Indigo and 50 in Jet Black, for contestants 21 or older.

The Japan-exclusive Gundam Char edition, a red console and controller bundled with a Game Boy Player, may be the most striking, though it is not as rare or as expensive secondhand. In 2003, Nintendo offered a mint green Tales of Symphonia bundle with the GameCube and Game Boy Player; it was released exclusively in Japan and France in a run of about 10,000 units and sells for no more than $1,500.

According to Consolevariations, some of the rarest unofficial GameCube releases are a pair of airbrushed movie tie-in consoles originally intended as part of sweepstakes, one for The Polar Express and the other for The Incredibles. Engadget noted that even a standard model could fetch some cash if the owner no longer uses it.