People who grew up in the 90s remember how big the Super Nintendo was to everyone. Over the years, the console has been praised for having amazing games that are often viewed as classics. Iconic games like Super Mario World, Final Fantasy III, Donkey Kong Country, and many others were staples of the console's library that any Nintendo fan had to play. It was a 16-bit console released during a period that was a great time to be a gamer, especially if you frequently played Nintendo games.

But for as many great titles as there were available on the SNES, some games eventually became rare and elusive for collectors. Over the years, certain games had a limited printing or became highly sought-after titles that garnered a high selling price. And no matter how much you may love Super Nintendo games as a longtime fan, chances are you'll never be able to get these games into your collection. Here are 5 of the rarest Super Nintendo games you may never own.

5 Exertainment Mountain Bikerally/Speed Racer

Racing for health

Back in 1995, there was a machine called the Life Fitness Extertainment System, which was also featured in an issue of Nintendo Power that year. This was an exercise bike machine made in collaboration with Nintendo that allowed people to work out and play video games. Certain Super Nintendo games were made with the machine in mind, but were also released on the Super Nintendo. Speed Racer in My Most Dangerous Adventures and Exertainment Mountain Bike Rally were two of these titles that were also released as a bundle together for the console. However, the release was very limited and was mostly available directly from Nintendo or as a pack-in for the Life Fitness Extertainment System machine. The games themselves are nothing special beyond being 16-bit racing titles, but the bundle itself is incredibly rare.

Collectors value this SNES release very highly, with a loose copy of the game cartridge going for more than $2,500 alone. If you manage to get a complete copy of the game, especially with the machine, the price can skyrocket to over $10,000 for everything. Because of the limited printing of this specific bundle, you hardly see it sold among collectors. This makes it a real Super Nintendo gem that very few will ever get to see, or even play the way it was originally intended.

4 Nintendo Campus Challenge 1992

Competition in college

Much like the Nintendo World Championship before it, the Nintendo Campus Challenge 1992 was a compilation of games that people would play to participate in a large event. The 1992 challenge was sponsored by Nintendo and traveled around various college campuses for people to compete. The games played included Super Mario World, F-Zero, and Pilotwings. Prizes for the competition involved scholarships, a new car, and more. However, unlike the Nintendo World Championships cartridge, the Nintendo Campus Challenge 1992 is a lot rarer since there aren't many units known to still be around. Following the event, the cartridges were originally planned to be destroyed, but three units were saved by private collectors, which are the ones that are known to be around now.

It's very unlikely that you'll find anyone willing to part ways with a unit for the Nintendo Campus Challenge 1992. It's not only a piece of Nintendo history, but a very rare aspect of it. With only three cartridge units left, it's literally one of the rarest Super Nintendo cartridges ever. In the past, an auction for one of the units went as high as $4,000 in 2006 at the time of sale. Another auction for one of the units that went unsold had an asking price of around $15,000. This is simply one Super Nintendo release you will never add to your collection, and it might be for the best.

3 M.A.C.S. Moving Target Simulator

Firearm military training

In the past, companies have worked with the United States military to create virtual experiences to help train soldiers that were enlisted. One such project was M.A.C.S. Moving Target Simulator, a light gun game for the Super Nintendo that worked a little differently than any other typical light gun game. The peripheral used to play the game was designed to simulate what it would be like for soldiers to hold a real firearm in battle, including the weight and grips of an actual weapon. The light gun itself is a replica of a Jäger AP74, complete with a scope for soldiers to aim, and the light sensor positioned at the tip of the barrel. The game has a few exercises for soldiers to train their marksmanship and general handling of the weapon.

The cartridges for M.A.C.S. Moving Target Simulator were designed to be generic, so there's no box art or anything flashy to them. This was designed to be a military application, after all. But cartridges that managed to stick around outside military use are very valuable to SNES collectors, with some reports stating that less than 600 units of the program were ever produced. The cartridges are often priced at around $5,000 without the light gun included. Although it may be harder to find the game with the light gun replica, chances are it could be worth much more as a complete set.

2 Donkey Kong Country Competition

Competitive DKC gameplay

Donkey Kong Country is one of the most beloved releases on the Super Nintendo. Its visuals were revolutionary at the time, and its gameplay was incredibly fun. But there was a variant of the game that was part of the Blockbuster World Video Game Championship event, which had exclusive cartridges at participating Blockbuster stores. Donkey Kong Country Competition itself is mostly the same as the original version, but has a few changes that make it different just for the event. Certain stages are shorter and have a heavier emphasis on gathering bananas, which was used to determine placement during the Blockbuster competition. Prizes for the event involved a boxed copy of the cartridge, which only had around 2,500 copies ever produced.

A loose copy of Donkey Kong Country Competition can be worth $5,150 alone, but the price is more if you still have it completely in the box. A complete copy can be valued at around $7,500 total, but some auctions have sold the game for more, reaching numbers higher than $8,000. One sale for just the box with its original artwork alone sold for around $3,000 in 2018. People love Donkey Kong Country, but maybe not enough to spend that much on a cartridge variant.

1 Nintendo Powerfest 1994

Rare competition unit

In 1994, Nintendo tried to recapture the excitement of the Nintendo World Championships with another event, the Nintendo Powerfest of 1994. For this competition, they made units for competitors to play an ensemble of SNES games within trailers that showed up to stores in different cities. The cartridges from the event included sections of Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Kart, and Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball, with the goal in each to get the furthest out of everyone. A total of around 30 cartridges were produced, with most of them being destroyed after the conclusion of the event. However, two cartridges are known to have been collected before then and are now in the hands of private collectors.

This is another game that most Nintendo fans will never see in their collection, let alone have a good look at. The two cartridges that are known to exist are incredibly valuable, and most likely won't be sold often. In 2007, one of the owners of a Nintendo Powerfest 1994 cartridge put up an auction that started at $50,000, but it failed to find any buyer. Another person was able to purchase the other cartridge in a private sale for the price of $12,000 in 2012. About a year after that sale, the new owner resold the cartridge through an eBay auction for around $23,000 to a new owner. This is another of the rarest Super Nintendo games ever produced, so don't count on seeing more of these pop up anytime soon.

Rare SNES gems to admire

The history of Nintendo includes many valuable collectibles that fans have wanted to gather for years. The Super Nintendo's legacy is filled with games that fall into that category, including all the valuable gems that collectors struggle to add to their own private collections. Because of how coveted and revered these game releases have become, it's prohibitively difficult for anyone to get them. Chances are you'll never own these SNES games at any point in your life. But that doesn't mean you can't appreciate or marvel at them from a distance, especially with their connection to big parts of Nintendo history.