Back in 2017, a copy of Super Mario Bros. sold for more than $30,000, a record price at the time. Fast forward to earlier this month, and a first run copy of the same Nintendo Entertainment System game went for $100,150, which is reportedly the first six-figure transaction for a single collectible video game.
According to Kotaku, the difference between the two games boils down to a sticker found on the first issues of the NES game in America. These games were not wrapped in plastic. Instead, they were encased in a box sealed with a black foil circular sticker featuring the Nintendo logo. Such editions were only sold for a limited time before the packaging was then changed.
Heritage Auctions announced the record sale this week in a press release, as the game was sold by an anonymous collector who occasionally advises Wata Games, a company that expertly grades video games. The rare copy of Super Mario Bros. was purchased by Jim Halperin, the founder and co-chairman of Heritage Auctions, coin dealer and game collector Rich Lecce, and video game store owner Zac Gieg.
Now, who's about to sift through their old video games to see what kind of money they can make?
