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In a heartwarming tale of nostalgia and unexpected discovery, plumber Liam Clousdale is about to part ways with a cherished relic from his teenage years: a Nintendo 64 gaming controller he received as a 14th birthday gift in 1998. Little did Liam know that this controller, a token of his youth, would turn out to be a rare special edition, potentially one of fewer than 200 in existence worldwide. Liam’s Nintendo 64 Foxdata Silver Leopard customized controller is generating buzz in the gaming community and is slated to go under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers on October 17, with an estimated value of £1,000.
Reflecting on the past, Liam shared, “I got the pad as a birthday gift from my parents in 1998 when I was 14. At the time, my family lived in Cumbria, and we relied on magazines like the N64 Magazine for gaming news. The Foxdata N64 was unique because it was the only console to feature four ports for controllers. Each of my friends had their own customized pad to avoid confusion during multiplayer games.” Liam continued, “The Foxdata ones were amazing to me at the time as they were official pads with custom paint jobs. I used it a fair amount and loved having the craziest looking pad. Although the N64 has long since been packed away, I’m still an avid gamer.”
The journey to discovering the controller’s true worth began when a friend mentioned that a Foxdata pad had sold for a considerable sum. Liam decided to unearth his old controller from a box in the loft and was astonished by its potential value. He reached out to Hansons, a renowned auction house specializing in toys and video games, and the rest, as they say, is history. David Wilson-Turner, head of Hansons’ Toys and Video Games Auction, explained, “Liam’s controller was released in the late 1990s by Foxdata as part of a range of four different designs. This range has become increasingly sought after in the video game market. Although information is limited, it’s believed that Foxdata produced around 800 of these custom controllers across the four designs, making Liam’s controller a rarity with potentially less than 200 in existence.”