Sealed Copy of Super Mario Bros. Breaks Records at Auction

Videogame collectors are a devoted bunch, a fact that's once again been proved this Friday, 10th of July 2020 when an anonymous buyer won a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. for the colossal sum of $114,000. Sold at a vintage comics auction by Heritage Auctions in Dallas, the 35 year-old sealed game is now officially the most expensive game of all time, beating the previous record holder ($100,150—also for Super Mario Bros.) by over $10,000.

While the copy is sealed and in superb condition (9.4 out of 10 on the ten-point WATA scale), that's not the only reason it sold for such an enormous amount. The game also belongs to a brief run of NES games that shipped with cardboard 'hang tabs'; this specific '3 code' variant of hang tab packaging would have only been in production for a few months, making it an incredibly rare gaming relic.

It's a testament to the legacy of Super Mario Bros. that, even as one of the best-selling games of all time, it's able to repeatedly set records at auction. It's a rarity for vintage games to sell more than a few thousands dollars; a sale this high is really something worth taking note of.