On June 12th, Heritage Auctions sold a copy of Super Mario Bros. for a mind boggling $3 million. The legendary platformer isn’t known for being especially rare, many original NES owners affiliate the game as a pack-in with the system. What’s bumped this the value of this copy from the Goodwill to Fort Knox is a humble little sticker keeping the paper box closed.
On top of a high 9.6 rating from the Professional Sports Authenticator, Heritage boasts that this copy is sealed with an intact “coveted gloss sticker seal.” This suggests this copy is from the second-production in 1985, as the gloss sticker seal would be discontinued shortly after for standardized shrink-wrap plastic. Heritage says there are only three known sealed copies from this run, and that this item is the earliest. This would be the most money ever made by the sale of a single video game, doing circles around the ever infamous Nintendo PlayStation. The lot tossed in a boxed NES, in case the buyer does decide to play the game, even if it doesn’t include Duck Hunt.
It brings to mind the $1.5 million dollar sale of a Super Mario 64 copy in 2021. Again, a rarer version of an otherwise commonplace game. Fans often feel that these auction prices are inflated by familiarity, as deeper pockets are more attracted to names like Mario and Pikachu than rarer Flintstones cartridges or a Blockbuster exclusive ClayFighters. While the gaming collectible market has been an absolute circus since COVID, enthusiasts also believe spectacular auctions such as these also serve a more strategic, speculation function.
After the 2021 auction, a group of collectors filed a class action lawsuit against Wata Games, who graded the copy of Super Mario 64. The suit accused Wata of propping up million dollar values to juice up their own reputation, using the irresistible publicity from major broadcasters and news outlets to drum up business with other aspiring sellers. They accused Wata of essentially racketeering the collection circuit, and the suit continues to move through the courts.
This new auction was graded by PSA, not Wata, though fetching double the price it’s a bit of deja vu. There is business to be made for facilitating bodies when people believe there’s gold in their basement, akin to the comic book collection frenzy of the early ‘90s. Otherwise I recently saw a promotional VHS copy of The Super Mario Bros. movie at a local store for $60 which I think is a far fairer asking price.
