A sealed copy of 'Super Mario Bros.' sold for $660k

[JordanWearinThe45]

A nearly perfect copy of Super Mario Bros. for the NES has sold for $660,000 at auction. In what turned out to be a 13-bidder contest, $550,000 went to the game's original owner. The copy was one of the earliest shrink-wrapped versions of the games you could buy in the US (Super Mario Bros. eventually had 11 different box variants, according to WATA Games).

Heritage Auctions, the firm that oversaw the sale, told Ars Technica it dates back to late 1986. It was reportedly bought as a Christmas gift and sat unopened in a desk drawer for the better part of four decades. "I never thought anything about it," the seller, who asked to remain anonymous, told the auction house.

The $660,000 this copy of Super Mario Bros. sold for is crazy when you consider the Nintendo PlayStation, a one-of-a-kind prototype representing a unique piece of gaming history, sold for $360,000 at auction last year. More recently, someone paid $156,000 to buy a pristine copy of Super Mario Bros. 3. It makes you wonder how much the owner would have walked away with had they simultaneously tried to cash in on the NFT craze somehow.

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[daze23]

I should've kept everything in the box

Super Mario Bros by itself in the box was rare cause most people got that game with the console

 

[The Minister Of Culture]

Sealed copies of the old pokemon games be going for high prices also

 

[Rekkapryde]

I should've kept everything in the box

Super Mario Bros by itself in the box was rare cause most people got that game with the console

When I got my NES in 87 I got the deluxe one with ROB/Gyromite and Duck Hunt

Asked for SMB, Pro Wrestling, and Mike Tyson

Probably my goat Christmas. Homies stayed at my house all week for Christmas Break

But getting SMB standalone....



Only to see them pack it in the following year

 

[daze23]

When I got my NES in 87 I got the deluxe one with ROB/Gyromite and Duck Hunt

Asked for SMB, Pro Wrestling, and Mike Tyson

Probably my goat Christmas. Homies stayed at my house all week for Christmas Break

But getting SMB standalone....



Only to see them pack it in the following year

I always remember the cartridge with SMB and Duck Hunt on it

 

[Fanservice]

Most money I ever made from selling one game was the original 360 version of Tales of Vesperia. Sold it for $85 back in 2010. I just checked the price on Ebay and it’s only trending for $9 now

 

[Ziggiy]

Almost a Millie for a game thats not even that rare

 

[feelosofer]

Damn I sold a sealed copy of Lunar for PS1 and got 300 and thought that was alot.

 

[feelosofer]

Almost a Millie for a game thats not even that rare

That standalone copy of SMB is super rare because Nintendo only started selling in NES in the NY/NJ area as a test run before packing it in with duck hunt when it did a national launch. My cousins dad was a janitor at the WTC and i remember his pops managed to get it for him for Christmas by taking an early shift and waiting 12 hours to get 1.

 

[BigMoneyGrip]

Almost a Millie for a game thats not even that rare

It’s rare if the shyt was never opened and the first real major seller of a console..

 

[Ziggiy]

That standalone copy of SMB is super rare because Nintendo only started selling in NES in the NY/NJ area as a test run before packing it in with duck hunt when it did a national launch. My cousins dad was a janitor at the WTC and i remember his pops managed to get it for him for Christmas by taking an early shift and waiting 12 hours to get 1.

I get it i’m talking about the game itself. I got an NES classic, an ipad, iphone, abd macbook air, DS Lite, and I could fire up SMB on any of those muthafukkas right NOW and play it.


So its just blowing my mind that, even though its a rare sealed copy, its STILL a very well known and easy to come across playing experience. That just sold for SIX HUNDRED K

 

[feelosofer]

I get it i’m talking about the game itself. I got an NES classic, an ipad, iphone, abd macbook air, DS Lite, and I could fire up SMB on any of those muthafukkas right NOW and play it.


So its just blowing my mind that, even though its a rare sealed copy, its STILL a very well known and easy to come across playing experience. That just sold for SIX HUNDRED K

As time passes vintage video games rising exponentially in value especially from the NES and SNES era.

 

[Ciggavelli]

The market for vintage games is hot right now. Even that show Pawn Stars has segments with rare games being sold. A recent episode had Mike Tyson’s Punch Out on display. The seller was asking crazy money. They brought in the owner of a place that rates the condition of games who discussed why the game was so rare and expensive.

Pawn Stars said vintage video games are so popular now because the people that played NES game as children are old enough to want to reminisce, and they are at a stage of life where they make enough money to buy these items.