Oh ok, I wasn't sure what these games were even worth today, as I don't really keep up with the sealed market. 

One of my biggest collecting mistakes was not getting into buying sealed games when they sold for next to nothing, and also OPENING all of the sealed NES games that I did buy in the early 2000s.  I bought a sealed Final Fantasy for next to nothing and opened the fucking thing!  Did the same with a sealed SMB3 and TMNT2.  
 

well that's too bad but at least you had fun, and none of those are prohibitively expensive, even now. You could buy them back if it was important to you.   

I know its hard paying 1000 for something you bought for 30 though

How much of this sentiment do you think has been natural, and how much has been "guided" in nature? Just curious, I'm more of a marketing guy than an economics guy, and know that if a few folks jump on a bandwagon and justify their antics, suddenly said item(s) become more desirable.

Bronty - we really want to hear the neat background story on this game.  Please indulge us.  I was still thinking about it this afternoon while being intimate with my wife.  I cannot move on
 

the early versions thing has been totally natural.   As we've come to understand more, we've also come to understand what is truly special.

The popular thing... half and half?
 

lol!

Okay.

So, look, 99% of the vintage sealed games you ever come across came from a store or a distributor closing out.   Unsold inventory.   And since they are unsold inventory, you don't see the early ones - they were the first copies in, and therefore the first copies out, and therefore the first copies ripped open by little Johnny on Christmas.

People buying games for say $40 in 1985 money and not opening them... that simply did not happen.  They were kid's toys, and expensive ones, and the only reason we have some around now is because of the copies that slipped through the cracks and didn't make it through the sales channels because Crazy Mike's video store had a downturn in 1992 and closed down, or what have you.   

There are extremely rare cases when maybe Johnny got two copies of mega man and so he kept one sealed and didn't return it, or whatever, but those types of stories are truly not even worth talking about.   They are the rarest of exceptions and when they happen, its not one copy, its not 1000 titles like a closed out store is.

Anyway, this copy came from that rarest of birds, an adult collector who started playing in the 1970s as an adult already, stopped playing during the atari era but kept buying through the 80s anyways, and simply stored them.   I've really only seen two significant collections like that where an adult was intentionally buying and setting aside sealed games as they came out.   

It was frankly a completely crazy thing to be doing in the 70s and 80s and is probably more hoarder tendencies than foresight if I had to guess.   

He passed away about 7 years ago, and the collection came to market.  The other collection that fits this description was a similar scenario, adult collector, buying one title at a time on release day, and then passing away.   That collection skewed significantly later though (more snes and ps1 and late nes time frame than the atari and early nes).

He was clearly buying them as they came out, or almost, as almost all the titles in the collection were first release or at least early release versions.

That's wild. Did his stuff go up for auction? How was that collection distributed to the community?

I bought one title (sticker sealed mario arcade) at ebay for 8k or so. Seller was the son of the deceased. Another collector and I struck a deal to buy the rest for about another 50k, which was 'okay' price wise at the time.

Someone just spam bought like every single sealed Nintendo game off Amazon lmao. No way he/she got pics of any of em.

Who knows, maybe it works out. Business coming your way, WATA!

Got.

What was the rest of the collection?  

I'm honestly surprised that so many sealed NES games even still exist to this day, as finding even complete ones is VERY rare in the wild.  

I'm not sure if the second collection Dan is talking about is the same one I bought items from in Tennessee from Jeff's store (Rengozu here on NA), but when you see one of these early pioneer collections, there simply aren't words. For no good reason, these few individuals were doing 20-30 years ago what we are trying to do today if we only had a time machine. I was lucky enough to buy some sealed NES games as well as few boxes of early guides that I am sure are the condition census that exists of each, they are simply breathtaking. Hoarder, pioneer collector, whatever, you be the judge, but stuff like this barely exists and simply shouldn't by definition. Shelf wear on today's new items are worse than this. When you see rarity and condition outliers akin to the Eliasberg and Mile High Pedigrees, records are going to be set.

During the times where we (Wata) were able to display this gem at our booth at shows, people would often point out random titles from Stadium Events, to NWCs, to even Cheetahmen II, Super 3D Noah's Ark and Fix-It-Felix as their go to "rarities", usually swayed by their favorite Youtubers or online info sources. When they asked me, which game was the most valuable in our showcases, this SMB was always my answer. I would then have to explain to them that even though this game had sold 40 million+ copies and is very unassuming, there is more than meets the eye. Then I'd lay out how it kick-started the newcomer "Nintendo" to the console market. And how it saved the gaming industry from the crash video game fad of '83. And how Mario is the most world-wide recognizable character surpassing Mickey Mouse. And how all 3 Universal parks are opening Super Mario Worlds akin to the Harry Potter themed areas (Why do you think they only lended Bowser to the Wreck-it-Ralph movies?) Then explain how this tiny sticker seal was only available in New York and Los Angeles test markets before the NES even launched nationwide, and some nut had the luck or foresight not only to keep it sealed, but find and keep it in near perfect condition. I open sealed cases of games for grading that don't look as good as this more often than you would think. After all this, people not only agree with your insight, they ask if they can take pics of the game through your display case, and are blown away when you hand it to them and ask if they want you to take a pic of them and it with their cell phone, acting as if they have been handed the literal holy grail. For whatever reason, they suddenly get it, and as much as I'd like to take credit, I don't think it's my sales pitch, but the undeniable cultural impact of a pudgy little Italian plumber that makes all the difference.

Awesome!  I think that adds a lot more credence to the value of this thing then.   

 

I guess I must be completely insane if I'm the only person doubting that this game is truly that special, so as to be valued this highly? Yeah, ok I understand how rare this particular variant is, and that its condition is impeccable...

But this isn't really comparable to Action Comics number 1, is it? It's comparable to a theoretical Action Comics 1 that hit the streets a week early, with a sticker on it, and that hasn't been read. Like if a comic collector wants Action Comics 1, they NEED to spend a ton for even the most beat up copy, because Action Comics 1 is just that.

But, we've all got a copy of Super Mario Bros. Even it's beat up, unsealed, played to death, whatever, we've got it or we can get one, a legit one. This is a variant of that, but it's not more than that. I guess the comics comparison maybe just doesn't work? This is just completely different?

I am not trying to piss on any parades here, or start a fight or disrespect anyone involved. But I'm not on the hype train for this one. I don't get it.

Maybe I just haven't learned my role yet, lol!  

The comics comparison doesn't work no. And silver age books where there are lots of copies out there (amazing fantasy 15 etc) work better but even then it doesn't quite work.

however I think they are just trying to underline the importance rather than make a direct analogy

Thx for sharing that Kenneth. Neat story

It’s not just a variant, it’s the original. When you think this is really the OG of modern gaming, that billions of video games have been sold on its back, and only a few of these exist in this condition, if any others, it’s really an incredible gem. 

Video games are also way more popular (and cooler, imo) than comics. This thing is undervalued, if anything. I bet it, or a similar item, is moved for 7 or 8 figures before I die. I honestly didn’t think these games would ever get the respect they truly deserved alongside peers they have way outlasted (comics, baseball cards, etc), but WATA and Heritage might have done it. We’ll see, but it’s a promising start! 

 

WATA & Heritage actually did do something that I thought Impossible.

There's very little misinformation surrounding the sale of this item floating out there. Only a single big-enough YouTuber seems to have glossed over the item and just bashed "VGA" and even his followers are calling him out in the comments that he seemingly ignored details by not realizing or even knowing WATA is a thing.

Even the media outlets relevant to gaming and mass media outlets are pretty accurate in their reporting.

It's a total shocker, and I'm really thinking that the scales have been tipped. We're a legitimate collectors hobby now it seems!

It was stated earlier in the thread, correctly I believe, that a purchase of this magnitude and of an item this unique goes beyond economic rationale and into the realms of emotion and faith.

On that basis, I can certainly understand the motive for buying this game on both a personal level and in the faith that it will appreciate greatly in value. And indeed I fully expect, as we all do, that this will be sold again and again and for a higher price each time.

But, MY emotional response, my personal opinion of the item and the sale is different. It is a fine item, unique and special and rare and perfect. But I feel just as strongly connected to the history of the game, to the NES and all the memories and significance when I hold in my hand the tatty boxed copy I attached in a previous post.

I understand where everyone else is coming from, and why someone might value the item differently to myself, but to me it is no closer to the source of our nostalgia and passion as the first one off the press than it would be as the millionth, or the ten millionth.

But I'm just one guy without 100 grand, so maybe I'm just jealous or something, lol!

Holy f*%*!

Congrats on the sale Bronty/Dan (if I may)... effing radical!

Not sure what the hub bub is all about. If someone wanted to pay 100k, then it's "worth" 100k. DAYUM!

Oops, pardon the second post...
 
Ah shit. Now things get REAL  
 
That made me laugh, haha. I get it, though. Sometimes amazing things like this are hard to shake. 

Thanks for the story Bronty, neat! Pretty amazing stuff. 

I'm a total rookie when it comes to this stuff, but when I saw that this was not shrink wrapped and was so crispy it blew my mind and knew it had to be special. 

Update: I just spoke with one of the sellers and it seems someone is hoarding them in his/her cart, not actually buying them yet. Pretty lame that Amazon allows people to keep stuff on hold in their cart for days at a time. If I'm a seller, I'm pissed. Just let the first person to click "buy" take an item, don't let them sit for days or whatever in someone's cart, inaccessible to other potential buyers.

Probably holding them so they can research values. Pretty lame actually

Is that really how Amazon works? I have stuff sitting in a cart all the time when I'm putting a project together and trying to find the total cost and just dont empty the cart until the next time i do it. 

EDIT - Oh, shit, I messed up. This is one of those instances where the same game is listed multiple times on Amazon, and I only noticed the first listing. So it IS still there. Sorry for the momentary misinformation.

That does mean someone went in and spam bought dozens and dozens of sealed NES games blind, though. I mean at least 10 of the 20 SMB 3s this person snatched up were coming from Japan  .