Rare copy of Super Mario Bros 3 fetches world record price

Super Mario Bros. is one of the most iconic video games and it was proved after an unopened copy of 1990’s Super Mario Bros. 3 was sold for a whopping US$156,000, breaking a record for the highest-selling single video game at an auction.

The sale took place through Heritage Auctions on Friday, attracting 20 participants. The opening bid was a stunning US$62,500 before soaring past the six-figure amount.

According to Heritage Auctions, the $156,000 winning bid breaks the previous record, which belongs to a sealed copy of 1985’s Super Mario Bros. for the NES. In July, it fetched $114,000 in a separate auction.

“It’s no surprise that another Mario game, which so many of us grew up with, would set the new bar,” Valarie McLeckie, Heritage Auctions’ director of video games, said in a statement.

McLeckie added that the game’s copy was found in someone’s closet, never opened. “Often, in the case of these sealed games, people just bought them and forgot about them, “ she said in an email. “That was the case here.”

It’s not the first time Heritage Auctions has sold an unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. 3. Back in July, it auctioned off another sealed version, but for a mere $38,400.