
But the box that would eventually become the first six-figure private video game sale wasn't even considered the jewel of the bunch at the time. But hey, it's amazing because for geeks like us 30 years later, it provides pristine examples we can enjoy." Hidden in plain sightĪfter a bit of bargaining, Bronty and a fellow collector (who asked to go by the name "Kevin" for the sake of anonymity) partnered up to spend $50,000 to $60,000 on a total of 60 to 75 NES games that had been preserved in that single lot. It's obsessive behavior, a compulsion more than anything. In most hobbies, Bronty said, when you see someone preserving new purchases like this before a secondary market has developed, "it's usually somebody who has more of a hoarder mindset than someone who's doing this as a collector out of foresight. They weren't thought of in any way whatsoever as collectibles." They're like $50 each, to do a large collection of that, somebody would be spending thousands of dollars on something they're not going to use, which makes no sense. "A grown man buying video games and putting them on the shelf without playing them, that just didn't happen back then. "It took somebody doing something that made no sense for this copy to survive," Bronty continued. "There was one lot I found through eBay that had 3,000 sealed NES games," for instance. When it comes to sealed games, the "great, great, great majority" come from unsold inventory found in stores that have closed, Bronty said. should probably not even exist in such perfect condition more than three decades after it was first put on store shelves. Finding the “holy grail”īy all rights, a sticker-sealed Super Mario Bros. I spent everything I could, sold all my good comics, went into debt, I went all out."Įven with his all-in approach, Bronty's biggest single sealed-in-box find was still to come. "I knew that these were special items and that my window to buy was now. Not to this extent, but I saw this coming," Bronty said. "I 100 percent just saw this as 'A' material. And he said he knew he was well ahead of where the market would be. I was a little older, 27, I had a bit of a job, so it was a little easier for me to afford."īy 2007, Bronty had amassed a near-complete collection of well over 600 NES games, all still sealed in their shrink wrap. they were largely students maybe in fourth year university or something. The other people I was competing against.

"Stuff that is worth 10, 15, 20 thousand dollars now was $200 to $400 then. "I started fairly early on, and back in 2002, sealed game prices were nothing like today," he continued. "I started thinking, 'Would this be an interesting thing to collect?'" "Having already been a comic collector for many years, I had an interest in collecting in general," Bronty told Ars. But around 2002, at age 27, Bronty was gripped by a desire to once again play the NES games he hadn't thought about for well over a decade.Ī quick trip to eBay got him his nostalgic gaming fix and sparked an interest in a new hobby that fewer people were paying attention to at the time. He just played games like Super Mario Bros.

worth $100,000? We asked a buyerThe seller-who asked to remain anonymous to protect his privacy but goes by the handle Bronty online-told Ars he didn't even have an NES growing up.
#How many super mario bros games are there series
3D Land also takes elements from the series but is mostly inspired from [Super Mario 3D Land. The stages Golden Plains and Mushroom Kingdom U are derived from these games. Wii aside from Mario Kart seem to derive from this series as a base. The general aesthetic of Mario spinoffs after New Super Mario Bros. The default style in the Mario Maker games in based on this series, in particular, New Super Mario Bros. Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World seems to be partially inspired from the success of the New Super Mario Bros. In the New Super Mario Bros. games for the Wii and Wii U, there can be up to four to five players (four on the Wii and Switch versions, two on the 3DS version, and five on the Wii U version).

New power-ups, like the Mega Mushroom, introduce new types of gameplay. New Super Mario Bros. games are a new take on the classic side-scrolling Mario games.
