An incredibly rare copy of Castlevania for the NES just sold for $90,000 to a collector who wanted “the first game my mom ever bought me”.
The purchaser, known video game collector Tom Curtin, shared a post on their Instagram that detailed their quest to obtain their new copy of Castlevania.
“The search is over after 23 years. I resigned to never being able to add this grail after years of searching”. It appears the collector will share ownership of Konami’s seminal adventure game with another collector as Tom Curtin reveals in their statement that “everything just came together for a childhood friend and I this week as we were able to obtain this absolute beauty”.
GamesRadar spotted the sell, following an intense bidding war on auction site eBay. The item description simply reads “Castlevania Original NES 1st Production New Sealed Hang Tab High Grade Grail”.
The sealed copy of Castlevania, which includes the original $27.87 price sticker, apparently originates from an estate sale in Dallas which Digital Eclipse’s Chris Kohler describes on Twitter as “a couple people hit the jackpot… and came away with some unbelieveable games that sold for massive prices”.
Kohler is referring to the NES copy of Castlevania but also to the “wild” prices paid for Kid Icarus, Trojan, and Burger Time, which sold for $81,988.36, $6,988 and $11,377 respectively.
Flipping Belmont
Seller obalsand originally listed their sealed NES copy of Castlevania for $0.99 on the 16th March 2024 with the first bid of $37,000 arriving less than twenty four hours later. Tom Curtis ultimately won the auction his their bid of $90,100 on the 23rd March.
Ultimately the final bids were offered by Tom Curtin and another collector known as Grailmonster. The avid collector who missed out on this NES copy of Castlevania, was gracious in defeat, revealing on their own Instagram post that they knew Tom Curtin and that “he deserved it way more than me”.
Grailmonster offered insight into the value of the currently ungraded game with speculation the title could ultimately ‘flip’ for upwards of $250,000. Commenting on the $90,100 sale, which exceeded their maximum bid by just $100, Grailmonster shared “to my knowledge, this is the most a raw game has ever sold for”, followed by a ‘mind blown’ emoji.
As somebody that’s spent their adult life rebuilding their childhood games collection, it’s heartwarming to see Tom Curtis add this super rare NES copy of Castlevania to their own set of titles.
Castlevania is the first title in Konami’s iconic vampire hunting series. Released in 1986, players took control of vampire slayer Simon Belmont as he explores Dracula’s Castle looking to kill the famous blood-sucker.
Another recent ‘grail’ sale saw youngster Kiro sell their NES copy of the original Legend of Zelda for $288,000 after hoping to earn $20,000 for the rare title.
