Rare Zelda Game Sells for Record-Breaking $55,000

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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It’s not every day that you would come upon a rare, unopened copy of a Zelda game prototype and when it did, it fetched a pretty penny on eBay. The $55k topped the prior record for a factory sealed game of $41k. Collectors are strange animals. If it’s factory sealed, how do they know what’s in it? :D

Irked by the fact that 1986's Stadium Events, while rare and almost unheard of in its unopened state, though not historically relevant, earned such a high selling price, Curtin set his sights on the big money.
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The prototype cartridge was opened, the unopened copy included in the deal was a regular retail version of the game.
 
I don't understand why old video games sell for this much. Something that no one cares if they come over except geeks, so you can't show it off.
 
Aren't you not legally allowed to play a ROM version on an emulator unless you own the actual cartridge anyhow?
 
Someone has way too much money on their hands. I doubt these antiques are worth that much.
 
DeathPrincess said:
Havent the licences all lapsed or something?
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I really don't know. :eek: I'd guess stuff like Mario or cutie-pie Link are maintained as intellectual property because Nintendo is still using them to make monies, but I'm totally clueless about the legalities regarding ROMs which is why I was asking.

By the way, the smiley face in your sig makes everything you post look happy, regardless of the content. It's a good thing!
 
xIronCrossx said:
I don't understand why old video games sell for this much. Something that no one cares if they come over except geeks, so you can't show it off.
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Someone was willing to pay that much, that's why.

Since it was sold at auction (ebay) it's not like the guy who owned it asked for that price.
 
Wow. I wish I held on to some of the rarer games I actually owned , Baseball card syndrome all over again.
 
SkribbelKat said:
I really don't know. :eek: I'd guess stuff like Mario or cutie-pie Link are maintained as intellectual property because Nintendo is still using them to make monies, but I'm totally clueless about the legalities regarding ROMs which is why I was asking.

By the way, the smiley face in your sig makes everything you post look happy, regardless of the content. It's a good thing!
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I know the patents for the NES hardware has lapsed, so you are allowed to make your own NES if you really want (you can get NES/SNES/Genesis all in ones!). Theres a few complications with this I think but it's because the patents have expired.

The cartridges vary because of the difference between copyright and patents etc, and the various licences!

I decided to make it match the post :D I was rather hmming about this so I made it confused! :D

I am pretty :D:D:D all the time though...I don't really get angry. Unless there's grave injustice, lke cakes but no drink and stuff. :D
 
NES is actually going up in price at the moment. I wonder if it will peak soon and taper off or if prices will hold. My collection continues to become more valuable!
 
DeathPrincess said:
I know the patents for the NES hardware has lapsed, so you are allowed to make your own NES if you really want (you can get NES/SNES/Genesis all in ones!). Theres a few complications with this I think but it's because the patents have expired.

The cartridges vary because of the difference between copyright and patents etc, and the various licences!

I decided to make it match the post :D I was rather hmming about this so I made it confused! :D

I am pretty :D:D:D all the time though...I don't really get angry. Unless there's grave injustice, lke cakes but no drink and stuff. :D
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Gee I didn't know you could make your own Pretendo now! Now all I need are all the parts and ways to make circuit boards and to know how to program games and the console....okies, I'm gonna stick to ROMs. :)

Anyhow, I'm glad you're happy! :D There's way too many grumpy people around here already.

Gooch3008 said:
NES is actually going up in price at the moment. I wonder if it will peak soon and taper off or if prices will hold. My collection continues to become more valuable!
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Oh hey, do you still play with them and such to make sure they all work like they should?
 
xIronCrossx said:
I don't understand why old video games sell for this much. Something that no one cares if they come over except geeks, so you can't show it off.
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Anything that's rare are very valuable to the people who collect them.

I guess the rarity of it itself is what gave these items their value, regardless of whether its a video game, a comic book, a coin or anything that people collects.
 
xIronCrossx said:
I don't understand why old video games sell for this much. Something that no one cares if they come over except geeks, so you can't show it off.
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this statement is as valid as saying "I don't understand why old paintings sell for this much". the material value of it is close to nothing, but some people are willing to pay millions.
 
SkribbelKat said:
Oh hey, do you still play with them and such to make sure they all work like they should?
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yep! all 140+ carts contacts have been cleaned with silver polish and 93% alcohol. they all work great and all save. (some still save with the original battery)
 
xIronCrossx said:
I don't understand why old video games sell for this much. Something that no one cares if they come over except geeks, so you can't show it off.
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People assign different values to different items, it's been like that since the beginning of time. I am surprised that you don't know this!
 
SkribbelKat said:
Aren't you not legally allowed to play a ROM version on an emulator unless you own the actual cartridge anyhow?
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It doesn't matter if you have the game or not.

DeathPrincess said:
Havent the licences all lapsed or something?
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No.

What matters most , I think, is what you are referring to when you say "Rom". If you have the actual rom chip, there's nothing stopping you from putting it on a board and running it on hardware.
The "rom's" that are illegal are copied data files from the actual rom chip, so you can play them in an emulator (which is also a no-no because you are playing it on unauthorized hardware).

http://www.nintendo.com/corp/legal.jsp#domain
 
Gooch3008 said:
yep! all 140+ carts contacts have been cleaned with silver polish and 93% alcohol. they all work great and all save. (some still save with the original battery)
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That's completely awesome! I kinda gave up on my consoles and gave them to my big brother who is a huge collector fanatic!

Monkey34 said:
It doesn't matter if you have the game or not.


No.

What matters most , I think, is what you are referring to when you say "Rom". If you have the actual rom chip, there's nothing stopping you from putting it on a board and running it on hardware.
The "rom's" that are illegal are copied data files from the actual rom chip, so you can play them in an emulator (which is also a no-no because you are playing it on unauthorized hardware).

http://www.nintendo.com/corp/legal.jsp#domain
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Thanks muchly for the insight! In a way, I'm not really surprised that emulation is an illegal thing. I suppose the Nintendo police won't be knocking on doors, but still...meh.
 
Funny thing is afaik, they've not done much about sites that host roms (data files). The same sites I saw years ago are still up. Pretty sure the emulators can't be touched as it's someone else's software.
 
SkribbelKat said:
That's completely awesome! I kinda gave up on my consoles and gave them to my big brother who is a huge collector fanatic!



Thanks muchly for the insight! In a way, I'm not really surprised that emulation is an illegal thing. I suppose the Nintendo police won't be knocking on doors, but still...meh.
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They quite possibly would if they could. ;) Keep in mind that what interested corporations say is legal/illegal, and what actually is, are often two very different things. Distribution of ROM's counts as copyright infringement, but that doesn't make emulation itself illegal. As long as you own the original cartridge, possessing a ROM image counts as a legal backup under fair use.

It's unlikely that emulator developers have run afoul of patent issues related to specific consoles, because patents cover a specific implementation rather than an algorithm, so the specifics of hardware patents would likely not apply to most software implementations in the case of emulation. Still, corporations like to vaguely bring them up for FUD purposes. If they ever had grounds to go after emulator developers, I suspect they already would have long ago (much like Microsoft and the patents they claim Linux infringes upon). After all, we're not just talking about Nintendo here. We're talking about Sony, too. ;)

I'm not sure how playing on "unauthorized" hardware technically interacts with more intrusive laws like the DMCA, but I suspect it doesn't...which should leave game emulation perfectly legal, as long as you own the original cartridge or disc.
 
Then again, as Monkey34 said, publishers do seem pretty laid back about sites that actually host ROM's, when they could hammer them for copyright infringement if they really wanted. Maybe they're hosted in countries with different laws though, and I'm just not paying attention.
 
DeathPrincess said:
Havent the licences all lapsed or something?
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I vaguely remember a US court ruling that got rid of that problem, if the game doesn't exist anymore and the system to play it on is long since dead, then free reign...or something to that effect.

Only other matter that could effect the rom being passed around is license on the name of the product and if they are still producing games related to that title...pretty much anything Nintendo produce like Zelda, Mario, or some other crap you get bored of in a few hours.
 
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