Stories about forgotten collectibles that are suddenly discovered are practically cliché. The copy of Super Mario Bros. that just broke a sales record isn’t like an old trading card your uncle found in the attic, though. This is a case where a history-defining game was found in a box nearly 40 years old, still shrink-wrapped. The fact it exists at all, let alone that it went completely untouched, is practically a miracle.
On Friday, Heritage Auctions closed a “staggering” $3 million sale for a copy of Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
“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,” says Evan Masingill, a Consignment Director at Heritage.
You can inspect the box and its condition below:
Previously, the record for a highly graded copy of Super Mario Bros. was a $2 million private sale in 2021, according to Heritage Auctions. Earlier that same year, a different Super Mario Bros. cartridge sold for $660,000 — which at the time was the most money anyone had ever paid for a collectible video game. The new record crushes both of these, which makes sense when you look at the specifics.
Beyond its pristine condition, the packaging is part of what makes this multi-million-dollar copy of Super Mario Bros. so unique. Hailing from the second print run of the seminal video game, it’s the oldest known sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. in existence. It bears a special glossy sticker from 1986 and has a cardboard hang tab that was discontinued in 1987. This version of the iconic platformer holds a PSA grade of 9.6. So while not perfect, this is the closest any Super Mario Bros. game has come to it. Only two other sealed copies of a similar nature exist.
If you’ve got some loose change, the Heritage Auctions website currently allows visitors to send offers to the new owner.
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