Time to dust off your old consoles and blow in that N64 cartridge one last time, because '90s games are selling for some serious gold coins.
Vintage toys and games commonly go for tens of thousands at auction, according to a new report by The Toy Zone. While that's a lot of money for an old hunk of plastic, it's not quite the $156,000 a copy of Mario Bros. 3 sold for in 2020, or the record-breaking $2 million sale of Super Mario game in 2021(those pandemic years were really something, eh?)
Still, the latest data shows resellers are making some serious cash in 2024. The most valuable, recently resold video game is Mario Kart for Nintendo 64, the original 1997 version, which went for $21,812. Kid Dracula (1993) for Gameboy comes in at second most-valuable, with a recent sale price of $20,400. In third, The Flinstones: Treasure of Madrock (1994) for Super Nintendo sold for $19,999.
That's over $60,000 for just those three games combined. "Good copies of these games are becoming rarer as cartridges quit, disks rot and a new wave of collectors born from lockdown boredom snap them up," report says.
(Credit: The Toy Zone)Old gaming consoles are also serious money-makers. The original, 1996 Nintendo 64 takes the top spot, with a resale value of $5,651. "Rumor has it the air inside this box smells like 1996," one eBay seller wrote of a sealed Nintendo 64 console on sale in 2022, the Daily Star reports.
The next two most valuable consoles are the 1994 Super Nintendo ($5,280) and 1998 Nintendo 64 Gold System ($5,250).
(Credit: The Toy Zone)But if you really want to make some money on vintage games, Pokemon cards are by far the most bang for your buck. A Pikachu Illustrator card, one of 39 in existence, sold for $22 million in 2022, making it the most valuable on the market. Coming in at second most valuable, a 1999 Charzard sold for $420,000. That's enough to buy a condo with in most cities. A Blastoise card ranks third most valuable, selling for $350,000 for the 1998 edition.
(Credit: The Toy Zone)