Mint Condition Mario 64 Game Fetches $1.5m at Auction
Feature
Yes, a video game in mint condition has just fetched $1.5 million at an auction, breaking all records for people buying games for their Nintendo 64. The auction explained that the high price was because of the rareness of the game.
There are fewer than five copies to have been preserved in the same condition, making it a truly unique game. Mario has inevitably netted far more than the Legend of Zelda cartridge in another auction which was sold for $870,000 not so long ago.
Nobody knows if the collector will try to actually play Mario 64, but the more likely answer is – not really. These items are just physical memorabilia of bygone times that the individuals can usually be associated with fond memories of their childhood or early adulthood.
Having the excess income to afford such an expensive memory, though, usually comes later in life. When looking for such expensive items, you definitely need to do your research. Just imagine that you are looking for an article on free slots spins with no deposit.
Before you pounce at the first free spins, you will probably want to do a bit of research, and that is precisely what you should do before buying an old item of high collector's value.
Authentic the Mario 64 Game
Of course, the sale was not on a whim, and the auction turned to a collectible game firm Wata to authenticate the product. Wata gave the game a 9.8 A++ rating, which means that the game is as perfect as cartridges can get.
Were the buyer to take it out of the wrapping, he would be able to immediately plug it in and play, provided he has an emulator or an original console. Of course, a high rating by Wata is not all that it takes to fetch a hefty auction tag.
It mostly has to do with supply and demand, like most things in our modern society. So, the sale of Mario 64 is auspicious because it actually means that the owner was prescient enough to keep it sealed until the time is right.
Now, you might object that keeping a copy of Super Mario 64 is a little counter-intuitive because the game was the best-selling title for the Nintendo 64 system, and if you were looking for dividends right away, you would be right. But in the end, it's Mario, not Zelda, who is the most expensive game out there.
However, someone bought the game in 1996, and they knew that the day would come – not tomorrow perhaps, but a decade or two from that lucky first purchase when the goods would cost a lot. Whether the owner expected it to be that much is another matter altogether, of course.
Over-Inflation Looming on the Horizon?
The sale of Mario 64 for such a hefty price tag is definitely exciting. If anything, it signals that if you are smart enough now, it may pay off later, and all it takes are the prescience and patience to play the long game.
Nintendo may have forgotten about its cartridges and moved onto new and exciting game variations. However, for some smart fan games who knew to stock up on good memorabilia, the opportunities are only now beginning to show.
Of course, there is always the fear that the market is a bubble and a single 15-year-old-game fetching up $1.5 million is outrageous, but the fact is that we live at a time when there is at least one person willing to pay that price.