Prices for retro games are skyrocketing: $3 million for ‘Super Mario Bros.’
An unopened copy of the 1985 game Super Mario Bros. has broken all records by selling for three million US dollars.
You could do quite a lot with three million US dollars. For example, you could bid on a brand-new, sealed copy of the 1985 game * «* *Super Mario Bros.*» for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). That’s exactly what someone did: a few days ago, the according to the description
) best-preserved sealed copy of «Super Mario Bros.» from the oldest surviving production run went under the hammer at Heritage Auctions.
That’s a lot of superlatives, and here’s another one to add to the list: With a purchase price of three million dollars, the game cartridge the most expensive ever sold. It dethrones another cartridge of the same game, which changed hands in 2021 for two million dollars.
Shiny sticker and mint condition
In the auction description, Heritage highlights several features that make this game cartridge so special. Firstly, there is the special seal: an untouched, glossy sticker indicating that the packaging has never been opened. The seal is therefore intact – and it indicates that the game belongs to the second production run, known to collectors as the ‘ «’ Gloss Sticker Second Production».
Source: Heritage Auctions
Matt stickers were used in the first production run. However, no unopened copies from this run are known to exist. Even sealed «Super Mario Bros.» games from the second series with glossy stickers are extremely rare: there are reportedly only three of them in the world. This makes the auctioned cartridge one of the oldest surviving, unopened copies of this classic game.
Another special feature is its condition, which is described as ‘like new’. The copy dates from a time before Nintendo began wrapping game packaging in protective film. Consequently, the cardboard surfaces usually show scratches and damage even when owners handle them with the utmost care.
The fact that a game case over 40 years old looks like new is because it was part of a bundle: it was well protected all this time inside the packaging of an original NES console, which is a rarity in itself. Apparently, the game had only been rediscovered a few months ago.
The excellent condition of the «Super Mario Bros.» cartridge earned it a «9.6 A++» grade in the standardised PSA grading system for collectables. The PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), like other similar systems such as Wata, assesses the condition and sealing of such items. A «PSA 10» certifies the best possible condition. «A++» indicates a perfect original seal.
In addition to the item’s rarity, a high Wata or PSA rating has regularly led to dizzying prices at game auctions in recent years.
Source: Heritage Auctions
Is the value being artificially inflated?
In third place among the highest retro game auction prices is now a «Super Mario 64» cartridge for around 1.5 million US dollars, followed by «The Legend of Zelda» (NES) for 870,000 US dollars and another «Super Mario Bros.» cartridge (660,000 US dollars). Only Nintendo games have made it into this top 5 list. With the exception of the new number one, all the auctions took place in 2021.
This rapid succession of record prices was striking. In 2022, the USA announced class-action-lawsuit was filed against Wata and the Heritage auction house. The allegation: the two companies had jointly artificially inflated the market for retro games in order to drive the value of games from hundreds of US dollars into the millions. In 2017, the highest price for a game auction was still at US$30,000.
According to the report, team leaders from both companies created the impression of a hype in the retro games market through press releases and interviews. They overestimated the value of the games. And particularly explosive: early record sales are said to have been staged. Jim Halperin, co-founder of Heritage and also a consultant at Wata, was himself involved in 2019 in the purchase of a «Super Mario Bros.» game auctioned through his auction house.
The plaintiffs appear to be more than 10,000 people who used Wata’s fee-based valuation service. Both companies benefited directly from high selling prices: Wata charges a percentage of the market value of the item being valued as an appraisal fee, and Heritage, through which most of the record-breaking games were auctioned, receives a percentage-based sales commission.
To date, there is no information on the outcome of the lawsuit. No judgement or settlement has yet been announced.
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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