It is the first video game to sell for a six-figure sum
A copy of the classic Nintendo game Super Mario Bros has sold at auction for $100,150 (£77,800).
The sealed, unopened NES game was bought on February 6th, by a group of collectors at Heritage Auctions.
Super Mario Bros is one of the best selling games of all time and is a common sight in second-hand stored, either opened or just as a loose cartridge. But the copy sold was graded in ‘Near Mint’ condition, by grading and certification organisation Wata Games.
It is also a version sealed with an official Nintendo sticker, as opposed to being shrink-wrapped, which were only available in New York and LA test markets in 1985 and 1986.
Sealed first-run copy of 'Super Mario Bros.' sells for $100,150 and becomes the highest priced video game ever 😱
(via @HeritageAuction, @TheWataGames) pic.twitter.com/bJFkYGDbj4
— Fandom (@getFANDOM) February 14, 2019
“Not only are all NES sticker sealed games extremely rare, but by their nature of not being sealed in shrink wrap they usually exhibit significant wear after more than 30 years,” said Kenneth Thrower, the co-founder of video Wata Games.
“This game may be the condition census of all sticker sealed NES games known to exist.”
In 2017, a shrink-wrapped version of the game sold for $30,100.44 at an online auction – this latest sale is over three times that figure, and it is believed to be the first retro game to sell for a six-figure sum.
Super Mario Bros was first released in Japan in 1985 and was a launch title for the Nintendo Entertainment System when it launched in the West. It has ported and remade for nearly every Nintendo console since, including the Super Nintendo, Game Boy Colour, and was made available on the Wii and 3DS Virtual Consoles.
If you want to play it now, the best ways are through the Switch Online classic library, or on the NES Classic console.
