A Sealed Copy Of Super Mario 64 Just Sold For A Record-Breaking $1.56 Million

Non-paying bidder. Claim process started, strike left against them. Fees refunded. Oh no!

Don't people have anything better to spend money on? I'm curious what they are going to do with it? Gawk at it? If I had millions I'd buy a house, nice vehicles and do other stuff.

@cammers1995 if I had millions I'd never stop moving - cruise, cruise, cruise. My kids would never catch me.

What utter nonsense

I cannot believe a sealed NTSC Mario 64 Is so rare in mint condition. There must be others out there.

Some cheeky bids going in perhaps?

The article nor the listing at the auction site state WHY this is worth $1.5 million. Obviously, it's in great shape and sealed...but what makes this worth that next to a sealed copy of any other game?

I always regret not getting an extra copy of some classic games to sell in the future, but then again I remember that I live in the PAL region.

I find this really sad, it is not fulfilling the reason it was created for, to be played and loved by someone.

Havent they seen Toy Story 2 and how bitter and twisted Stinky Pete is....

This game is kinda worth it 👍

All relative for the person buying it, to them it's like spending $5 on something.

The problem I have is oddly enough not that someone spent over a million dollars on this, since some people who play with this kind of money are going to make frivolous and baffling purchases no matter what, but rather that I can see it driving up the "perceived value" of otherwise unimpressive used copies of the game for some time. The used games market is already kind of... not fun right now, even for systems as recent as the 3DS.

I guess I think that there's a lot to take away here. There's definitely an argument to be made for preserving pristine copies of these games as a piece of history, and their value in that respect speaks for itself. But the average person shouldn't fall prey to the delusions that their copy of Mario 64 has some kind of bankable value.

@ShaneReactions it’s not worth it, it’s just a reflection of the greed that exists in society and peoples need to express themselves through spending money.

@Bunkerneath,

Surely that time has passed, and everybody wanting to enjoy this game has already done so, if not there are plenty of used copy's out there at far more reasonable prices.

Despite the gaming value, I'll never understand the price increase for a game that will be rerelease in future Nintendo consoles. Even a trophy (from harwork and/or winning a sport tournament) has more value because people (the reasonable ones) know they had to put effort to earn it.

@HamatoYoshi,

If it was not worth the money to someone, it would not have sold, and it's all only relative to the personal wealth of the person buying.

Not sure why this is greed, we all buy things based on our individual circumstances, just some have more money than others.

@cammers1995 If they have a spare for million for this chances they are have a nice house and car and money for other things.

Me remembering getting this game off store shelves back during its release

Me remembering ripping it open out of the box, accidentally stepping on the box, and throwing everything but the cartridge away

Me now crying

But for a grading of 9.8, it looks a little worn around the edges with faded coloring. It should be in pretty much perfect condition. Probably just in the picture I suppose.

@HamatoYoshi
I get that, and agree - but still not my point. Regardless of what the bidding purposes were, I wanted to know their intent. Why were they bidding on this specific copy?

I just completed a full set of N64 games all complete in their boxes that were released here in Australia.
All 243 fully complete, all mint.
Took me nearly 10 years but I'm done..
I intend to play them all though and already have played most.

That is still way too much though.
Still, increases my collection value.😁

@ShaneReactions @HamatoYoshi In this case, I believe the buyer's intent was to purchase a reputably graded and pristine boxed copy of the game. It's for the prestige of owning it. Nothing more and nothing less.

Not what I'd do with my money, but this is definitely what motivates some people.

@Moshugan Some of the rarer Gamecube and Wii U games are going for high prices here these days. Glad I held on to my copy of Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, and bought Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness before it went well over £100 in the last year

@ARPK
So it's just being a high grade that made it rare? I know from previous auctions there's reprints that were rare with different packaging, dates of production, or screws types/amounts, etc. But just in good condition and nothing else?

Lol they just talked about this on the local news in Chicago - and they didn't explain why other than it was unopened. This all seems suspect to me....

That amount of money could have saved thousands of lives somewhere in the world through food and medical care etc... Goes to show how f****d up the human race is, hopefully we will become extinct soon enough.

For some people this is probably just pocket money

@ShaneReactions I think the recognition of a grading service often plays a role, kind of like how PSA-graded first edition Charizard cards can go for ludicrous sums.

@cammers1995 I don't know about this one in particular, but a lot of these sky high auctions are from "investment" services that sell shares of the game. They're just creating a huge bubble, and it definitely feels like a barely legal scam.

Wow that's just insane. I'm far from a socialist or anything but that money could have really helped out allot of struggling unemployed people at the moment.

@ARPK
But that specific card has a story, and is exceptionally rare. I just am confused on why someone paid almost twice as much as any other legitimately rare video game just because it has a high grading and nothing else behind it.
That's why I'm wondering what's up here...like, this is some type of hype to build up another copy copy of the game? Some kind of insider scam? I just don't see how someone, regardless of their income, would buy something just based on a high grade with no other marketable value behind it. There has to be enough high grade games out there that aren't $1.5 million, ya know? There's got to be more to this story...

Congrats of your purchase of a game in a box in a box I guess?

It does seem like history and value are being forced onto this one to me. It's not the first ever copy printed, it's a copy. It's not Miyamoto's personal copy, it's a copy. It's a cultural milestone...yes the game is, but not this specific copy. It's not a one off, thousands and thousands were made, this one is just in good condition. Also you can't ever experience or appreciate it's full cultural impact from this, because it's twice sealed and removing either one reduces it to just another copy like any other on eBay. You're essentially paying all that money for the plastic casing that stops you from appreciating it.

I'd never buy sealed copies of games to collect. I'd always be wondering if the cartridge was actually in there. It would eat me up - the not knowing.

I want to see a video games price crash and see these over inflated prices hit the $100s at best. The people who have money like that can afford to lose it. Maybe then a bit of common sense will start to prevail.

@Ogbert
This is what I've been trying to figure out...why is this game worth $1.5 mil? Was it the first copy off the production line? Was it blessed by the Pope? At this price, the person bought it as an investment for resale, such as art, real estate, wine, etc. So...what makes this copy so valuable (other than being sealed and in good shape) that makes it far valuable than any other rare video game?

Well, if you couldn't snag a copy of "Mario 3D All Stars" before Nintendo pulled it from the shelves, might as well go out and buy the next best thing.

This all seems a little suspicious. Surely the best-selling N64 game is going to be one of the least rare items?

Also, you'd think WATA would at least be able to provide a sensible landscape oriented box. Someone just spent $1.5m on something they can only display sideways?

@Yas
You’d be like 🤔

Expect it to be worn by a youtuber challenging a world champion in some sports events.

Scammers working hard. That's it. Soon many Super Mario 64 copies will popup with discounted prices like 10.000US$...

As a retro collector I can say this market is sick and sometimes senseless.

@Yorumi I can see how collectors would like a better copy for display purposes, but then why do they love the fact they come in those stupid plastic boxes.
Like they needed to put the cardboard container in the plastic container.

@Yas “Schrödinger's Video Game Collection”

With that kind of money, I could buy and protect a huge forest, rescue tons of animals and shelter them, live for years upon years...

Or buy a sealed copy of Mario 64 to put on display and never play -_-

I wonder how much an actually rare game would sell for?

Just think about how much good that money could have done. Especially with all the people unemployed due to the pandemic. Shameful and I honestly wish NLife would stop covering this crap.

So this is how money laundering works?

I have had a strange relationship with this game. I never played it when I was a kid, so it wasn't until I was closer to adulthood that I was able to appreciate it. Because of that, I don't have any true nostalgia for the game, just a lot of love for the game itself. The mint condition of this copy is pretty incredible, so congrats to whoever bought it for that obscenely high price.

❗I had the money💷 so bought it.

#DealWithIt

All that money and it wasn’t even a Grade 10. 🤪

@Nin10dood 1️⃣Make sure you play 'Xena: Warrior Princess-Talisman Of Fate', a personal favourite of mine.

2️⃣In what order are you going to play them?
Alphabetical? Release date? Review score?

@Yas Schroedinger's cart haha

I’ll never understand this market. For that kind of money, I’d want Super Mario 64 source code running on a development kit. Not a boxed copy of the most common N64 game I can play a dozen other ways.

I reckon I see some damage to the corner of the box there. What a scam!

what in the? what madness is this smdh 😑😑😑

@Spiders exactly, unless the whole cart is encrusted with diamonds LOL

Is it because they can’t find a copy of 3D Mario all stars! Seems a bit excessive. . . . Xxx

That's insane!

If only I could find a way to stop my teenage self from excitedly opening their copy way back in 1997...

Jeez, maybe I need to pull a Konata Izumi from Lucky Star and buy three copies of a game or collectible now: one to play, one to keep, one to sell.

........ but it's just a regular Mario 64. It's not even special or rare. This artificial inflation has just reached absurd levels. I'm glad I got out of the retro gaming scene and moved onto emulation. Theres no way I'm ever buying a retro game again , especially from some seller who'll overcharge for something that should only be worth 20 dollars

More money than sense is all I can say.

@Dingelhopper its not artificial if someone is willing to pay for it and and the item is scarce enough...
If you found an desirable item, you will sell it to the best price possible.

This is a joke.

This smells like money laundering...

My question for the editors of this (otherwise amazing) site is: Is this really news? Isn't the media partially responsible of the increment of scalping culture, with its "constant" coverage of events like this one?

@Dingelhopper I kind of do the same, and whenever I find good deals I still like adding small things to my small (and not valuable at all) collection

@cammers1995 you think this is their first million? They probably already have 5 houses. Also, the art/collectable world is notorious on moving money in creative ways.

@SolBlazer Oh the irony.

These are bought by investors, not gamers or collectors. They don't care what's inside the case at all.

This is somewhat more ridiculous than the Zelda that sold last week. You can't tell me that SM64 is historically important, and a sealed copy as rare, as the Legend of Zelda.

Should've got 3D Allstars. 3 games, including Mario 64, for way, way cheaper than $1.5 million.

Oh well, eat the rich.

@SolBlazer As a person who was truly hoping Covid would mutate into something apocalyptic, I fully support the extinction of humans.

@Lordplops I lol hard😂😂😂

@Alpha008

For real.

Like what if a fully sealed copy of Kizuna Encounter on Neo Geo AES turned up.

Considering there are fewer than 20 copies of that game in existence, it should easily go for rare Ferrari prices, since a 250GTO is more common than the PAL version of Kizuna Encounter.

@Deppasois
Alphabetical.
I've already played a bit of Xena when I test them as I buy them.
I really enjoyed the little I played of it.
Surprised me how good it was.

@jancotianno that last part is so true.

Here in my area people sell Gamecube games in some of the worst possible conditions (boxes missing the manual, sometimes it's only the disc and they're severely scratched) and ask ridiculous prices for them.

Are they really expecting me to pay 300 Mexican pesos (around 15 US dollars) for a copy of Sonic Gems Collection that is missing the manual, it's in a Blockbuster rental box and has a box cover that says it's Sonic Mega Collection and a Naruto game that's not even there?

I will continue to get GC games, but I've given up on finding them in good conditions in my city. I recently bought a Super Smash Bros. Melee that I had to buy through Facebook Marketplace because copies here are a joke for their asking prices.

Oh come on! Seriously?!

I will leave this here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8O4z7zWDg4
Your welcome.

I think that's all fake, calmly call me a conspiracy thinker. But a Mario 64 is listed on eBay as sealed and graded for $ 16,000 but nobody buys it. And the last one sold went for about $ 6,700. For me it proves enough that 1.56 million are fake. Something similar can also be compared with the other insane high games if you look at eBay. All fake, probably the one who does the geading himself offers so high that more people send in their games for grading.

@Mhayes111387 Excellent!

@cammers1995 While I would buy a nicer home if I were wealthy, I would be more interested in what I put in said home than its size or land value.

I would never spend 1.5 million on a sealed video game to display on a shelf, but I would absolutely put a lot of time and money into my game room. Assuming I won the lottery or had a dead rich great uncle, I would be decking the place out with the intent of spending the rest of my life there. So my game room would be excessively done to be at least partially future proofed.

@Moshugan me too 😔

Games are meant to be played. Sorry but I don't respect collectors that spend millions on sealed games to rot on their shelves.

Has it ever occurred to anyone but a few, since that 100K Super Mario Bros. sale, that these "record-breaking sales" could maybe be publicity stunts?
I know even that it was pointed that the SMB sale was traded between some people with interests in that particular auction site.

@Skeletor1979 Indeed. These games are undoubtedly being "sold" between some Heritage Auction insiders to create marketing hype.
I don't know, man, Nintendo PlayStation sells for $360k, yet a video game with 15 million copies in existence ("BUT ONLY A FEW ARE STILL SEALED!") sells over $1.5m. Seriously?

Well good. Clearly some people have too much money, and desperately need help getting rid of it.

@Skeletor1979 No, no. You have a point. This sounds like either the seller is bidding with another friend to jack up the price or a money laundering scheme. Maybe both. If the NES 1990 Championship goes for less, then it's even more likely.

@KingMike Agreed. I'm just glad the the buyer of that Nintendo Play Station is willing to give it to a museum than hogging it to himself with no games to play on it.

Someone obviously has money to burn! Lol

@judaspete we can help them! 😂😂😂

It sounds like Heritage Auctions has some history of shill bidding to drive up prices. And one of the people who started it has a history of fraud that started at a young age. This has the look of shill bidding and market manipulation, especially when compared to other items one would expect would bring more interest and money. It's hard to believe such a common game, even in sealed condition, would bring this much legitimately. Whatever variant of Super Mario Bros that just sold is likely more rare and likely has a bigger market. This just looks shady all around.

It's probably Kayne West .. he's into old games and he would do something crazy like this lol

Absolutely ridiculous in every sense!

@huyi Good idea. I actually just found a sealed copy of "Pump" by Aerosmith in my collection. Will part with it for a mere half mill. Anyone know this buyer's contact info?

It was probably that annoying Jake Paul guy. He's probably going to turn it into a diamond necklace. SMH I don't understand people.

@sdelfin @KingMike @xxx128 @ShaneReactions @dsparil
It is definitely a scam. Heritage Auction has a history of "shilling", and days later, there's an announcement that Wata has been purchased by Collectors Universe?? HMMMMM...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6EQWMcVoAIncLF?format=jpg&name=large

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210714005598/en/Collectors-Universe-Expands-Into-Video-Game-Authentication-Grading-with-Acquisition-of-Wata-Games