The Most Valuable Retro Video Games Ever Sold
Video games have come a long way since you could clean one by aggressively blowing dust out of the cartridge. Even the term game "cartridge" might have some Generation Z readers puzzled, unless they're some of the gamers or collectors getting tired of apps and getting into "retro" video games from the '80s and '90s, some of which are worth a ton of money today.
While this writer thinks you can't put a price on the 1993 Sega Genesis "Jurassic Park," apparently, you can. One eBay seller in 2024 listed a factory-sealed copy of the video game for $149, or best offer. It's a low price for something priceless, but peanuts in comparison to what collectors may pay for certain factory-sealed games titles that made their debut in a simpler time, one full of pixelated plumbers, elven adventurers, and 8-bit chiptune theme music.
In this article, we'll take a look at some of these collectible video games. Much like the unexpected value of some old Barbie dolls, or the Happy Meal toys from decades ago that are also worth a ton of relative money today, the following video games are the rarest of rare — but also never opened.
What's driving the market?
Multiple factors drive the still-new retro video game market, with nostalgia being chief among them. Millennials who grew up playing classic Nintendo and/or Sega Genesis games in the late 1980s and early '90s might just be feeling the urge to show their kids around the original Hyrule Castle. Gen Z generally has a lust for all things '90s, from reviving fashion trends of the era to re-popularizing retro video games via TikTok and YouTube reaction videos. Even Gen Xers might be feeling nostalgic for the days when they spent them playing video games instead of thinking about Social Security (and what can happen to it once Gen X retires).
The lockdown era of COVID-19 also spurred new interest in old games. During this time, some games gained more than 20 times their value as homebound collectors hunted for rare entertainments still sealed up like brand new. The market also drew plenty of speculators, some from the world of comics and card collectibles, eager to snap up titles in the low thousands to resell them much higher. "It's something they can break into at this point," Valarie McLeckie, of Heritage Auctions, told The New York Times in 2020, adding that speculators "[w]ant to get in on the ground floor of this new collectible."
Whether old video games are simply being remembered through rose-colored glasses, or being demonstrated via Twitch play-throughs, these games are sought after and written about on message boards — truly just like it's the '90s again.
The winning game titles
While the video games collectible market is still in its developmental stage, there have already been some sales so big they might even make even Yoshi's pixelated "Yoshi Island" eyes water. In July of 2021, for example, a 1987 still-sealed early-production copy of "The Legend of Zelda" sold through Heritage Auctions for $870,000. Two days later, a 25-year-old unopened copy of "Super Mario 64" sold for $1.56 million, setting a record. Heritage Auctions also handled the sale and told the Times it received 16 bids at auction for the game, which blew a lot of young minds upon its initial release in 1996, because it was the first Mario game in 3D.
Yet, a sale eclipsing even this mind-bogglingly high Nintendo 64 launch game sale took place not one month later, in August. An anonymous buyer at the collectibles site Rally offered $2 million for a 1985 sealed "Super Mario Bros." (Just think of how much Life Potion that could get you.)
Note that all the above collectibles sold as factory-sealed items, and will likely stay unopened and unplayed. Gathering dust used to mean you had to clean out your games before you could play them; now, though, it means you might have a priceless artifact on your hands.