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

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gameguy View Post
    You can literally say that about every sealed game that exists today, yet games with a far lower print run are worth far less than this. Multiple sealed copies of Stadium Events have turned up, including a sealed case of copies, when that only had a very small print run and was actually recalled from stores shortly after release. That's worth far less than this, a copy of a highly successful game that was in demand and never recalled.

    You can also literally buy sealed food items from decades ago, same argument about who buys to never use, only these have a shelf life and you'd expect unused ones to have been thrown away if never consumed. Saying SM64 is rare to find, even new, is just not true.
    wrong. some games came out late in a console's life cycle and they just sat. there were a ton of Players Choice F Zeros made, so snagging a copy hasnt been difficult. Another one is Arkanoid: Doh it Again. I have a sealed copy. very late SNES release. I have a sealed Anticipation and a sealed Pictionary for NES. No one bought the damn game. also have sealed a bunch of shitty PS2 sports games I got for 2 dollars. trust me when I say "you cant say that about every game."

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    Quote Originally Posted by gbpxl View Post
    wrong. some games came out late in a console's life cycle and they just sat. there were a ton of Players Choice F Zeros made, so snagging a copy hasnt been difficult. Another one is Arkanoid: Doh it Again. I have a sealed copy. very late SNES release. I have a sealed Anticipation and a sealed Pictionary for NES. No one bought the damn game. also have sealed a bunch of shitty PS2 sports games I got for 2 dollars. trust me when I say "you cant say that about every game."
    If nobody bought any copies then no sellers would still have them for sale, they'd be next to ET in a landfill or otherwise destroyed. Shelf space is valuable and when items don't sell, they're cleared out. They can't sit around forever just waiting for a buyer. Overall it's easier to find games later on that sold well and have a larger print run, it's only easier to find late releases sealed just after a console is discontinued.

    Sealed copies of popular games exist. How it works is a kid asks for a popular game, and is given multiple copies by different family members as gifts. Then they keep a sealed copy. That's how I ended up with multiple sealed Disney VHS tapes. And I still have sealed games I got as a kid and never got around to opening, ones I specifically asked for and wanted to play. Like Super Mario Land for Gameboy, a popular well liked game. I found a used copy afterwards so I didn't bother opening my sealed one. Even for PC I have multiple from when I was a kid, like The Neverhood and Castle Explorer which are still sealed. And as I got older and started actually collecting games I found plenty of sealed games from older systems, like Super C on NES and Pokemon Blue on Gameboy which are both popular games. It's not just late releases or garbage that are still sealed.

    Just checking ebay there are 15 sold sealed copies of Super Mario 64, 2 of those are the original print run non-player's choice. Only one copy sold for over $10000, and it was still less than $20000, and yet another one on another site sold for $1.5 million for some reason which is quite a jump.

    Also on ebay there's currently 5 sealed copies of Super Mario 64 available for purchase, with 3 of them first print copies. That's some rarity with multiple copies available at any time. Of course now the price is $35000+, just in time to list for more elsewhere or get regraded by a different company. Apparently VGA sucks now so get them regraded by WATA to raise their value.

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    not necessarily. "no one bought any copies" translates to the game being sent to some surplus or discount or unclaimed freight store and eventually getting picked up by a video game reseller. there is no end user in that equation is what I was trying to get at. I read an article about the sticker sealed Super Mario Bros. that basically said "this shouldnt exist but somehow it does." I think by 1996 there were enough people with disposable income to where video games sat around unopened. would love to hear the stories about how these games came to exist never being torn open by some kid. the multiple gift thing you mentioned does make sense though

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    Quote Originally Posted by gbpxl View Post
    not necessarily. "no one bought any copies" translates to the game being sent to some surplus or discount or unclaimed freight store and eventually getting picked up by a video game reseller.
    So they were purchased by a human being and were then available for sale, in some fashion, so people eventually bought them. Twenty plus years later sealed copies of these games still exist but aren't as easy to find anymore. Plenty of other games were late releases, like Shantae, and were available sealed new at a cheap price for years, only copies eventually sold out and are now extremely rare to find. Conker's Bad Fur Day was another late release title I saw for sale for years after N64 games were cleared out in retail stores, now it's a sought after game. Most late releases end up being rare games later on and eventually much rarer to find, the NES is full of titles like this.

    If a game doesn't sell well originally, no further copies get printed, making it rarer when existing copies eventually sell to the public. Every game ends up in public hands eventually, once discounted and sold off. Still available for sale privately in some fashion, but much rarer than with common games with large print runs. The exclusions are recalled copies that get destroyed prior to release, yet even then some copies get saved by employees and still exist. Far rarer than anything sold directly to the public.

    Quote Originally Posted by gbpxl View Post
    I read an article about the sticker sealed Super Mario Bros. that basically said "this shouldnt exist but somehow it does."
    You can still say this about any rare item in still new condition, yes they would be "rare" but not to the point of one of a kind. It's general hyperbole. Somewhere I'm sure there's some sealed cases still stored away, possibly from some unsold store stock from a business that closed down at that time period. There was some collector who collected sealed cases of NES games from back then, who had various games like this including sealed cases of Stadium Events. I still wouldn't say it should be worth so much more compared to a used complete copy, but at least this is much more rare than the sealed Super Mario 64 copy.

    Quote Originally Posted by gbpxl View Post
    I think by 1996 there were enough people with disposable income to where video games sat around unopened.
    So something like Super Mario 64 isn't rare then, the opposite of what you said previously. If multiple sealed copies are available at any time, then it's not that rare. There are various videos and laserdiscs in high demand that might show up for sale once every several years, same with some rare toys or puzzles. Basically much rarer items worth far less money. If I could start selling my sealed games for over a million dollars I could easily retire.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gbpxl View Post
    The "unopened" aspect of it is what makes it rare. Like, who buys SM64 in 1996 or 1997 and says, "gonna wait 25 gears to sell this and become a millionaire." very few, if anyone, had that foresight
    I'm gonna laugh if that investor tries to sell the game decades later on and it no longer works.Sure cartridges are more reliable then discs based video games but nothing last forever.Though there's talks this auction was prop up by shill bidding to make it more desirable to buyers.
    Last edited by Tron 2.0; 07-18-2021 at 04:21 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tron 2.0 View Post
    I'm gonna laugh if that investor tries to sell the game decades later on and it no longer works.Sure cartridges are more reliable then discs based video games but nothing last forever.Though there's talks this auction was prop up by shill bidding to make it more desirable to buyers.
    I think people underestimate the lifespan of cartridges, CDs, etc. The only medium that I feel I will outlive is magnetic tape, so VHS and audio cassette tapes

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    If we're talking about a small store with little storage space like GameStop, they probably are quicker to rotate old stock away - that could be via donation or return to corporate or manufacturer. Maybe some stores have gotten better tax breaks for donating something versus tossing it. Bigger stores with large stock rooms in the back occasionally hold secrets, waiting for a time when the manager decides to deal with it. I didn't get the inside story on how old stock shows up on shelves again in every case, but I can make some guesses. I bought a NOS Astrocade from a member here, years ago, which I believe was stock at a mom-and-pop store that didn't sell. One out-of-the-way Target had a new copy of Metal Gear Solid 3 on sale about 10 years after the game release. A Walmart had a bargain bin of 5-7 years old PC games show up one random day in the early 2000s. A Best Buy had a bargain bin of over ten year old PC classics like Tomb Raider 2, 3. My old local Goodwill got all kinds of old stock which had been discounted repeatedly at its original location and remained unsold. These days I've seen a fair amount of early Xbox One / PS4-era stock at many stores, and quite a few Xbox 360 games too.

    Remember the difference between overall rarity, and rarity of a certain condition. Supply and demand doesn't just apply to a title, but also to all the various grades. Lots of things aren't rare but they also weren't kept in good shape, so anything that survives in factory minty shape can be worth a substantial premium if demand is there. You can see this at work in markets as different as cars and baseball cards. The reference books for other hobbies have different prices for different grades and weird things can happen (i.e., the widely-hoarded 1950-D Jefferson Nickel).

    It sure it true that you can expect most media to last a long time, but it's not a guarantee. That's why I wrote earlier about sealed games being just an illusion of preservation. Unless what you're interested in is the "factory scent" that might still be lingering inside (mmmm, volatile organic compounds!), you could do a lot of preservation work for the money rich lazy yobs throw at slabbed games. It's a different kind of thing than a coin or card where a slab is one of the best ways to preserve condition and value while still being able to enjoy the item. But that being said, I've got a fair number of sealed games because I haven't been willing to lose the "value" or deal with the work of preservation, so I shouldn't throw too many stones...

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    Looks like an "alternative asset investment" firm called Rally (though still in conjunction with WATA, of course) is trying to get in on the money-laundering game:

    A sealed copy of 'Super Mario Bros.' has sold for a record-breaking $2 million

    So, in the two-and-a-half years since I started this thread, we've gone from a bit over $100,000 to around $114,000 (a 'mere' 14% jump) in 17 months, then a big jump to $660,000 (478%) nine months later, and now we've gone to $2,000,000 ('only' 203%) a mere four months (and several insane auctions for other games) since then, a total jump of nearly 1,900% (if I'm using my HP 12C correctly) over the past 30 months. I'm no statistician, but that's pretty fucked up right there..........
    Last edited by AdamAnt316; 08-07-2021 at 01:56 PM.

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    Wow, "Mario Mania" used to be in reference to a 1991 Nintendo Player's Guide, or the general phenomenon of the franchise's popularity back in the day. Now it's becoming akin to 1637 Dutch "tulip mania", the infamous asset bubble collapse following rampant speculation in flower bulb futures.

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    I probably will never even gross $2 mil in my lifetime. craziness

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    Surprise, surprise, surprise..........

    YouTuber Accuses Million-Dollar Retro Game Sales Of Being Scams

    Granted, not the same as Wata and Heritage being clamped down on by the FBI or whatnot, but I could see something like that as being not too far off...

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    Hope so. The idea of games, especially common ones, selling for more than new luxury cars, or, nowadays, NICE HOUSES pisses me off.
    Real collectors drive Hondas, Toyotas, Chevys, Fords, etc... not Rolls Royces.

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    This video goes into the details about it.


    What it comes down to a group of rich people inflating the market and making it into investment.
    Last edited by Tron 2.0; 08-26-2021 at 03:21 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tron 2.0 View Post
    This video goes into the details about it.


    What it comes down to a group of rich people inflating the market and making it into investment.
    The funny thing is that a lot of long time collectors could smell the BS from a mile away with these million dollar games. Before this video even came out, I had suspected that maybe it "sold" for 1mil but you don't get any data on whether money exchanged hands. It's like ebay completed listings. Something can sell for a high price and it'll show you that, but there is no telling whether the person got paid.

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    I didnt watch the entire video but I got the gist of it. I hate when non-gamers purchase games solely as an investment (i.e. the dentist in that video who started "collecting" in 2019.) All it does is drive up prices for the people who actually like the games.

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    Now games for non-Nintendo consoles are getting in on the Money Launderin' Action™, and even Sonic's creator is confused............

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    Quote Originally Posted by AdamAnt316 View Post
    Now games for non-Nintendo consoles are getting in on the Money Launderin' Action™, and even Sonic's creator is confused............
    I heard about that even yuji naka is like nani !??

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    from now on, If I see "WATA" I just automatically assume the sold price is BS.

    eBay sold auctions is the most accurate number but even then, you don't know if that amount actually parted hands with someone because eBay just records the amount it was bid UP TO not necessarily whether it was paid

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    Looks like the shit may finally be hitting the fan:

    Skyrocketing Retro Game Price 'Manipulation' Controversy Goes To Court

    Not entirely about the money laundering, either; looks like some of the collectors who paid for their grading services didn't even get their games shipped back to them in timely fashion.
    Last edited by AdamAnt316; 05-18-2022 at 06:25 PM.

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    good!

    i was hoping there was going to be a good grader other than VGC that would do something other than just sealed only games but i was suspicious when i talked to them at PRGE once so i held off.

    glad i did

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