Sealed Super Mario Bros. NES Cartridge Becomes Most Expensive Game Ever Sold

Previously going up for more than $300,000, a sealed NES copy of Super Mario Bros. has sold for $660,000, becoming the most expensive video game ever sold.

The price tag more than quadrupled the previous record for the most expensive video game ever sold, which was set in November 2020 when a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 flew off the shelf for $156,000. The record was previously broken in July 2020 by a mint copy of Super Mario Bros. that sold for $114,000. And in February 2019, another Super Mario Bros. copy sold for $100,150.

This Super Mario Bros. copy that sold for $660,000 is still in pristine condition, according to Heritage Auctions, the multi-national auction house where it sold. The Texas-based company explained why this copy is so special, saying it’s “the finest plastic-sealed copy with a perforated cardboard hangtag” anyone has ever seen.

“Not only is this the finest plastic-sealed copy with a perforated cardboard hangtab we’ve ever offered of any black box title, it is also the oldest sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. we’ve ever had the opportunity to offer.” the company wrote in the description on the product’s listing page. “This is only the fourth version of Super Mario Bros. ever produced, and its window of production was remarkably short.”

This isn’t the only Nintendo item to have been sold at Heritage Auctions and not the only one to reach a hefty price tag. The “Nintendo Play Station” console, a fable system, sold at auction for $380,000 in March 2020.