Articole interesante legate de gaming

[dronology]

A sealed cartridge of The Legend of Zelda sold on Friday for $870,000, making it the highest-priced video game ever sold at auction. The sale broke the previous record, held by the sale of a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. that went for $660,000 in April. Both games were sold by Heritage Auctions, and the price on each includes a 20% buyer’s fee.

The deal dwarfs previous sales of The Legend of Zelda conducted by the auctioning site. Prior to this, another high-end cartridge of the game sold for $50,400 in September of 2020, making this sale roughly 17 times the price of that earlier one.

What accounted for the exorbitant price hike? Well, this one’s factory sealed and rated 9.0 A sealed by Wata (with ten being the highest possible rating). But beyond its condition, much of its value comes down to this: It is the only copy from one of the earliest production runs that the auction site has had the opportunity to offer, and as the listing says, possibly will have to offer for many years.

“It is widely believed that the copy sold Friday is one of just two sealed ‘NES TM’ copies graded by Wata,” a release said. The cartridge is a rare variant edition of The Legend of Zelda that was only produced for a few months in late 1987 before it was replaced by another. “Essentially, this copy is the earliest sealed copy one could realistically hope to obtain,” the auction description said.

That, coupled with the sweeping fan interest and cultural significance of the The Legend of Zelda franchise at large, made for a highly desirable item.

Legend of Zelda cartridge sells for record $870,000 at auction