An Unpacked Legend of Zelda Game Sold for $870,000

Zelda
(Image credit: Heritage Auctions)

If you thought $660,000 was expensive for an unsealed copy of the original Super Mario Bros. game, think twice, because an unpacked copy of The Legend of Zelda was recently auctioned for a whopping $870,000 (via The Verge). 

The game in question is from the original run of The Legend of Zelda NES R cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The company released the game cartridge in late 1987 and produced for just a few weeks (until early 1988). Heritage Auctions, which specializes in selling collectible items, describes the copy as "The Legend of Zelda - Wata 9.0 A Sealed [No Rev-A, Round SOQ, Early Production], NES Nintendo 1987."  

Wata 9.0 is a condition rating by collectible grading company WataGames. A 9.0 rating signifies the item is close to pristine condition, but not exactly new. Meanwhile, because The Legend of Zelda NES R cartridges were only produced for weeks and are incredibly rare, they're extremely valuable to collectors. 

Here is how Heritage Auctions describes the game that sold for nearly $1,000,000: 

While it is a hard truth, it is a truth nonetheless — none of the copies we've offered of this title previously could even attempt to hold a candle to this one due to its incredibly rare variant that holds early production status. This matter is completely inarguable. This is the only copy from one of the earliest production runs that we've ever had the opportunity to offer, and, possibly will have the opportunity to offer, for many years to come. Considering this variant was only produced for a few months in late 1987 before it was ultimately replaced by the "Rev-A" variant in early 1988, this statement likely comes as no surprise to collectors. Only one other variant precedes the offered "NES R" variant and that is the "NES TM" variant, which is the true first production run. However, it is also widely believed that only a single sealed "NES TM" example exists, and there is no telling whether or not that copy will ever come to market. Essentially, this copy is the earliest sealed copy one could realistically hope to obtain. 

Nowadays game developers offer special and limited edition releases with exclusive content to give something back to their fans, so there are a bunch of special versions of various game titles on the market and it isn't hard to buy something 'rare.' Keeping that item unpacked and in pristine condition for over three decades is considerably harder, but this is what collectors expect. 

The video game that sold for $870,000 wasn't purchased to play (even assuming that one can get a working NES or a copycat console), but to end up in an extremely valuable private collection. How much will that collection will worth if it ends up on an auction a couple of decades down the road? Well, that is literally a more-than-a-million-dollar question.

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

  • punkncat
    This was a VERY good game. IDK about $870K good, but yeah...
    Reply
  • coolitic
    What a ridiculous waste of money
    Reply
  • spentshells
    one of my favorite games from nes
    Reply
  • Roland Of Gilead
    These types of transactions, along with NFT's are really cool! Whilst, I don't necessarily want to own something like that (or could afford one), it's possible to see why others might want to spend such vast amounts. You are literally purchasing parts of history.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    Everyone is entitled to spend what they want on whatever they want, but spending $100's of thousands on an unopened commodity product you can by opened for under $100 on Ebay makes zero sense to me.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    coolitic said:
    What a ridiculous waste of money
    If you have $870,000 to drop on what one might consider an artwork, then $870,000 is a drop in your bucket.

    Not much different than $870,000 on artwork to hang on your wall.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    USAFRet said:
    Not much different than $870,000 on artwork to hang on your wall.
    Yes, it is different. In this case, the person is paying about $869,900 for shrink wrap. You can buy a genuine Zelda cartridge for $100 or less with little difficulty. No one is paying $100's of thousands for a mass produced painting to hang on their wall.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    spongiemaster said:
    Yes, it is different. In this case, the person is paying about $869,900 for shrink wrap. You can buy a genuine Zelda cartridge for $100 or less with little difficulty. No one is paying $100's of thousands for a mass produced painting to hang on their wall.
    He's paying for the exclusivity of it being unopened.
    "I have the only one on the planet like this!" (or whatever)

    And still....given that level of disposable $$...more power to him.
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    Similarly:
    Someone finds a first year Ford Mustang in a barn, with 35 miles on the odometer.
    Auctions for well into 6 figures or more.

    "Meh, its just a car"
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    USAFRet said:
    He's paying for the exclusivity of it being unopened.
    "I have the only one on the planet like this!" (or whatever)
    Nope.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/READ-New-Sealed-The-Legend-of-Zelda-Silver-Seal-NES-VGA-Graded-85-/174748443948?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l44720.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true
    Here's another one that just sold for "only" $25,000. This game is only 35 years old, there are likely quite a few unopened copies floating around. If this game was over 100 years old like some rare baseball cards, the price would make more sense.
    Reply