The Legend of Zelda made history recently by breaking a pretty significant world record, that being the esteemed title of the highest-selling video game of all time. The copy in question was a rare, unopened NES cartridge of the 1987 The Legend of Zelda game. The game was sold via Heritage Auctions- based in Dallas, Texas- for an astonishing $870,000 (that comes to around £625,000 for my fellow Brits). This beat the record set by an unopened and untouched copy of Super Mario Bros from 1986 for the NES which sold earlier this year for $660,000 (around £475,000) also by Heritage Auctions. However- only a few days after the Zelda series broke Mario’s record- Mario made a stunning comeback by smashing the world record again and reclaiming his title (because of course, you don’t just one up Mario and expect to come out of it victorious).

A sealed copy of the Nintendo 64 Mario game- Super Mario 64– is the title that snatched the crown briefly held by The Legend of Zelda only two days ago. The Super Mario 64 cartridge- originally released in 1996- was sold at Heritage Auctions for a jaw-dropping $ 1.5 million (or £1.1 million). Not only does this break that record that The Legend of Zelda held for the highest-selling video game, it is also the first video game to cross the one million mark in terms of the selling of collectible games. The copy itself was graded as A++ by Wata Games– a professional video game grading service- meaning that it is of the absolute highest quality possible and is in pristine condition, which is what warrants such a high price for the Nintendo 64 game.

It is crazy just how valuable the business of video game collecting, buying, and selling has become, so maybe start rummaging through your drawers and see if you’ve got any old games that could be worth something!