Unopened Super Mario Game Sells for $660k
A long-forgotten copy of Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System holds the record for the world’s most expensive video game after selling for $660,000 at a Texas auction. Heritage Auctions announced the professionally graded video game was sold during their Comics & Comic Art Auction on April 2.
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Long-Lost Christmas Gift Ends Up Pulling World Record Video Game Price
According to Heritage, the video game was originally purchased as a Christmas gift in 1986. However, after ending up in a desk drawer, it was promptly forgotten and left for over three decades. The video game — still in the original retail seal — was only rediscovered this year.
The specimen was given a 9.6 A+ grade by Wata Games, one of two major companies providing authentication and rating services for video game memorabilia. What makes the game unique is that it was sealed by plastic wrap instead of a sticker seal. In addition, the 1986 run was cut short by another run of the video game with different packaging. Experts for the auction house say another Super Mario Bros. game in this condition may not exist in the world.
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“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,” Valarie McLeckie, video games director for Heritage Auctions, said in a press release. “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.”
The owner, who asked Heritage not to identify them, said they “never thought anything about it” until it was found.
Video Game Shatters Records for Most Expensive Memorabilia Sold
At the $660,000 purchase price, the sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. now holds the record for the most expensive single piece of video game memorabilia purchased at auction. The previous high-water mark was set in March 2020, when Polygon reported a Nintendo prototype PlayStation sold for $300,000. Among individual video games, the previous world record for a video game was set in November 2020, when Heritage sold a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 for $156,000.
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