After receiving 130 offers, a version of Castlevania for the NES was purchased for £70,900, and the buyer indicated that a search lasting 23 years had finally concluded.
One of the main reasons why retro games still hold such strong attraction today, as seen at the recent London Gaming Market, is due to the sentimental value of playing something from your childhood in its original format.
Certain enthusiasts are willing to go to great lengths to acquire a piece of their gaming history, even though paying £1.44 million for a copy of Super Mario Bros. is more about investors artificially raising prices than anything else.
Another sale for a rare video game recently occurred on eBay, where someone paid $90,100 (£70,900) for a copy of the platformer Castlevania from 1987 on the NES, stating that it was the first game their mother ever bought for them.
The auction attracted 130 bids, leading to the £70,900 selling price, and the description mentioned that the copy is in brand new condition. An image of the game also includes its original price tag, likely from the late 80s, of $27.87 (£22 – or £61 adjusted for inflation).
The winner later posted their own photo of the game on Instagram, saying:
‘The search is over after 23 years. I resigned to never being able to add this grail after years of searching. But, everything just came together for a childhood friend and I this week as we were able to obtain this absolute beauty.
‘This was the first game my mum ever bought me. I still remember the phone call we made to buy it. It’s a core memory, as is this past week.’
One of the other bidders, who posted an image on Instagram showing their highest bid was $90,000 (£70,900) for the item, said that they thought the game could sell for far more in the future.
‘Congrats to the winner (I know him and he deserved it way more than me). Curious to see the future of this piece. It’s a $250K flip IMO [in my opinion],’ Grailmonster said.
Despite no new release for a considerable time, Castlevania is not an unknown game or franchise. However, apparently fewer copies of the first edition were made than might be expected.
The real reason this auction reached such high levels is the ability to show that this is a first edition, thanks to a *hang tag* – used to hang it from a hook in a shop rather than just being stacked on a shelf.
Nevertheless, paying such a high amount for a well-known game seems especially extreme considering the series has multiple Japanese-only entries that are truly rare and hard to obtain.
