Rare, Original 'Super Mario' Copy Becomes Most Expensive Video Game In History

A rare, unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. for the NES has become the most expensive video game ever sold, auctioning at an astounding $660,000.

The wild sale more than quadrupled the previous record for the most expensive video game, a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 that sold for $156,000.

Sold through Heritage Auctions, the pristine, unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. was such a valuable collectible due to it being a rare print created early in the NES' lifespan, when games were still shrink-wrapped instead of given a sticker seal. According to Heritiage Auctions director Valarie McKleckie, "Since the production window for this copy and others like it was so short, finding another copy from this same production run in similar condition would be akin to looking for a single drop of water in an ocean."

The item's description on Heritage reads:

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. This is only the fourth version of Super Mario Bros. ever produced, and its window of production was remarkably short. Just to paint a better picture of how short this really was -- the nationwide release for the console came in mid to late 1986, and black box games distributed for that release did not have the "Game Pak NES-GP" code. It's worth mentioning that Nintendo managed to add the trademark symbol to the Nintendo Entertainment System on their game boxes by the beginning of 1987. That certainly doesn't leave much time at all for this variant to be produced in-between the two!

If you wish to own this exact copy of Super Mario for the NES, you can offer the current owner a minimum of $990,000.