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According to Fusion R Gamer, a PAL copy of the Lakers vs Celtics and the NBA Playoffs was sold on eBay for £7,870.
The game is considered one of the “sacred jewels” of European Mega Drive collectors, which is especially curious as the North American release is extremely common.
NTSC Sega Genesis copies of the Lakers vs Celtics game are regularly seen on eBay, priced between $5 and $20.
The PAL version was almost ready for release, so much so that the British magazine CVG reviewed it with an 88% rating.
However, the game was delayed at the last moment and was never officially released in Europe. Despite this, a small handful of copies left the EA warehouse.
According to a Eurogamer article about the game written in 2017, EA is believed to have had issues obtaining an NBA license for European markets, which was eventually resolved by the release of the game’s sequel, Bulls vs Lakers.
Only 13 copies of the PAL version of the game are known to exist, although the Eurogamer article also cites an internal EA spreadsheet that shows 192 copies were sold.
The game cartridge is actually completely identical in NTSC and PAL versions of the game, and works on Mega Drive / Genesis consoles in both regions.
Therefore, collectors who are looking for a PAL version of the Lakers vs Celtics game should pay attention to the fact that only the packaging is of value.
