Which video game from the long history of gaming might be valuable enough to spend $2 million on? (Marharyta /Adobe Stock; Heritage Auctions)
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Key facts at a glance
- The sales value of old video games reaches peak prices at auctions.
- The video game Super Mario Bros. sold for $2 million.
- Other Nintendo games such as Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda also achieved high sales prices.
Dosage forms of data carriers are subject to change over time. While film fans used to boast of private VHS libraries, which today ideally fetch 70,000 euros at auction, films and series now reach viewers primarily as video streams.
The same applies to video games: games used to be delivered on chunky cartridges or CDs that were prone to scratches. Nowadays the majority of games are consumed via download platforms such as Steam or Epic Games.
But are the old classic games that may be waiting to be rediscovered in your moving boxes really useless and worthless? At least some absolute heavyweights from video game history have recently achieved top prices at auctions.
Which old video game is worth more $2 million?
The video game “Super Mario Bros.” was sold for an amount of $2 million New York Times has reported.
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The game was in its original packaging. It was sold via the online platform RallyOn this website, “investors can buy and sell shares in collectibles,” according to the website.
How do Rally auctions work? In other words, Rally buys collectibles like video games or comic books and turns them into small businesses that people can buy shares in. Now, when a person makes an offer to buy the collectible, investors can vote for or against the sale, explains The Verge.
It is not known who the buyer of the $2 million video game is.
On the microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter), Rally celebrates the world record achieved by the $2 million game. (rally)
In April 2020 had Rally bought the game for around 140,000 US dollars (just under 130,000 euros). That same year, a purchase offer for $300,000 was rejected before Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo console changed hands for $2 million.
What other Mario game is worth more than $1.5 million?
Although it didn’t quite break the $2 million mark, another gaming classic from Nintendo achieved a barely less impressive $1.56 million (around 1.31 million euros): »Super Mario 64«.
In this case, the purchase was handled by the auction house Heritage Auctions. Readers of GameStar Tech are no strangers to “Heritage Auctions”. Last year, a video cassette of the classic film “Back to the Future” was auctioned there for 75,000 US dollars (almost 72,000 euros).
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Mario 64 defines several records: With the $1.56 million purchase, a “new world record for video games” was set in July 2021 official press release refer to. This edition of Super Mario 64 is not supposed to be a limited special edition, but rather the regular US version of the game.
But when Super Mario 64 was released for the N64 in 1996, the game set standards – and not just with horrendous prices in auction houses. Because in Super Mario 64, the video game plumber hopped through a 3D environment for the first time, and at the same time that was it best selling game on the N64 console.
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But the financially strong story of the most valuable video games does not end there. Before Super Mario 64 went up for auction at Heritage Auctions, the digital plumber went on sale two more times – alongside another widely popular Nintendo character.
Who, if not Mario, will be auctioned off for (almost) millions?
Also in July 2021, the Nintendo Entertainment System game »The Legend of Zelda«, also at Heritage Auctions, for 870,000 US dollars (approx. 797,000 euros). The condition of the game was, so to speak, brand new – but a real unique selling point of the auctioned game was something else.
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Loud Heritage Auctions This copy of The Legend of Zelda is one of the earliest production series, being produced for just a few months in late 1987 before finally being released in early 1988 [durch eine neue Variante] was replaced.« This feature gives the game additional rarity value.
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One last time Mario under the auction hammer: Even with that Super Mario Bros. 3 Incidentally, the plumber with the iconic red hat achieved multi-digit auction sums for the Nintendo Entertainment System at the auction house Heritage Auctions. Because in 2020 the game went under the proverbial hammer for the equivalent of 143,000 euros (156,000 US dollars).
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What’s special about this copy of Super Mario Bros. 3: The design of the game packaging. Not only is the game sealed, the word “Bros.” in “Super Mario Bros. 3” is formatted left-aligned and covers one of Mario’s gloves.
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According to Heritage Auctions, “collectors have sought a version like this for years.” Again, like “The Legend of Zelda,” this is said to be a particularly early production series of the game.
Speaking of old games: Over 50 years after release: We tested Pong and it was really high time