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Super Mario Bros. is one of the holy grails of video games.
It also happened to be a cash cow for one lucky collector who sold an unopened, original copy of the 1985 classic game at a recent auction.
The sealed cartridge sold for a whopping $660,000 which shattered the record for the auction of a video game. $550,000 went to the seller, while a $110,000 “Buyers’ Premium” went to Heritage Auctions which oversaw the sale.
There were 13 total bids.
“As soon as this copy of Super Mario Bros. arrived at Heritage, we knew the market would find it just as sensational as we did,” Heritage Auctions Video Games Director Valarie McLeckie said in a statement. “Even so, the degree to which this game was embraced outside the market has been nothing short of exceptional, and that aspect of this sale has certainly exceeded our expectations. Though, I suppose we can’t be too shocked; who doesn’t love Mario?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLl9XBg7wSs
“This particular copy was produced in late 1986, and it was one of the earliest copies produced that had plastic shrink wrap, rather than sticker seal. By early 1987, Nintendo was producing a version that had another new variation to their original packaging (an additional “code”). Since the production window for this copy and others like it was so short, finding another copy from this same production run in similar condition would be akin to looking for single drop of water in an ocean. Never say never, but there’s a good chance it can’t be done.”
The previous world record for a copy of Super Mario Bros. was $114,000, which was set in July 2020 by Heritage Auctions.
As for other top sellers at the auction, a copy of Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! was sold for $102,000 and a Mega Man copy went for a cool $144,000.
Hold on to those original copies of your games, kids.
