We grew up watching Super Mario jump over danger, but this time, he is jumping straight into auction history. An early, sticker-sealed copy of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. has sold for $3 million at auction. The copy, still in its original box and sealed with its original sticker, was the centerpiece of a Heritage Auctions sale that dethroned the previous 2021 record, when a copy of Super Mario Bros. sold for $2 million, by a whopping million dollars. The 40-year-old collectible was graded PSA 9.6 and was part of an ongoing Heritage Live event that has so far fetched $4.8 million.
Its popularity established Nintendo’s dominance in home console gaming in the 1980s, while also marking Mario’s transition from an anonymous worker in 1981’s Donkey Kong to a global protagonist in 1985. Heritage Auctions shared that this earliest known sealed copy of the game bore a glossy sticker adopted in early 1986. What makes it one of the most important game cartridges in history is its rarity. Only three sealed examples from this second-production run are known to exist, and this one sits at the top of that tiny group with a PSA 9.6 A++ grade. The other known copies trail behind at VGA 80 and Wata 9.4 A++.
“It is only appropriate that the most significant video game in the world should bring the most impressive result in the history of the hobby,” says Evan Masingill, Heritage’s Consignment Director for Video Games. “The remarkable backstory, it was just discovered a few months ago inside a brand-new Control Deck NES console bundle, meaning it has not been touched for nearly 40 years, makes the result even more impressive.” Back in 1986, this exact NES Control Deck console bundle, including the console, two controllers, and the Super Mario Bros. game inside, retailed for just $89.99. A standalone title at the time typically retailed for around $24.99. Imagine the luck of the person who walked into a department store in 1986, spent roughly $90 on a Christmas or birthday gift, and tucked it away in a closet, where it was completely forgotten.
Four decades later, that forgotten $90 bundle has become a $3 million asset, a staggering 3,333,233% leap in value. Call it kismet, because the moment that box was opened, the magic would have vanished. One round of gameplay could have turned a $3 million treasure into just another cherished childhood memory.
