The classic 1986 Nintendo Entertainment System video video game, Castlevania, is one of my all-time favorite games. I have fond memories of playing this game with my friends when I was a kid.
A rare sealed hangtag copy of Castlevania recently sold for $90,100 on eBay after a bidding war that started at $37,000. The package even still had the original sticker price of $27.87 stamped onto it!
The eBay seller described the game as a “high grade grail” in brand new condition from the first production run. The game is believed to have come from an estate sale in Texas. The seller is located in Frisco, Texas.
This copy of Castlevania may well be the most expensive video game ever sold on eBay. After losing the bid, Grailmonster said on Instagram, “Win some, lose some.”
He added: “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. To my knowledge, this is the most a raw game has ever sold for.”
The winner of the auction is a collector named Tom Curtin, and he shared on social media: “The search is over after 23 years. I resigned to never being able to add this grail after years of searching.”
He continued: “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 mom ever bought me.”
He added: “I still remember the phone call we made to buy it. It’s a core memory, as is this past week. Couple more plane rides to go but this beautiful first print hangtag Castlevania is almost home.”
That’s pretty damn wild! It would be so cool to own this, but just owning the original game already open is good enough for me!