Topps Original Card Art

Topps Game Pak Trading Cards

The Topps Company Inc., famous for their production of sports trading cards, struck a deal with Nintendo in 1989 to produce a variety of merchandise for the hot Nintendo character license. One of these products included plastic Mario and Link bubble gum dispensers, shown below.

Their most popular Nintendo-endorsed product, however, had to have been the Game Pak trading cards. Perhaps “trading cards” may not the right way to describe them. Inside of a typical five-card game pak, retailing for two quarters, contained three scratch off card games and two peel off stickers.

The scratch off games played the same way as scratch off lottery tickets. The idea was to battle enemies, get K.O.s, or move across the screen by getting lucky and scratching the correct matching pictures as directed to you on the back of the card.

For example, on a Super Mario Bros. scratch off card, the directions read: “Find 3 arrows and you win. Uncover 3 Buzzy Beetles and you lose!” It was a clever idea that Topps was aiming at, translating the feel of playing a Nintendo video game, but, also like used lottery tickets, these scratch offs essentially became disposable litter after only one game. (Unlike lottery tickets was the chance for you to win anything, though. “THIS PRODUCT IS FOR FUN–NO PRIZES AWARDED” was on the front of every unopened pack.) To make up for the brevity, there were several of these scratch off cards to play through, 60 in all.

In relation to the number of different scratch offs, the peel off stickers numbered 33 total. On the back side of the stickers were Top Secret Tips, game hints and strategies on winning more points. (It is often commented that the nasal, shady detective who is supposedly “shhhing” with an upturn finger to keep his secrets secret looks like he is actually sticking the finger up his nose.)

These trading cards were quite the hit with kids and widely available everywhere. I had quite a few of them, as did my cousin.

In 2006, The Topps Vault, located in New York, NY, under the name thetoppsvault, put up on eBay several of the actual original Nintendo color art and black and white overlays used by cameras to create the cards.

Taken from the actual auction description:

Direct from Topps’ legendary vault, this is the actual color art used in the creative process of this 1989 Topps release. One is the original color art, the other is the overlay containing the camera-ready B&W line art. In order to create the reverse side cartoon image, the overlay is placed over this mini art board. Each piece measures (2 1/2″ X 3 1/2″). This art and overlay sheet come encased in hard plastic holders to maintain its delicate and original state.

Some of the card art went fairly high, in particular both The Legend of Zelda auctions. The Zelda title went for over $70 and an image of Link holding the triforce for around $55. I managed to pick up some of the more characteristic card artworks put on the auction block, like a Little Mac of Punch-Out!! fame, a cool Samus Aran original reverse side card art, and an affordable Cobrat (a snake enemy from Super Mario Bros. 2). Both Cobrat and Samus turned out to be prototypes of stickers that Topps never released.

Cobrat Super Mario Bros. 2 Topps Original Card Art

Samus Aran Topps Original Reverse Side Card Art

Little Mac Topps Original Card Art / Camera-Ready Overlay

About a year later, Topps then began selling something even more desirable – the original art and card overlays for their Nintendo scratch-offs. Many of these were actually unproduced artworks, including an entire line of never-before-seen Metroid scratch-off cards. It was hard because there were so many of them, but I controlled myself and chose only three that I remembered collecting as a child.

Super Mario Bros. 2 Topps Original Card Art / Camera-Ready Overlay

The first is my favorite of the lot, and it’s the absolute best example from the Super Mario Bros. 2 Topps cards. Here we have Tryclyde blasting fireballs at our famous plumber friend. The B&W line overlay is on top and the coloring is at the bottom. As you can see by comparing the prototype with the released card, the scratch-offs are missing, so they must have been applied by a machine at a later time. Another difference is the size. Unlike the Topps sticker prototypes, which are the same dimensions as the mass produced stickers, these prototype scratch-offs are much bigger and measure a whopping 4″ x 5 1/2″. Click the photo for a larger view.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Topps Original Card Art / Camera-Ready Overlay

Another scratch-off prototype artwork, this time from my favorite Zelda game on the NES – The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Again you can see that the scratch-offs are not yet added. You’ll also notice that the sky is blue instead of black. I think that’s because the black and white overlay would have covered the sky in black. The scene is taken from one of the randomized Hyrule forest screens that your character is forced to go through if you run into an enemy on the overworld map. Click the photo for a larger view.

Double Dragon Topps Original Card Art / Camera-Ready Overlay

I cannot seem to locate my matching card for this last piece, unfortunately, but I have confirmed that it is a released Topps card from the series Double Dragon. The most affordable of the three scratch-off prototypes, this one caught my eye because of the bright 80′s colors in the background. Nothing says badass like throwing crates from a pink construction site! The card’s image comes from the first screen of the second level in Double Dragon.

 Archive Listing of Topps Vault Auctioned Nintendo Card Art
Direct from Topps’ legendary vault, this is the actual color art used in the creative process of this 1989 Topps release. One is the original color art, the other is the overlay containing the camera-ready B&W line art. In order to create the reverse side cartoon image, the overlay is placed over this mini art board. Each piece measures (2 1/2″ X 3 1/2″). This art and overlay sheet come encased in hard plastic holders to maintain its delicate and original state.


Double Dragon
D.D. Screen 5
D.D. Screen 6

The Legend of Zelda
Legend of Zelda Logo
Link Raising Triforce
Zelda Screen 6
Skeleton Warrior

Metroid
Metroid Screen 4
Metroid Screen 5
Metroid Screen 6
Metroid

Punch-Out!!
Punch-Out!! Little Mac
Punch-Out!! Super Macho Man
Various: Punch-Out!!

Super Mario Bros.
Mario I Screen 2
Mario Driving
Mario Logo
Mario Madness
Hammer Bros., Toad, Mushrooms
 Mario Pulling Up Mushroom
Koopa Shell Bowling

Super Mario Bros. 2
Birdo
Super Mario Bros. 2 Squatting Mario
Super Mario 2 Cloud Ninji
Mario II Screen 1
Mario II Screen 4
Mario II Screen 6
Mario II Screen 6 Birdo

Various
 Various: I’m Batty Over Video Games
Various: Cactus, Bomb, Fairy