Ultra rare copy of Super Mario Bros. fetches record $660,000 at auction

Shawn Knight

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Details: This copy is further unique in that it is a “No Code” type, meaning it only says “NES – GP” on the back of the box by the Nintendo logo (other variants have game-specific codes), and is sealed in shrink wrap. What’s more, the “TM” marking is missing from the front of the box after the word “System.” It’s also a “No Rev-A." variant.

An ultra rare version of the original Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System has fetched an astounding $660,000 at auction.

The game in question is a sealed copy of the popular title that put Nintendo on the map in North American in the mid-80s. This particular example carries a 9.6 A+ rating from the Wata game grading service and according to the auction listing, it is both the finest plastic-sealed copy with a perforated cardboard hangtab they’ve ever offered (of any black box title) and also the oldest sealed copy of SMB to pass through their hands.

At $660,000, the auction represents the most ever paid for a video game. A slightly different version of the same game sold for $114,000 at auction last year.

The seller, who wished to remain anonymous, said the game was purchased in late 1986 as a Christmas gift but ended up being put inside a desk drawer and forgotten about until earlier this year.

“It stayed in the bottom of my office desk this whole time since the day I bought it,” said the seller. “I never thought anything about it.”

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Wait why would it be in a desk draw? Also it was at Xmas, wouldn't that have been for someone?
Also, the last decade has been highly popular with finding old cartridges, this just happens to be a very rare one in a draw at Xmas in '86 and finds it some 30+ yrs later in the same spot?
Not buying any of that.
 
Wait why would it be in a desk draw? Also it was at Xmas, wouldn't that have been for someone?
Also, the last decade has been highly popular with finding old cartridges, this just happens to be a very rare one in a draw at Xmas in '86 and finds it some 30+ yrs later in the same spot?
Not buying any of that.
Right? Origins story Suspect AF
 
Wait why would it be in a desk draw? Also it was at Xmas, wouldn't that have been for someone?
Also, the last decade has been highly popular with finding old cartridges, this just happens to be a very rare one in a draw at Xmas in '86 and finds it some 30+ yrs later in the same spot?
Not buying any of that.

You think it was stolen?
 
You think it was stolen?
I dont buy the story is all. No one buys a game n just leaves it in a desk at Xmas. Then happens to find it in the same spot unopened over 30 yrs later. Oh and it just happens to be one of the very rarest mario games on earth. Come on. If its true good to be true, it usually is.
 
I am pretty sure I saw this particular rare copy of Super Mario Bros on Pawn Stars at the time the seller was asking for $1,000,000. Ultimately the Pawn Stars decided to pass.

Link to episode

Update its not the same copy the one in this article is rated at 9.6, the one from Pawn Starts was rated @9.4
 
The largest omission is that this person never cleaned out their desk drawer in over 30 years? They've never had to move house in all this time due to down-sizing or job changes?
I'm sure he found a couple of rare collectable 80's Playboy magazines in that same drawer.
 
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