Super Mario Bros. Sealed Cartridge Raises Over $100,000

An unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. from 1985 for the NES sold for more than a hundred thousand dollars to a group of at least three Americans. It is one of the first versions to be sealed with a sticker instead of foil.

One of the buyers, who owns a game store in Pennsylvania, says in a Heritage Auctions message that the game is similar to a first issue of the Superman comic. “We all knew how hard it is to find a neat version of an opened copy of this game, but I really never expected to find a sealed one, even though I’ve been selling retro video games for 20 years,” says Zac Gieg.

According to a visual guide from Wata Games, which approves retro collectors’ games, Super Mario Bros. in the US in 1985 first as a test release in New York and Los Angeles, then only with sticker seal, in matte and gloss form. Only later came a shrink wrap seal. The game bought by the Americans has a glossy sticker. Judge Kenneth Thrower of Wata Games says that the condition of the packaging is special, because it often shows a lot of wear after more than thirty years.

Kotaku writes that the seller does not want to be named for privacy reasons, but says that he has had the game for years. “He wanted at least a ton for it,” Deniz Khan, president of Wata Games, said in the article. “Several interested parties approached the seller, who came with quite large sums. More than fifty thousand. But it was never enough for him. I’ve always said that video games become like comics, cars and coins. It’s just a matter of of time for a sealed Mario if it sells for over a million dollars.”