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Rare, Sealed ‘Super Mario Bros. 3’ Variant Breaks Record For World’s Most Expensive Video Game

Mama mia!
by rawmeatcowboy
20 November 2020
GN Version 5.0

A very special sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 just raked in quite a sum of money during an auction. This led to the game bringing in $156k when the gavel dropped, making for a new record. You can get full details on the auction and what makes this game so special in the press release below.

For the second time in 2020, the Super Mario Bros. have set a world’s record for the highest price paid for a video game at auction.

Friday morning, Heritage Auctions sold a sealed copy of 1990’s Super Mario Bros. 3 for $156,000, shattering the previous record set in July when its 1985 predecessor Super Mario Bros. sold for $114,000.

The lot opened bidding at $62,500 – already an impressive sum for the game graded Wata 9.2 A+. But 20 bidders got in the game, sending the final price soaring toward the world record during what would become the world’s first-ever million-dollar video-game auction.

“We couldn't be more pleased about breaking the world record for the second time in the same year,” says Valarie McLeckie, Heritage Auctions’ Director of Video Games. “That said, it's no surprise that another Mario game, which so many of us grew up with, would set the new bar.”

While the condition of the game is remarkable, what makes this copy even more singular is the layout of the packaging itself: Exceedingly rare are sealed copies with the word “Bros.” formatted to the left, covering one of Mario’s signature white gloves. Collectors have spent years looking for such a version – the earliest in the Super Mario Bros. 3 production history – and usually come up empty-handed.

Until Friday.

The Dallas-based auction house did sell one sealed Wata 9.0 A copy of this variant in July – for the all-in price of $38,400. What a difference a slightly better grade, and four months, can make.

Super Mario Bros. 3 wasn’t the only record-setter in Friday’s video-game auction, the largest such sale ever held.

[PR email]