Sealed Super Mario Bros. copy sells for $3 million at auction
Heritage Auctions sold a sealed early copy of Nintendo’s NES game, topping a $2 million mark set by another Super Mario Bros. copy in 2021.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
2 min read
A sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. has sold through Heritage Auctions for $3 million, setting a new high mark for a video game collectible. The sale extends a run of high-priced auctions for boxed Nintendo games that The Verge has tracked in recent years.
Heritage Auctions listed the game as a sealed 1985 USA second-production copy for the Nintendo Entertainment System. According to Heritage, the box was sealed with a glossy sticker rather than shrink wrap, a packaging method the auction house said was discontinued soon after.
Heritage Auctions said the copy is the earliest known sealed example of Super Mario Bros. The game also received a 9.6 A++ grade from Professional Sports Authenticator, according to the auction listing.
The $3 million price passed the prior reported record for a video game sale: $2 million for another sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. in 2021, according to The Verge. That earlier sale followed a $1.56 million auction of Super Mario 64 that The Verge described as controversial.
The numbers show how quickly the top end of the market has moved. The Verge reported that Heritage Auctions set an auction record for a video game in July 2020 with a sealed Super Mario Bros. copy that sold for $114,000. Six years later, the latest sale is more than 26 times that figure.
Super Mario Bros. holds a central place in Nintendo history as one of the defining NES games, and sealed early-production copies have become prized items among game collectors. In this case, Heritage pointed to the packaging and condition grade as factors that made the copy stand out.
The auction listing also included an NES console, according to The Verge. Heritage said the console would be included if the winning bidder chose to open the sealed game.
The sale adds another entry to a short list of high-dollar Nintendo auctions. Based on the figures reported by The Verge and Heritage Auctions, Super Mario Bros. has now produced several of the most expensive public video game sales on record.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.