An anonymous collector has auctioned a very rare version of The Legend of Zelda for NES on the Heritage Auction portal: the copy for sale of the 80s masterpiece that started the Nintendian saga of Link is a “first edition” and is enclosed in a package in practically perfect condition.
The starting price for this copy of the historic video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System is set at $ 110,000, corresponding to approximately € 92,710 at the current exchange rate. What makes this copy so special? As explained by the managers of Heritage Auction in the sheet that summarizes the qualities and characteristics of the product on sale, it is a very rare 1987 “NES R” edition that the Kyoto house produced in an extremely short period of time.
The authenticity of the title is certified by WATA experts, complete with a 9.0 classification which certifies its exceptional state of conservation. The auction of the “Holy Grail” of The Legend of Zelda games will continue for several weeks, or until the finalization of a private shrewdness with the seller.
According to Heritage Auction, the total number of “NES R” copies of the first chapter of Zelda for NES “can be counted on the fingers of one hand”. Of the copies currently in existence, the one auctioned for no less than $ 110,000 is also the only one to have achieved a WATA 9.0 or similar rating. Excluding the state of conservation and evaluations of this copy, the Heritage Auction team recalls for correctness that “only one other variant precedes the NES R variant of the auctioned copy and is the NES TM one. However, it is widely believed that it exists in the world only one NES TM copy of Zelda still sealed, and it is not clear whether its owner will ever decide to put it on the market or not. “
Only at the end of the auction will we understand if the NES R edition with intact case of The Legend of Zelda will be able to reach and exceed the exorbitant figures of the rare copy of Super Mario.