Unopened Super Mario 64 game from 1996 sells for $1.56M

Got me to thinking, I have an unopened snes super mario rpg and yoshi's island both still in the original shrink wrap. Paid around $20 in the late 90's when toys r us was blowing them out. Should have gotten multiple copies along with kirby super star iirc they had that as well. I see super mario rpg going on ebay used or open with box for $200-$300, unopened for much more
It will go for a ton. Do a bidding listing and make sure you have all the details correct in the title.

It was super fun watching mine climb up.
 
Sadly VHS tapes just started going through this. About a month ago VHS grading popped off and now every shitty $10 sealed common tape is getting graded and bid to the moon by suckers. The average price of a ungraded sealed tape went up about 10 fold from people selling it as an "investment"
Tape formats even sealed can't really last that long. They would have to have been kept in a special room where temp and humidity are controlled and even then, I wouldn't expect them to be in the best of shape today. These things have been digitized long ago for a reason. I used to work for an ETV station and we were constantly transferring old archived masters to newer formats (u-matic to betacam for example) despite the fact that every time you do that you suffer generational loss. Magnetic tape format is simply horrid for archival purposes. It's way worse then even film.
 
Tape formats even sealed can't really last that long. They would have to have been kept in a special room where temp and humidity are controlled and even then, I wouldn't expect them to be in the best of shape today. These things have been digitized long ago for a reason. I used to work for an ETV station and we were constantly transferring old archived masters to newer formats (u-matic to betacam for example) despite the fact that every time you do that you suffer generational loss. Magnetic tape format is simply horrid for archival purposes. It's way worse then even film.
Sealed collecting isn't about the content inside. It's about the condition and seal of the cellophane.
 
Things to buy in 2022

1. Shrinkwrap machine
2. NES/SNES boxes (blank cardboard is fine; just need a good printer)
3. Bootleg plastic cartridge housings (maybe some bootleg roms/pcbs too)
4. Cart label maker
(Half this won't matter if they don't even open things up)

Flood market - confuse the hell out of it...

Also watching the video about shill bidding and auctions made me think about a certain event in our community recently....

This makes price guides from @eXidy and @GothGirl SUPER important. We need more of these maintained by individuals.

I also often wonder about Pinside's market archive. A really interesting analysis would be to see (1) the increase in game prices over the years (2) where things sell (on Pinside or off) (3) who buys stuff (new collectors vs. old collectors (4) etc etc.
 
Things to buy in 2022

1. Shrinkwrap machine
2. NES/SNES boxes (blank cardboard is fine; just need a good printer)
3. Bootleg plastic cartridge housings (maybe some bootleg roms/pcbs too)
4. Cart label maker
(Half this won't matter if they don't even open things up)

Flood market - confuse the hell out of it...

Also watching the video about shill bidding and auctions made me think about a certain event in our community recently....

This makes price guides from @eXidy and @GothGirl SUPER important. We need more of these maintained by individuals.

I also often wonder about Pinside's market archive. A really interesting analysis would be to see (1) the increase in game prices over the years (2) where things sell (on Pinside or off) (3) who buys stuff (new collectors vs. old collectors (4) etc etc.

Screen Shot 2022-02-18 at 11.03.32 AM.png

Thanks for the shout out, I have been working on a large price guide update for about a year and it is just taking forever thanks to school...life... and the large amount of data I am attempting to row through. My plans are once it is finished to offer it on-line for free and have it offered as a printable copy via Amazon for those who desire a hard copy of it. Hopefully I can finish the damn thing at some point this year…
 
View attachment 562794

Thanks for the shout out, I have been working on a large price guide update for about a year and it is just taking forever thanks to school...life... and the large amount of data I am attempting to row through. My plans are once it is finished to offer it on-line for free and have it offered as a printable copy via Amazon for those who desire a hard copy of it. Hopefully I can finish the damn thing at some point this year…
AWESOME.

What are the chances you have the bandwidth (or interest) to build in a system that folks can self-report game info from personal purchases or sales? For example, I have all the info for my 52 games (when I bought them, where, how much, etc.). I would love to put that somewhere.

I wouldn't expect you to retroactively do this, but rather going forward folks could go to your site and fill out a form and submit to your database? It might even allow for links to the sales thread.

Just an idea...
 
AWESOME.

What are the chances you have the bandwidth (or interest) to build in a system that folks can self-report game info from personal purchases or sales? For example, I have all the info for my 52 games (when I bought them, where, how much, etc.). I would love to put that somewhere.

I wouldn't expect you to retroactively do this, but rather going forward folks could go to your site and fill out a form and submit to your database? It might even allow for links to the sales thread.

Just an idea...
It's a good idea tho.....
 
You know, the buyer could have bought a pristine row of the arcade games for that much, and had money left over to make a primo building for them to reside in.

Just saying....
 
It's a good idea tho.....
Ideally, the following would happen:

1. A game would sell on KLOV (or another public place)
2. Everyone would say congrats. Now please go to site X and enter some very basic info. Over time, this could be the expectation.
3. This site would allow for:
- Game title
- Where the game was geographically
- Where the game is going geographically
- Asking price
- Selling price
- Condition
- Pics
- Notes
- ??
4. The backend would then allow for folks to search by game titles, prices, geography, etc.

Issues:
1. Incentives to do this? It would have to be dead simple.
2. Spam, bad data, etc.
3. Maintenance
4. Mis-use
5. ???

Anyway, most of us have full-time jobs, school, etc. However, this is probably a super simple lift for any of you creative types out there. It would be a good class project for someone taking a web design class.

I like what Pinside's market has. Probably has its own issues.

Anyway, in the meantime, I am glad we have the individuals doing what they are doing...
 
View attachment 562794

Thanks for the shout out, I have been working on a large price guide update for about a year and it is just taking forever thanks to school...life... and the large amount of data I am attempting to row through. My plans are once it is finished to offer it on-line for free and have it offered as a printable copy via Amazon for those who desire a hard copy of it. Hopefully I can finish the damn thing at some point this year…
BTW - do you need more data for this? People to look at early copies? Promotion?
 
You know, the buyer could have bought a pristine row of the arcade games for that much, and had money left over to make a primo building for them to reside in.

Just saying....
Only if they planned to turn it into a weed factory later on
 
Only if they planned to turn it into a weed factory later on
Nah, I said PRIMO, and I meant it.

If I had the cash to do that that I'd be willing to part with:
1. Top tier location with foot traffic
2. Add in an excellent restaurant (aka the former Level 242)
3. Add in a top-tier bar (aka Beercade or Beercade II in Omaha NE)
4. Add in the right mix of games - drivers, air hockey, pool, arcade, and classics
5. Promote the heck out of it. Bring in the base clientele.
6. Reinvest in the community (sponsor baseball, softball, soccer, football teams, charity races, anything to keep the Name ID up)
7. Offer the teams discounted (cost minus) prices for team celebrations
8. Treat my staff and customers well. Every interaction. When things go badly, apologize and make good.
9. Advertise, advertise, advertise.

It's doable, and let's face it, having seen both, the arcade game has better graphics and game play.

Does anyone have a few million to invest in this concept? I think I'd target a large community like Naperville or St Charles for starters, to assure the right traffic.
 
Yup. Now I sort of get a few tapes bringing big dollars. There are always some folks with bitcoin money out there.

That articles closes with "Heritage Auctions has sold more than 541,380 VHS tapes, according to the auction house's past sale archive."

That's the part that is amazing to me. That's a lot of tapes and a lot of buyers. None of my friends have ever told me they have bought a collectible 'investment grade' VHS tape.
 
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