Take to the skies, draw out your wallet, and experience a lofty price for an iconic video game.
An unopened copy of The Legend of Zelda from 1987 sold at auction on Friday for $870,000, according to Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.
The winning bid included a 20% buyer’s premium, according to the auction listing.
The Nintendo game was a rare version that was created during a limited production run. It was ultimately replaced by the “Rev-A” variant in 1988, Heritage Auction wrote in the auction listing.
#HERITAGELIVE #WORLDRECORD!! Bidding frenzy drives The Legend of Zelda - Wata 9.0 A Sealed [No Rev-A, Round SOQ, Early Production], NES Nintendo 1987 USA to $870,000 – most ever paid for a video game at auction, at #HeritageAuctions! https://t.co/PRhOICeMlV#LegendofZelda pic.twitter.com/7TSYYmt8Ik
— Heritage Auctions (@HeritageAuction) July 9, 2021
Heritage Auctions added that only one other variation of the game existed before the late 1987 version: the “NES TM” version, the first true production run of the product in 1986.
“The Legend of Zelda marks the beginning of one of the most important sagas in gaming; its historical significance can’t be understated,” Valarie McLeckie, Heritage’s video game specialist, said in a statement. “It is a true collector’s piece.”
Last month, a worker at a Goodwill center in Texas found a rare copy of “Air Raid,” a game published for the Atari 2600 game system in 1982 by Men-A-Vision, according to Fort Worth Magazine. That game was sold at auction on shopgoodwill.com/nct for $10,590.79.
>> Rare ‘Air Raid’ video game earns more than $10K for Goodwill center in Texas
In April, Heritage Auctions sold an unopened copy of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. that was bought in 1986 and had been stashed in a desk drawer, according to The Associated Press. That game fetched $660,000.
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