Sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. sells for $100,150 (insane game auction price thread)

[jperryss]

It is true many items sell for more on Heritage. Comic collectors sometimes refer to it as the Heritage tax.

So just like Bring A Trailer, except for video games.

[Gameguy]

So it's not actually a scam? I assumed that auction site wasn't legit or the buyers and sellers were planning something like manipulating the markets.

[jperryss]

So it's not actually a scam? I assumed that auction site wasn't legit or the buyers and sellers were planning something like manipulating the markets.

That very well could be happening too.

[AdamAnt316]

Heritage strikes again...with a vengeance!

Sealed Super Mario Bros. cartridge sells for a record-breaking $660,000 at auction

Idiots with too much money? Some sort of money-laundering scheme? You decide!

[gbpxl]

Video games are getting up there with coin prices now. It'll only be a few more years til we see 7 figure prices. I have to imagine a gold Nintendo World Championship would be more valuable than a sealed 1st print Mario?

[calthaer]

Video games are finally taking their place in the world as fine art. Those of us who grew up with the early days of the medium are what...in our 40s, 50s now? There are people out there who Have Money and this is their favorite piece of art. Nintendo probably affected more than Van Gogh or some other artist, so why not?

[jperryss]

Video games are finally taking their place in the world as fine art.

AKA money laundering?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/busin...ate/index.html

[kupomogli]

Heritage strikes again...with a vengeance!

Sealed Super Mario Bros. cartridge sells for a record-breaking $660,000 at auction

Idiots with too much money? Some sort of money-laundering scheme? You decide!

Gives me a good idea atleast, it's too late to keep games like Super Mario Bros or Super Mario Bros 3 sealed, so every single game I currently have sealed now, games like Pokemon White 2, Metroid Prime Trilogy Steelbook Edition, Fire Emblem for Gamecube and Wii, etc, maybe in 20 years these few games will make me a millionaire.

Jk, I know that it won't work like that, meaning that every sealed Nintendo game ever would reach those insane costs and it's doubtful. Just wishful thinking. Granted who knows if I'll be dead or senile by then.

[gbpxl]

I never understood the fetishization of toys/video games where there is value in just having them in your posession still in the shrinkwrap. I could see doing that with a game like Stadium Events or some other crappy game I dont wanna play. Hard to get into the mind of someone trying to get every NES game sealed.

[gbpxl]

damn speaking of prices going up... black label PS1 copies of Castlevania: SotN are selling for over $250 right now. I saw one go for over $350 because it had the registration card. I think I paid maybe 50 or 60 for it back in 2014 and I remember at the time just cringing at the thought of paying that much for a PS1 game. Now it's 5x the price lol

[calthaer]

I never understood the fetishization of toys/video games where there is value in just having them in your posession still in the shrinkwrap. I could see doing that with a game like Stadium Events or some other crappy game I dont wanna play. Hard to get into the mind of someone trying to get every NES game sealed.

It's a combination of a bunch of different things - different reasons for different people, who think differently about these things.

Some people obviously just want it because everyone else seems to.

Other people might want it as a representation of, or return to, their younger selves. Lots of disappointment in consumerism throughout life - you see something to buy, think it's going to make you happy, then you get it and it doesn't live up to your hopes. Maybe having something sealed represents that state of expectation someone is in before getting it...and with something as popular as this, there's the idea that maybe the dream doesn't disappoint? That what's waiting in that sealed box is something that will live up to expectations? Kind of like a time capsule, I guess.

It's also possibly the closest thing available to the "original". Shigeru Miyamoto's sketches, or whatever - something brand new, as it existed in 1985, is a piece of history. The Mona Lisa is only popular because everyone says it is - and Super Mario Bros. was kind of a revolution, at the time, that is still reverberating today. Who wouldn't want a copy of the first movie shown in a theater, for example? The first wax cylinder upon which a piece of music was released / sold? Especially if you were there at the time and have fond memories of it yourself.

Maybe later generations will come by and have no personal connection to that moment in time and think it's ridiculous, the way we have no idea how old tin soldiers or kewpie dolls could ever be worth it for someone. A lot of it might just be people wanting to return to the wide-eyed innocence of youth - to a simpler time when things were better for them and the world. They might not even be able to think through their emotions; it might just be instinct. I dunno.