Donated copy of ‘The Legend of Zelda’ game sells for over US$411,000 through Goodwill

By Tom Yun, CTVNews.ca Writer

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TORONTO, Ontario (CTV Network) — A rare, unopened copy of “The Legend of Zelda” game fetched a whopping US$411,278 through Goodwill’s auction site last Wednesday.

The U.S.-based non-profit said on social media that it’s the most expensive item ever sold on shopgoodwill.com. According to the auction listing, the game had initially been donated to a Goodwill store in Connecticut and received 145 bids.

Goodwill says the proceeds from all of the items sold on its auction site goes to skills training and job placement programs for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment.

Neither Goodwill nor the buyer had responded to CTVNews.ca‘s inquiries before publication time.

“The Legend of Zelda” is a fantasy game that was first released in 1986 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It became a critically-acclaimed hit and spawned one of Nintendo’s best known and beloved video game franchises.

But US$411,287 may have actually been a bargain. Last July, another sealed copy of “The Legend of Zelda” was sold for US$870,000 at an auction. The copy had been an early limited-run print and its condition was graded 9.0 out 10 by a professional grading company.

In April, a sealed copy of “Super Mario Bros.” for the NES was sold for US$660,000 after having been forgotten about in a desk drawer for 35 years.

The record for the most expensive video game sold was also set in July after an unopened copy of “Super Mario 64” for the Nintendo 64 was sold for $1.56 million​.

With files from The Associated Press

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