A Super Mario Bros cartridge has been sold at auction for over 100,000 euros because it belongs to a limited series
Super Mario is legend, everyone knows that. But not everyone knows that there is a thriving, indeed thriving, vintage collectibles market where you can sell a cartridge of this historic Nintendo video game for $ 114,000. And, instead, it is so: this is the amount paid by a collector who participated a few days ago in an auction of Heritage Auctions.
This is only the latest record set by Super Mario Bros during an auction: the previous one, also remarkable, belonged to a copy sold for $ 100,500 just over a year ago. But, unfortunately, not all Super Mario Bros cartridges are worth so much and only very few of them have such a high value for collectors. In this case, in fact, not only the cartridge was in perfect collections but it was also a specific lot, produced in a specific period by Nintendo and in very small quantities. A special cartridge, therefore, sold at a special price.
Super Mario Bros: the special cartridge
The Super Mario Bros cartridge sold at $114,000 dates back to 1985 and has never been used: the packaging is the original one, never opened. It is a lot packaged in cardboard boxes closed no longer with the adhesive, but with the film. The cartridge, then, is still inserted in the box of hard transparent plastic anti-shoplifting. In practice, having it in your hand is like going back in time 35 years, entering a toy store and dreaming of playing Super Mario while waiting in line at the checkout. Something heart-wrenching, for those who were children in the eighties.
Same auction, other masterpieces
But it was the whole lot at auction, which overall scored bids for $699,648. In addition to the Super Mario cartridge, in fact, the Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! cartridge went for $50,400, while a Super Mario Bros 3 cartridge sold for $38,000. The latter is another rare piece for collectors: the word "Bros" is printed on the left side of the box, above Super Mario's hand. A point where it is hardly visible and, in fact, Nintendo then decided to move it to the right where there was more space. Finally, a very rare example of the Sega Pluto-02, a prototype Sega console (which never became produced) that was supposed to lead to the second generation Sega Saturn, was sold for $84,000. The project was later cancelled and the prototype is now a collector's item.