Featured Image Credit: Nintendo
We don't need to remind you that the second-hand video game market is booming, with more and more stories of rare finds of mint-condition consoles and games being found gathering dust in someone's attic, giving hope to collectors and noobs alike. While we can't guarantee you'll find an unopened copy of Super Mario 64 at a charity shop, you need to keep your wits about you when it comes to what some of these gaming collectables are worth.
Leading the pack is a certain portly plumber, with Mario games continuing to fetch record-breaking sums at auction. Back in 2021, a Graded Wata 9.8 A+ copy of Super Mario Bros. broke records when it went under the hammer at $2 million. Now, Nintendo's mascot is back to take us down the warp pipe of record-breaking video game auctions.
Even though we've covered how Mario games soared in price thanks to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, few could've expected a rare copy of his OG adventure to fetch $3 million at auction.
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Dubbed the "absolute pinnacle of video game collecting" by Heritage Auctions, this Graded PSA 9.6 A++ copy is part of the game's second production run and was also described as "the most significant video game ever offered at auction."
The listing explains how gloss stickers were adopted in 1986 after the matte sticker format was phased out from launch copies that released on the test market in October 1985. As there are no known sealed first-production copies in existence, that's why this latest sale commands such a massive price tag.
Heritage notes that there are only three sealed second-production copies still out there in the world, with this being the highest of the three. Due to exposed cardboard surfaces and black covers, sticker-sealed copies of Super Mario Bros. have become increasingly hard to find over the past 40 years.
Also adding to the $3 million price, this variant has never appeared at public auction before. A 2019 sale of a Wata 9.4 A++ second-production copy is remembered as a milestone for being the first six-figure video game sale, but since then, records continue to be broken.
For those still underestimating how important this sale is, Heritage compares this copy of Super Mario Bros. to Action Comics #1, the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card, and the infamous Pikachu Illustrator card that was owned by Logan Paul.
Unless you're Elon Musk and can celebrate being a newly minted trillionaire, a $3 million edition of Super Mario Bros. is a bit out of your price range. For whoever paid that insane amount, Heritage suggests it'll be worth it as the site concluded: This lot is not merely a spectacular sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. but also the finest known example from the earliest sealed production confirmed to exist. In many ways, it represents the closest a collector can come to owning the very moment Super Mario Bros. transformed console video games from a struggling novelty into a permanent part of cultural history."
While we suspect the new owner will keep it in its sealed condition, just imagine the horror of opening this one up after 40 years and finding there's nothing inside. For $3 million, we'd at least want to check we're getting what we've paid for.
