A mysterious listing that recently appeared on eBay has captured the attention of the Pokémon preservation community. The listing, currently priced at approximately $9,104 USD, claims to be related to PokéPark Fishing Tournament DS, a title originally released exclusively for Japanese Pokémon Centers and the short-lived 2005 theme park, Pokémon The Park.
The original software is considered lost media because it was designed to delete itself from a user's Nintendo DS once the console was powered down. Because the game was delivered via a temporary download, no standard retail cartridges exist.
Is the Cartridge Authentic?
The preservation community is currently debating whether the item for sale actually contains the fishing game. According to the listing, the cartridge displays a Japanese-language screen upon startup that suggests it is a "high-score ranking communication program."
Professor Rex, a noted member of the Pokémon community, suggests the hardware might be a "sub-card" used to facilitate wireless leaderboard transmission at official events, rather than the playable fishing software itself. There is concern that the actual game data may have been stored on separate Game Boy Advance hardware or deleted as intended by the software's design.
Impact on Preservation
The high price point and the risk that the cartridge is a technical tool rather than a playable game have led to calls for a collective effort. Some fans are discussing organizing a group-buy to secure the item for the purpose of professional preservation, ensuring that if any data remains, it can be documented rather than lost to a private collection.
As of late July 2026, the auction remains active, with no confirmation from the seller regarding the specific software contents of the cartridge.