Heritage Video Games Auction Soars Past $8.4 Million

DALLAS, Texas (July 13, 2021) - 'You only get one chance to make a first impression.'

To say Heritage Auctions' embraced that saying would be an understatement, after the first standalone Video Games Auction ever held soared far beyond pre-auction expectations, amassing $8,471,183 in total sales. The event was so popular that it drew more than 2,000 bidders from around the globe and boasted perfect sell-through rates of 100% by value and by lots sold.

An extraordinary copy of Super Mario 64 - Wata 9.8 A++ Sealed, N64 Nintendo 1996 USA sold Sunday for $1,560,000 to lead the sale while becoming the first video game ever sold for more than $1 million. The result smashed the world record for a video game - a mark that was set Friday, when Heritage sold The Legend of Zelda - Wata 9.0 A Sealed [No Rev-A, Round SOQ, Early Production], NES Nintendo 1987 USA for $870,000 in the auction's first session, at the time the most ever paid for a video game at auction.

'To break the world record for the most ever paid for a video game at auction, not once, but twice in our first video games auction exceeded my wildest expectations,' Heritage Auctions Video Games Specialist Valarie McLeckie said. 'After the record-breaking sale of the first game in the Zelda series on Friday, the possibility of surpassing $1 million on a single video game seemed like a goal that would need to wait for another auction. I can't begin to explain how thrilled we are that it happened within the same auction! We are proud to have been a part of this historic milestone, and look forward to being on the forefront of the video game hobby and serving such a dedicated collector community in the years to come.'

Sunday's bombshell result came a year and a day after Heritage Auctions sold Super Mario Bros. - Wata 9.4 A+ Sealed [Hangtab, 3 Code, Mid-Production], NES Nintendo 1985 USA for $114,000, the first time any game sold for $100,000 or more. Just 366 days later, Heritage wrapped up a three-day event in which 15 games sold for at least that much, including the seven-digit result at the top of the sale.

The record-setting copy of Super Mario 64 is the highest-graded copy of the single best-selling video game on the Nintendo 64 - the first 3D adventure of Nintendo's mascot, Mario.

'This is the only known graded copy in a 9.8 A++,' McLeckie said, 'which is effectively the highest feasible grade one could hope to receive from Wata.'

Mario appears in five of the top 10 games sold in the sale, including Super Mario World - Wata 9.4 A+ Sealed [Made in Japan], SNES Nintendo 1991 USA, a standout among trophy-level pieces that sold for $360,000. Sealed copies of the game are in high demand; this copy pulled in 39 bids before the winner was determined.

Other top results for games featuring Mario included:

· $228,000: Super Mario Bros. - Wata 9.0 A Sealed [No Rev-A, 3-Screw, Mid-Production], NES Nintendo 1985 USA

· $156,000:Mario Bros. - Wata 9.0 A+ Sealed [Hangtab, 2 Code, Mid-Production], NES Nintendo 1986 USA

· $144,000: Super Smash Bros. - Wata 9.4 A++ Sealed, N64 Nintendo 1999 USA

· $144,000: Super Mario Bros. - Wata 9.6 A+ Sealed [Oval SOQ R, Later Production], NES Nintendo 1985 USA

Zelda also made a second appearance among the top four lots in the sale, when The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Wata 9.8 A++ Sealed [Standard Release], N64 Nintendo 1998 USA finished at $228,000. The highest-graded copy of the title - considered by some to be the greatest game of its era, if not all time - ever offered at public auction, regardless of version, it is the only copy from the standard release of the title with a grade higher than Wata 9.0 ever offered at Heritage Auctions.

More than two dozen bids poured in for Final Fantasy - Wata 9.8 A++ Sealed [Oval SOQ R], NES Nintendo 1990 USA, which kept climbing until it reached $204,000. The offered copy is the finest copy of the first game in this quintessential JRPG series ever offered by Heritage Auctions.

A copy of Nintendo World Championships 1990 Grey - Wata 8.0 Cart [#0273], NES Nintendo 1990 USA, by far the highest-graded copy of the game ever offered by the world's largest video games auctioneer went for $180,000. This copy of this extraordinary game was traded for a PSA Gem Mint 10 Tom Brady 2000 Contenders Rookie Autograph #144 - a card that sold earlier this year for nearly $556,000. The game was created without the intention of consumer release. Instead, it was meant to be used for one competition - the Nintendo World Championships - in 1990, after which it was assumed that the cartridges would be discarded or recycled.

Other top lots in the auction included, but were not limited to:

· $150,000: Contra - Wata 9.8 A+ Sealed [Rev-A, Round SOQ], NES Konami 1988 USA

· $144,000: Final Fantasy VII - Wata 9.8 A+ Sealed ['Masterpiece' Corrected, Later Production], PS1 Squaresoft 1997 USA

· $144,000: Tomb Raider - Wata 9.4 A Sealed [Pixel ESRB, First Production], PS1 Eidos 1996 USA

· $132,000: Pokémon Red Version - Wata 9.4 A++ Sealed [Sandshrew, First Production], GB Nintendo 1998 USA

· $120,000: Super Mario Bros. 3 - Wata 9.4 B Sealed ['Bros.' Left, First Production], NES Nintendo 1990 USA

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Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.

Heritage also enjoys the highest online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). The Internet's most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 1,400,000 registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of five million past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit.

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