9.8 A+ Super Mario Bros. just sold for 2 Million Dollars

[Ricky Winterborn | 80]

https://www.engadget.com/super-mario-bros-rally-sale-164126689.html

Edited August 6, 2021 by Ricky Winterborn

[Hammerfestus | 4,184]

I got a copy I’d be willing to let go for like 10% of that.  And! And and and I’ve already saved you the trouble of opening it.

[a3quit4s | 4,448]

Is this the one that many people own and "invest" in?

Edit spelling

Edited August 6, 2021 by a3quit4s

[BortLicensePlate | 661]

5 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Is this the one that money people own and "invest" in?

Yep

[GPX | 1,435]

Don’t know what more to say. Just I found it funny there was mention of this:

”Even with $2 million on the line, some didn’t want to part with the game just yet, with a quarter of those with a stake in the collectible voting to reject the offer.”

Actually I’m not quite sure which I find more funny - the end price? Or that people are currently rejecting offers of 2 million dollars for a game? 

[Gulag Joe | 591]

The populations of these mint condition sealed games is very limited. Definitely the most limited collectibles in history. Congrats to all the smart people who elected not to play the stupid games they bought!

[GPX | 1,435]

19 minutes ago, Gulag Joe said:

The populations of these mint condition sealed games is very limited. Definitely the most limited collectibles in history. Congrats to all the smart people who elected not to play the stupid games they bought!

Can’t argue with the grade and the Mario NES being of genuine rarity. The debate should be the validity of the sale, particularly where it’s a sale on a private site for a select group. It seems quite sketchy, particularly why they haven’t advertised themselves to the general public?

 

[guitarzombie | 944]

Grift.

[CIB_Wholesale | 418]

is it a matte sticker? cheap at that price

 

 

[NZCollector | 107]

Bruh... 

[Dumars2001 | 164]

I know the influx of new collectors started coming into the hobby around 2018, maybe a little earlier (and forever changed the landscape of this once little niche hobby) and prices started to go up on games across the board, but things have gotten to a stratospheric level in prices just this past year (with no end in sight) and the scary thing is, it isn't stopping anytime soon and we could all be talking about a $5,000,000 dollar video game sale in the near future.

I can't even believe we now have a $2,000,000 dollar game! If you scour Ebay to buy something these days (sealed, nice CIB games, etc), you almost can't unless you are rich, because the prices for this stuff is through the roof now but no matter what the price is, someone is buying it up for an astronomical price.

The older collectors will always remember the "old" prices for the games being sold today at today's prices, but we are NEVER going back to those days and just have to accept the hobby for what it is now. Collecting is now an investment!

Some people (older collectors) have made out like a bandit in today's market and some have not. Like any investment/hobby, you win some and you lose some. Congrats to anyone that bought sealed games in the past or have a premium collection you built up back in the day for any platform, because everything has skyrocketed in price and seems to go up in value with each passing day and with the influx of new collectors coming into the hobby on a daily basis.

Every day, I see different games (usually sealed, nice CIB or rare from all systems, especially NES, SNES, Gameboy, N64, Genesis) selling for thousands of dollars and it is scary to me, because I feel it is "normal" now.

I still can't believe where we are in this hobby and how fast it has exploded. The video game hobby seems like an out of control freight train steaming ahead with no end in sight.

 

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,219]

36 minutes ago, Dumars2001 said:

I know the influx of new collectors started coming into the hobby around 2018, maybe a little earlier (and forever changed the landscape of this once little niche hobby) and prices started to go up on games across the board, but things have gotten to a stratospheric level in prices just this past year (with no end in sight) and the scary thing is, it isn't stopping anytime soon and we could all be talking about a $5,000,000 dollar video game sale in the near future.

I can't even believe we now have a $2,000,000 dollar game! If you scour Ebay to buy something these days (sealed, nice CIB games, etc), you almost can't unless you are rich, because the prices for this stuff is through the roof now but no matter what the price is, someone is buying it up for an astronomical price.

The older collectors will always remember the "old" prices for the games being sold today at today's prices, but we are NEVER going back to those days and just have to accept the hobby for what it is now. Collecting is now an investment!

Some people (older collectors) have made out like a bandit in today's market and some have not. Like any investment/hobby, you win some and you lose some. Congrats to anyone that bought sealed games in the past or have a premium collection you built up back in the day for any platform, because everything has skyrocketed in price and seems to go up in value with each passing day and with the influx of new collectors coming into the hobby on a daily basis.

Every day, I see different games (usually sealed, nice CIB or rare from all systems, especially NES, SNES, Gameboy, N64, Genesis) selling for thousands of dollars and it is scary to me, because I feel it is "normal" now.

I still can't believe where we are in this hobby and how fast it has exploded. The video game hobby seems like an out of control freight train steaming ahead with no end in sight.

 

I don’t see this as an investment. Never have and never will. I love videogames and I love collecting them. If my collection is worth $5 or $5M, it’s all the same to me. I don’t plan on selling them.  I also don’t think that investing in videogames is particularly smart. It’s all based in nostalgia. I’d rather invest in property. You can use property. You can rent it out and create an income rental stream. It just feels really stupid to spend that kind of money on a videogame as an investment. Just my 2 (million) cents. 

[Ricky Winterborn | 80]

38 minutes ago, Dumars2001 said:

I know the influx of new collectors started coming into the hobby around 2018, maybe a little earlier (and forever changed the landscape of this once little niche hobby) and prices started to go up on games across the board, but things have gotten to a stratospheric level in prices just this past year (with no end in sight) and the scary thing is, it isn't stopping anytime soon and we could all be talking about a $5,000,000 dollar video game sale in the near future.

I can't even believe we now have a $2,000,000 dollar game! If you scour Ebay to buy something these days (sealed, nice CIB games, etc), you almost can't unless you are rich, because the prices for this stuff is through the roof now but no matter what the price is, someone is buying it up for an astronomical price.

The older collectors will always remember the "old" prices for the games being sold today at today's prices, but we are NEVER going back to those days and just have to accept the hobby for what it is now. Collecting is now an investment!

Some people (older collectors) have made out like a bandit in today's market and some have not. Like any investment/hobby, you win some and you lose some. Congrats to anyone that bought sealed games in the past or have a premium collection you built up back in the day for any platform, because everything has skyrocketed in price and seems to go up in value with each passing day and with the influx of new collectors coming into the hobby on a daily basis.

Every day, I see different games (usually sealed, nice CIB or rare from all systems, especially NES, SNES, Gameboy, N64, Genesis) selling for thousands of dollars and it is scary to me, because I feel it is "normal" now.

I still can't believe where we are in this hobby and how fast it has exploded. The video game hobby seems like an out of control freight train steaming ahead with no end in sight.

 

I feel such a sense of gratitude towards my collection. It has the potential to convert into something life changing for my family.  I would like to give the much younger version of me a hug for having the wisdom of knowing to protect these games then for their value in the future.

[CIB_Wholesale | 418]

1 minute ago, WalterWhiteJr. said:

I don’t see this as an investment. Never have and never will. I love videogames and I love collecting them. If my collection is worth $5 or $5M, it’s all the same to me. I don’t plan on selling them.  I also don’t think that investing in videogames is particularly smart. It’s all based in nostalgia. I’d rather invest in property. You can use property. You can rent it out and create an income rental stream. It just feels really stupid to spend that kind of money on a videogame as an investment. Just my 2 (million) cents. 

nes 1985-1987 is so much rarer than snes anything. . those boxes are really damaged by now they dont get to be rebuilt like houses

but otherwise agree.

[inasuma | 1,228]

1 hour ago, Dumars2001 said:

Collecting is now an investment!

Or it is being manipulated to stuff the pockets of the people with the most money and the most to gain. Consumers should be very cautious playing in the market. These prices are nowhere near stable enough to be considered an investment of any kind, except for simple short term profit.

[DefaultGen | 5,811]

6 hours ago, GPX said:

Actually I’m not quite sure which I find more funny - the end price? Or that people are currently rejecting offers of 2 million dollars for a game? 

I would vote no! This price isn’t as impressive as 1.5m for SM64 (as nonsensical as that price is). A mint sealed hangtab SMB is basically the best thing you can hope to buy in this market full of people frothing over NES, black box, sealed, and Mario since the sticker one isn’t realistically available.

Obviously shrink wrap on a video game isn’t ‘worth’ a $2m premium and nothing is this market is natural or sustainable, but if I actually had a stake in this I’d bank on it still going up like the level 3 guy in this prescient Tik Tok. Only 12x gainz? To the moon or bust  

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by DefaultGen

[OptOut | 9,223]

3 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

I would vote no! This price isn’t as impressive as 1.5m for SM64 (as nonsensical as that price is). A mint sealed hangtab SMB is basically the best thing you can hope to buy in this market full of people frothing over NES, black box, sealed, and Mario since the sticker one isn’t realistically available.

Obviously shrink wrap on a video game isn’t ‘worth’ a $2m premium and nothing is this market is natural or sustainable, but if I actually had a stake in this I’d bank on it still going up like the level 3 guy in this prescient Tik Tok. Only 12x gainz? To the moon or bust  

 

 

Agreed.

For the people that actually believe all the current values and sales are justified, and are trying desperately to construe these sales as any kind of RATIONAL sustainable market, this sale blows that argument to pieces.

Either the Mario 64 was massively OVERPRICED at 1.5 million, or this sale was UNDERPRICED at 2 million.

Rationally speaking there should NOT be only a 33% price premium on a Mario 1 over a Mario 64. It's not rational in terms of rarity, availability, or cultural significance.

This game SHOULD be worth somewhere like ten times more than the Mario 64 all things considered.

 

If I had to guess, I'm saying it was the Mario 64 that was overpriced, not the other way around.

[Code Monkey | 2,217]

28 minutes ago, OptOut said:

 

Agreed.

For the people that actually believe all the current values and sales are justified, and are trying desperately to construe these sales as any kind of RATIONAL sustainable market, this sale blows that argument to pieces.

Either the Mario 64 was massively OVERPRICED at 1.5 million, or this sale was UNDERPRICED at 2 million.

Rationally speaking there should NOT be only a 33% price premium on a Mario 1 over a Mario 64. It's not rational in terms of rarity, availability, or cultural significance.

This game SHOULD be worth somewhere like ten times more than the Mario 64 all things considered.

 

If I had to guess, I'm saying it was the Mario 64 that was overpriced, not the other way around.

By your logic, Mario Bros. on Atari 2600 should be worth $3,000,000 and it isn't.

People want to buy what they grew up playing and the guys that played Atari growing up just aren't really into the market right now. It's the 30 year old guys coming into it now that grew up playing Super Mario 64 that are throwing money at it.

[OptOut | 9,223]

4 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

By your logic, Mario Bros. on Atari 2600 should be worth $3,000,000 and it isn't.

People want to buy what they grew up playing and the guys that played Atari growing up just aren't really into the market right now. It's the 30 year old guys coming into it now that grew up playing Super Mario 64 that are throwing money at it.

No that's not true, I'm in the same demographic as those 30 year olds and I we are absolutely STEEPED in the cultural relevance of Super Mario Bros. Not only did we play it as children, but we played it again and again as it was released over and over, and had its characters, sounds and graphics reincorporated and reinforced OVER and OVER again in homage after homage, game after game.

No one who grew up playing Mario 64 could escape the impact of Super Mario Bros. No one willing to spend 1.5 million on Mario 64 could or would deny the importance of Super Mario Bros.

Your example of Atari Mario Bros is entirely irrelevant, that game has ZERO cultural significance or artistic legacy in the modern understanding of Super Mario. Mario 1 is recognised by MY kids who are both under the age of 8, and it's not just because I play it. It's referenced CONSTANTLY in modern Mario games, and Nintendo rerelease it on EVERY system.

 

Also, I don't know how many 30 year olds you know, but I don't know many with 2 million dollars to spend on a single video game. I'm betting this was bought by a group of investors, probably.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,122]

13 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

By your logic, Mario Bros. on Atari 2600 should be worth $3,000,000 and it isn't.

Why?  What did Mario Bros on the VCS ever do?  In the video game world, NES SMB is a literal game changer in every concievable way...

[tidaldreams | 654]

7 hours ago, GPX said:

Don’t know what more to say. Just I found it funny there was mention of this:

”Even with $2 million on the line, some didn’t want to part with the game just yet, with a quarter of those with a stake in the collectible voting to reject the offer.”

Actually I’m not quite sure which I find more funny - the end price? Or that people are currently rejecting offers of 2 million dollars for a game? 

They wanted it to go to the moon baby

They didn't want to sell until it hit $420.69 million.

[DefaultGen | 5,811]

18 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

By your logic, Mario Bros. on Atari 2600 should be worth $3,000,000 and it isn't.

People want to buy what they grew up playing and the guys that played Atari growing up just aren't really into the market right now. It's the 30 year old guys coming into it now that grew up playing Super Mario 64 that are throwing money at it.

Wait until you hear how many video games some of the big new investors and dealers have played in their lifetime.

[OptOut | 9,223]

1 minute ago, DefaultGen said:

Wait until you hear how many video games some of the big new investors and dealers have played in their lifetime.

Oooh ooh! Tyler oh! Pick me, please, Tyler I know ohhh oooh ooh pick me!

 

 

Is it ZERO?! It's zero isn't it!

[YOURTURN | 1,258]

2 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

By your logic, Mario Bros. on Atari 2600 should be worth $3,000,000 and it isn't.

@OptOut's logic is more in line with a Joustra Diaclone versus Milton Bradly Transformers debate.

Both companies existed in Europe, with the former being a subsidiary tied to a French company called Ceji. In 1985, the company went bankrupt and sold their to MB. Milton Bradly, however, did not release their products in the same fashion as Hasbro or Takara did in 1985. For example, Jetfire was released as the Autobot Leader in their first wave. Which was due to the fact a non-toy related product was using the name Optimus Prime. With history stating that both brands only doing two waves. And that Battle Convoy debuted in 1984, while Optimus Prime debuted in 1985.

Based on what he is saying, just like both toylines I have brought up both games have their own monetary value. But like the Joustra Diaclone series, Mario Bros. on any port does not have the same level of historical significance that Super Mario Bros. has. And like the MB produced Optimus Primes, Nintendo has done variants of Super Mario Bros., with the cardboard hangtab variant being comparable to a Ceji "red foot" Optimus Prime. Both were done for both a reason and for a set amount of time. Both are worth investing in if sealed, nice looking pieces were to be found.

In the end, both the copy of Mario Bros. you have mentioned and the Diaclone series I have mentioned have the honor of being older. But when it comes to both collectors and investors, both do not have the same level of brand recognition that both Super Mario Bros. and The Transformers hold. Which is why their successors will always demand more money in the end. Especially when rare (CIB or sealed) are involved.

[Aatos | 35]

6 hours ago, Dumars2001 said:

Collecting is now an investment!

My personal view on this: still nope!

First of all, it’s only an investment in the sense that buying dogecoin is an investment. No sensible financial institution would probably call it that or recommend it (since actually it’s just a game of hot potato). It’s just speculative.

Second, collecting miniscule subset of  videogames (aka ”popular sealed first print”) might be that (”investment” aka hot potato). Collecting videogames in itself certainly isn’t. There are still thousands of cheap games and even buying the more expensive ones (what constitutes expensive in itself is relative) doesn’t automatically qualify them being an ”investment” (game of hot potato).

Third, very personal opinion here but I don’t think buying 1/nth share on SMB1 in a acrylic box held somewhere counts as collecting videogames either. (Can you imagine in the future some dude coming to you like ”dude, you gotta see my awesome video game collection, it’s crazy!” then leading you to his filing cabinet and pulling out a dusty binder full of these ”shares” neatly organized inside ).

Edited August 7, 2021 by Aatos