Update, July 11: Two days after our original report went live, Heritage Auctions' latest slate of game-related auctions concluded with a staggering hi

World record for most expensive video game auction is now $1.56 million [Updated]

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2021-07-12 15:00:06

Update, July 11: Two days after our original report went live, Heritage Auctions' latest slate of game-related auctions concluded with a staggering highlight: a boxed, sealed copy of Super Mario 64 selling for a new world-record auction bid of $1.56 million. This copy of the N64 classic doesn't include any indication about being a special or rare print of the game; rather, it comes with an uncommon Wata Games rating of 9.8 out of 10, making it as pristine a box of the 25-year-old game as you might ever find in the wild.

The world record for most expensive video game sold at auction has now been surpassed by a staggering amount, thanks to a sealed, "9.0"-rated copy of 1987's The Legend of Zelda.

A boxed copy of the game's first printing on the American NES sold on Friday via Heritage Auctions at a staggering $870,000, soundly surpassing the previous gaming-auction high of $660,000. That honor went to a rare, sealed copy of the original Super Mario Bros., also for the American NES, only three months ago.

This week's Zelda auction began with an astonishing opening bid of $110,000, yet that amount was merited by its particular rarity. The copy in question was part of a late-1987 production run dubbed "NES R," which preceded the game's wider initial production run in early 1988 (dubbed "REV-A," as per a marking on its box). The latter was a much wider run that coincided with the console's explosion in American popularity, and it, too, featured a foil-gold cartridge. Thus, don't assume that your shiny Zelda cartridge in an old drawer is somehow worth close to a million dollars—especially since this auction happens to come in a sealed, original box.

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