A 'Super Mario Bros. 3' copy became most expensive game sold at US$156,000

It seems one Super Mario fan or collector was so keen to get a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 that they were willing to pay a lot of money for it. A rare copy of the game was bought at an auction for US$156,000 (around CA$203,260). It is now the most expensive sealed copy of a game ever sold, with a starting bid of US$62,500 (CA$81,428) that had 20 bidders trying to get their hands on it. It beat out another Super Mario Bros. copy, which a bidder got in July for US$114,000 (CA$148,525).

This copy of the game is one of the earliest releases as it has a rare box design. The word "Bros." is seen on the left instead of the more commonly known right placement, with it covering a bit of Mario's glove. The copy was also in excellent condition with a Wata 9.2 A+ rating for the box's quality and seal. Heritage Auctions sold a Wata 9.0 A-rated copy of the same game in July for US$38,400 (CA$50,029). 

Source: Engadget

Extremely rare video game console gets sold at auction for US$360,000

You would know these two big names in the gaming industry, but did you know that Sony and Nintendo partnered 28 years ago to develop a gaming console together? Now, Super NES CD-ROM—or Nintendo Play Station as it's been called—has been sold at an auction for a staggering US$360,000 (around CA$490,768). 

This rare piece of gaming history was co-developed by Sony and Nintendo with the idea of bringing CD-based games with longer animations, improved soundtracks, and better sound effects with longer voice samples to the Super Nintendo through a format called Super Disc. The console was supposed to be an add-on peripheral for the SNES and Super Famicom consoles. It was also meant to be a standalone Sony-branded machine called the Play Station that was capable of playing Nintendo cartridges or games via the Super Disc format.

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Neil Armstrong’s space artifacts collection goes up for auction

Associated Press

It seems the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, kept quite a collection with him. And now these are going to be offered for sale in a series of auctions starting November 1^st and 2^nd in his home state of Ohio. He kept things like the US flag, a United Nations flag, several medallions available exclusively to NASA astronauts, and apparently even the original camera the recorded the moonwalk. Bids for these items can be offered online, by phone, or in person. Other memorabilia going up for sale include a centennial flag from Armstrong’s alma mater, Purdue University, which he took on the Apollo 11 and a Boy Scout cap.

According to his son Mark, Armstrong never told them what to do with his collection. He said, “I don’t think he spent much time thinking about it. He did save all the items, so he obviously felt they were worth saving.” Armstrong passed away in 2012 and his sons felt it was time to deal with these artifacts. Mark Armstrong said, “We felt like the number of people that could help us identify them and give us the historical context was diminishing and that the problem of understanding that context would only get worse over time.”

Source: Engadget

Pokémon Card sold at Public Auction for over $54K

 

A mint condition example of the elusive Pokémon "Pikachu Illustrator" trading card sold for a world record $54,970 during a public auction of comics and comic art held by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, November 18, 2016. 

“The Pikachu Illustrator Card was given in January of 1998 to winners of the CoroCoro Comic Illustration Contest,” said Barry Sandoval, Director of Operations for Comics at Heritage Auctions. “Only 20-39 copies of this card were released, 10 of which are graded in top condition and it is unknown how many still remain with the public.”

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