A sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. has sold for an astonishing $3 million at Heritage Auctions, setting a new high-water mark for the video game collectibles market. The sale easily surpasses the previous record of $2 million, which was also set by a copy of Super Mario Bros. in 2021. That earlier milestone followed the widely debated $1.56 million sale of Super Mario 64.
What makes this particular copy so valuable is its rarity and condition. Heritage Auctions said the game comes from the title’s second production run and, rather than being shrink-wrapped, was sealed with a glossy sticker that was phased out soon afterward. The auction house describes it as the earliest known sealed copy of the game. It also carries a 9.6 A++ grade from Professional Sports Authenticator.
The result is the latest sign of how dramatically the retro gaming market has grown in recent years. As recently as July 2020, Heritage Auctions set what was then a record for a video game sale when another copy of Super Mario Bros. fetched $114,000. By comparison, that figure now looks modest in a market that has continued to surge.
And in a final bit of auction-house flair, Heritage is including an NES console with the purchase—just in case the buyer ever decides to commit the unimaginable and open the box.
