News An Unpacked Legend of Zelda Game Sold for $870,000

[Admin]

An unopened copy of The Legend of Zelda sold for nearly a million dollars.

An Unpacked Legend of Zelda Game Sold for $870,000 : Read more

 

[punkncat]

This was a VERY good game. IDK about $870K good, but yeah...

 

[coolitic]

What a ridiculous waste of money

 

[spentshells]

one of my favorite games from nes

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

These types of transactions, along with NFT's are really cool! Whilst, I don't necessarily want to own something like that (or could afford one), it's possible to see why others might want to spend such vast amounts. You are literally purchasing parts of history.

 

[spongiemaster]

Everyone is entitled to spend what they want on whatever they want, but spending $100's of thousands on an unopened commodity product you can by opened for under $100 on Ebay makes zero sense to me.

 

[USAFRet]

What a ridiculous waste of money

If you have $870,000 to drop on what one might consider an artwork, then $870,000 is a drop in your bucket.

Not much different than $870,000 on artwork to hang on your wall.

 

[spongiemaster]

Not much different than $870,000 on artwork to hang on your wall.

Yes, it is different. In this case, the person is paying about $869,900 for shrink wrap. You can buy a genuine Zelda cartridge for $100 or less with little difficulty. No one is paying $100's of thousands for a mass produced painting to hang on their wall.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, it is different. In this case, the person is paying about $869,900 for shrink wrap. You can buy a genuine Zelda cartridge for $100 or less with little difficulty. No one is paying $100's of thousands for a mass produced painting to hang on their wall.

He's paying for the exclusivity of it being unopened.
"I have the only one on the planet like this!" (or whatever)

And still....given that level of disposable $$...more power to him.

 

[USAFRet]

Similarly:
Someone finds a first year Ford Mustang in a barn, with 35 miles on the odometer.
Auctions for well into 6 figures or more.

"Meh, its just a car"

 

[spongiemaster]

He's paying for the exclusivity of it being unopened.
"I have the only one on the planet like this!" (or whatever)

Nope.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/READ-New-S...83.l44720.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

Here's another one that just sold for "only" $25,000. This game is only 35 years old, there are likely quite a few unopened copies floating around. If this game was over 100 years old like some rare baseball cards, the price would make more sense.

 

[spongiemaster]

Similarly:
Someone finds a first year Ford Mustang in a barn, with 35 miles on the odometer.
Auctions for well into 6 figures or more.

"Meh, its just a car"

Just no. You're still not getting it. If I have 2 comparable first year Mustangs. One with 75,000 miles and the other with 100, the one with 100 miles isn't going to sell for 8,700 times more money. 5 time mores? Sure. 10 time more? Maybe. 8,700 times more? Absolutely, stop being stupid, no.

 

[USAFRet]

It is "worth" what someone else will pay for it.

This person deemed that $870k to be "worth it".
I wouldn't, you wouldn't....but apparently he would.

Just like this person deemed a '69 Boss 429 to be "worth" $605k

These Are The 10 Most Expensive Mustang Auctions Of All Time

Ford Mustangs have a a very loyal Pony Car following with some being quite valuable, especially special edition cars from Shelby or rare Boss models.

www.motor1.com

'69 Shelby GT500, $742k

These Are The 10 Most Expensive Mustang Auctions Of All Time

Ford Mustangs have a a very loyal Pony Car following with some being quite valuable, especially special edition cars from Shelby or rare Boss models.

www.motor1.com

etc, etc, etc....

 

[TerryLaze]

It is "worth" what someone else will pay for it.

This person deemed that $870k to be "worth it".
I wouldn't, you wouldn't....but apparently he would.

The problem is that there is quite a bit of suspicion that herritage members are the ones buying up these games to drum up interest in collectors to make them spend more money on wata graded games.
These stories pop up in media like clockwork every few months.
You need to be that rich and at the same time that stupid to buy such a game at that price.
You can get sealed ones on ebay for around $1000.
There is a wata graded 9.4 one (article is about a 9.0 one) for $5000 buy it now, not even an auction where it could skyrocket.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/363327074442?hash=item5497fb308a:g:1lYAAOSwqvFgPXYd

 

[spongiemaster]

It is "worth" what someone else will pay for it.

This person deemed that $870k to be "worth it".
I wouldn't, you wouldn't....but apparently he would.

Just like this person deemed a '69 Boss 429 to be "worth" $605k

These Are The 10 Most Expensive Mustang Auctions Of All Time

Ford Mustangs have a a very loyal Pony Car following with some being quite valuable, especially special edition cars from Shelby or rare Boss models.

www.motor1.com

'69 Shelby GT500, $742k

These Are The 10 Most Expensive Mustang Auctions Of All Time

Ford Mustangs have a a very loyal Pony Car following with some being quite valuable, especially special edition cars from Shelby or rare Boss models.

www.motor1.com

etc, etc, etc....

Show me where I can buy a '69 Boss 429 in similar condition for $75 (1/8700th of $605k) and I will concede your point. Otherwise. you're correct, and I agree that "worth it" is a personal thing. I never said the game wasn't worth what that person paid for it. It wasn't my money, so it wasn't my determination to make.

 

[mdd1963]

What sort of total tard would EVER pay that much for....

Ah, never mind. :/

 

[adamboy64]

This reminds me of an article I read about someone purchasing like 6 copies (might have been more) of Final Fantasy 1 on NES when it first came out, and leaving them unopened.
It'll turn out to be a good retirement fund.

Hats off to these people to have the foresight to keep their gear in pristine condition.

 

[Chung Leong]

Not much different than $870,000 on artwork to hang on your wall.

People who buy artworks are supporting, directly or indirectly, artists who create them. Spending large sum of money on arbitrarily defined rare items is plain dumb.

 

[adamboy64]

People who buy artworks are supporting, directly or indirectly, artists who create them. Spending large sum of money on arbitrarily defined rare items is plain dumb.

Well in that case, that would apply to any collectible item then (i.e. vintage cars or baseball cards).

I don't see the appeal in the item itself, but I suspect whoever bought this for $870k will be able to sell it for a lot more in the future, and make a very easy profit.
I suspect that's the appeal if you have the capital.

 

[USAFRet]

And now, $1.56 million.

Unopened copy of Nintendo's Super Mario 64 from 1996 sells for $1.56 million

Super Mario 64 was the best-selling game on the Nintendo 64 and the first to feature the Mario character in 3D, the auction house said.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[cryoburner]

An Unpacked Legend of Zelda Game...

I'm pretty sure this means the opposite of what you think it means.

The problem is that there is quite a bit of suspicion that herritage members are the ones buying up these games to drum up interest in collectors to make them spend more money on wata graded games.
These stories pop up in media like clockwork every few months.
You need to be that rich and at the same time that stupid to buy such a game at that price...

Yep, and its a similar thing with these high-value NFTs you hear about. One "collector" buys an NFT from another for a huge sum, then that one does the same from the first, so they are really just working together and shifting money back and forth in an attempt to convince outside collectors that there's an actual market for these things.

Considering this variant was only produced for a few months in late 1987 before it was ultimately replaced by the "Rev-A" variant in early 1988, this statement likely comes as no surprise to collectors.

How many game cartridges can a factory produce in a "few months"? >_>

I don't see the appeal in the item itself, but I suspect whoever bought this for $870k will be able to sell it for a lot more in the future, and make a very easy profit.
I suspect that's the appeal if you have the capital.

That shouldn't be assumed. The value of a collectible has the potential to fall over time. Especially since this is a mass-produced item and it's very possible that other sealed copies exist, possibly in better condition. Maybe even cases full of them. And of course, even if NES games manage to become popular among a generation of collectors who grew up with them, that may not be the case decades down the line, with people who grew up playing games on newer devices. And that's assuming someone even "bought" the game for this price. As previously pointed out, it's very possible that it was auctioned off to someone working with the seller to artificially inflate the actual value a collector might be willing to pay for items like this.

People who buy artworks are supporting, directly or indirectly, artists who create them. Spending large sum of money on arbitrarily defined rare items is plain dumb.

Most of the high value art is priced high because the artist is already dead though. And often the artist never made much money off their works while they were alive. Though collectibles like paintings are at least one-of-a-kind productions, not something that was mass-produced and only holds value due to its box being unopened, or some other arbitrary criteria. The Legend of Zelda is held in high regard due to it being an innovative game for its time, not because the cartridge itself looked nice in its shrink-wrapped box.

 

[adamboy64]

And now, $1.56 million.

Unopened copy of Nintendo's Super Mario 64 from 1996 sells for $1.56 million

Super Mario 64 was the best-selling game on the Nintendo 64 and the first to feature the Mario character in 3D, the auction house said.

www.cbsnews.com

Now that's unreal. I'm struggling to come to terms with that.
As it's a lot newer than Zelda 1, I would think it would be more likely there'd be unsealed copies around.
Still, congrats to the seller, they're a clever one indeed.

 

[TerryLaze]

And of course, even if NES games manage to become popular among a generation of collectors who grew up with them, that may not be the case decades down the line, with people who grew up playing games on newer devices.

This could go either way, kids that grow up today with digital only devices and only know the super mario label from icons on their switch and make stupid amounts of money with crypto could very well start spending a lot more on physical copies of games just for the "novelty" of it, to have the original icon on a physical box.
Retro is already on a very high level due to the kids that grew up with it, NES kids are about 40-50 now so they have money to burn.

But I'm not talking about that high an amount as in these articles.