They weren't thought of in any way whatsoever as collectibles." They're like $50 each, to do a large collection of that, somebody would be spending thousands of dollars on something they're not going to use, which makes no sense. "A grown man buying video games and putting them on the shelf without playing them, that just didn't happen back then. "It took somebody doing something that made no sense for this copy to survive," Bronty continued. "There was one lot I found through eBay that had 3,000 sealed NES games," for instance.
When it comes to sealed games, the "great, great, great majority" come from unsold inventory found in stores that have closed, Bronty said. should probably not even exist in such perfect condition more than three decades after it was first put on store shelves. Finding the “holy grail”īy all rights, a sticker-sealed Super Mario Bros. I spent everything I could, sold all my good comics, went into debt, I went all out."Įven with his all-in approach, Bronty's biggest single sealed-in-box find was still to come. "I knew that these were special items and that my window to buy was now. Not to this extent, but I saw this coming," Bronty said. "I 100 percent just saw this as 'A' material. And he said he knew he was well ahead of where the market would be. I was a little older, 27, I had a bit of a job, so it was a little easier for me to afford."īy 2007, Bronty had amassed a near-complete collection of well over 600 NES games, all still sealed in their shrink wrap. they were largely students maybe in fourth year university or something. The other people I was competing against. "Stuff that is worth 10, 15, 20 thousand dollars now was $200 to $400 then. "I started fairly early on, and back in 2002, sealed game prices were nothing like today," he continued. "I started thinking, 'Would this be an interesting thing to collect?'" "Having already been a comic collector for many years, I had an interest in collecting in general," Bronty told Ars. But around 2002, at age 27, Bronty was gripped by a desire to once again play the NES games he hadn't thought about for well over a decade.Ī quick trip to eBay got him his nostalgic gaming fix and sparked an interest in a new hobby that fewer people were paying attention to at the time. He just played games like Super Mario Bros. worth $100,000? We asked a buyerThe seller-who asked to remain anonymous to protect his privacy but goes by the handle Bronty online-told Ars he didn't even have an NES growing up.
This may be why the house has opened a follow-up listing on behalf of its new owner with bids starting at $990,000.Further Reading Why is this copy of Super Mario Bros. The head of the gaming- memorabilia division at Heritage Auctions, Valarie McLeckie, indicated that finding another in the same condition as the last one sold may well be impossible. However, its successor in record-breaking game listings might have been worth more as it was a relatively rare SKU in shrink-wrap rather than that sealed with a sticker. That item was also a copy of the same iconic Nintendo title. This lucky individual has now sold the game for no less than US$660,000, beating the last biggest-ticket video games at the auction house by $546,000. The game had apparently been purchased as a 1986 holiday gift, but had been left to sit forgotten in a desk drawer for 35 years ever since, with its former owner claiming that they had "never thought anything about it”. The Heritage Auctions house in Dallas, Texas has reportedly closed a listing for a copy of Super Mario Bros for the NES. News Writer (AUS/NZL based) - Details here
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