No videogame is worth $89,999.01 let alone $249,999.01, but setting aside exorbitant prices, we should consider how ClayFighter: Sculptor’s Cut was as a game.

The ClayFighter series toyed with a central gimmick: it was a fighting game with characters that were rendered in actual clay. While the premise sounds exciting, the execution can be seen in the screengrab above with potentially interesting model characters clashing with a digital background. A WIRED new snippet from 1994 seems to capture the purpose: “For sure, Clay Fighter is gobs and gobs of good clean fun. Parents will approve, and may even slap a few clay heads themselves.” 

By the third installment, however, ClayFighter had worn out its welcome. Most reviews were poor. “You’ll probably have a good laugh,” Jeff Gerstman wrote for Gamespot, “but not in the way the developers originally intended.” A similar ironic appreciation starts drowning the opening paragraph of Matt Casamassina’s IGN piece: “Clayfighter 63 1/3 will remain a prominent title in the N64 library for years to come… You see, Clayfighter is so terrible it sets the standards for bad. It takes bad to a whole new level, in fact, and then to a level after that.” In the end, ClayFighter was in fact lucky to come out with a cleaner version of the game in their director’s cut. However, as the reviews make clear, the rarity of ClayFighter: Sculptor’s Cut is not enough to warrant large price tags, let alone $249,999.01.