A development and testing cartridge associated with one of Pokémon’s most elusive software titles has surfaced on eBay after almost two decades following its initial brief existence, causing a great stir among enthusiasts and collectors alike.
The listing has been placed by a German seller who sells a development/test Nintendo DS cartridge associated with PokéPark Fishing Rally DS, otherwise known as PokéPark Fishing Contest DS and PokéPark: Tsuri Taikai DS. The listing has been priced at a hefty €7,999 which is equivalent to approximately $9,000-$9,170 USD, no bids received at time of writing. Photos show the cartridge running on a yellow DS and displaying Japanese text associated with ranking features.
PokéPark Fishing Rally DS was never sold in stores. In 2005 it was distributed only through Nintendo DS Download Play at the temporary PokéPark theme park in Nagoya, Japan, at Pokémon Centers, and at Pokémon Festa events (roughly May to September). Players downloaded a temporary fishing mini-game, cast lines for Water-type Pokémon such as Magikarp, Gyarados, and Feebas, and earned points based on size, level, and rarity. High scores could be submitted to event leaderboards. Because it used Download Play, the software automatically deleted itself after about 12 hours or when the DS was powered off. No retail cartridge was ever produced.
That self-deleting design is why surviving examples are treated as lost media. Almost every player copy vanished. The current eBay item is a physical development or test cartridge, not a standard retail card. The seller states it came from a private lot with no further provenance documentation and that it boots to a Japanese-language screen tied to ranking transmission. A Japanese fan noted the on-screen text translates to “Ranking transmission,” raising the possibility that the cartridge holds leaderboard or event-management software rather than the full playable fishing game. Its exact contents remain unverified until the software is properly dumped and examined.
Pokémon preservationist Professor Rex highlighted the listing and urged the community to keep it from disappearing into another private collection.
“Long considered lost media, the software for the Poképark Fishing Tournament has become available for sale… Hopefully it will fall into the hands of someone who wishes to preserve it so everyone else can experience it once more,”
He wrote. He later invited interest in a potential group-buy to secure and archive it.
Temporary event software from the early DS era rarely survives outside Nintendo’s own archives. Preserving it fills gaps in how promotional Download Play titles worked and documents a slice of Pokémon history that most fans never got to keep.
This is more than a high-priced collectible. It is a reminder that digital-only promotional experiences can vanish without deliberate archiving. Responsible buyers and reporters will wait for verification rather than treat every claim as settled fact.
