Rare, sealed 'Super Mario Bros. 3' variant breaks record for world's most expensive video game

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, March 29, 2024


Rare, sealed 'Super Mario Bros. 3' variant breaks record for world's most expensive video game
Super Mario Bros. 3 - Wata 9.2 A+ Sealed ["Bros." Left, First Production], NES Nintendo 1990 USA.



DALLAS, TX.- For the second time in 2020, the Super Mario Bros. have set a world's record for the highest price paid for a video game at auction.

Friday morning, Heritage Auctions sold a sealed copy of 1990's Super Mario Bros. 3 for $156,000, shattering the previous record set in July when its 1985 predecessor Super Mario Bros. sold for $114,000.

The lot opened bidding at $62,500 — already an impressive sum for the game graded Wata 9.2 A+. But 20 bidders got in the game, sending the final price soaring toward the world record during what would become the world's first-ever million-dollar video-game auction.

"We couldn't be more pleased about breaking the world record for the second time in the same year," says Valarie McLeckie, Heritage Auctions' Director of Video Games. "That said, it's no surprise that another Mario game, which so many of us grew up with, would set the new bar."

While the condition of the game is remarkable, what makes this copy even more singular is the layout of the packaging itself: Exceedingly rare are sealed copies with the word "Bros." formatted to the left, covering one of Mario's signature white gloves. Collectors have spent years looking for such a version — the earliest in the Super Mario Bros. 3 production history – and usually come up empty-handed.

Until Friday. Until the world's first-ever million-dollar video-game auction.

The Dallas-based auction house did sell one sealed Wata 9.0 A copy of this variant in July — for the all-in price of $38,400. What a difference a slightly better grade, and four months, can make.

Super Mario Bros. 3 wasn't the only record-setter in Friday's video-game auction, the largest such sale ever held.

A sealed copy of the "Red Version" of 1998's Pokémon for Nintendo's GameBoy, graded Wata 9.8 A++, sold for $84,000 — the highest price ever paid for a Pokémon title. That final price was more than four times its pre-sale estimate.

More rare video games will be available Sunday at 1 p.m., during the seventh session of Heritage's Nov. 19-22 Comics & Comic Art event. Gotta catch 'em all.










Today's News

November 21, 2020

LaiSun Keane opens an exhibition featuring contemporary Japanese women artists

Exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao examines the career of Vasily Kandinsky

$30.5 million Impressionist & Modern Art Day sale smashes record for an online auction at Sotheby's

Exhibition explores Henri Matisse's ongoing relationship with black and white

Jeffrey Deitch opens an exhibition of works by Robert Longo

Sprüth Magers opens an exhibition of ten large-scale photographs by Cindy Sherman

Whitney presents exhibition of Kamoinge Workshop photographers

UN culture agency pitches heritage mission to Nagorno-Karabakh

Romare Bearden collages lead African American Art at Swann

Exhibition highlights more than 200 years of German art

Rare, sealed 'Super Mario Bros. 3' variant breaks record for world's most expensive video game

Exhibition of new work by Arturo Herrera opens at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Memorabilia from Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and more to go up for auction

New from powerHouse Books: The Boys Photographs and Text by Rick Schatzberg

Tampa Museum of Art highlights African American artists in "Living Color"

Amon Carter Museum acquires Wendy Red Star's "Accession"

Abolitionist is earliest Black Londoner honored with blue plaque

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle auction spotlights 36 years of 'turtle power'

Jan Myrdal, Swedish author and provocateur, dies at 93

Michel Comte's Erosion I & II on view at Galerie Urs Meile, Lucerne

MOCA GA opens Working Artist Project Fellow Ariel Dannielle's solo exhibition 'It Started So Simple'

Solo show of works by Lisa Brice opens at GEM, museum of contemporary art

Exhibition celebrates the 98th birthday of renowned photographer Tony Vaccaro

Special installation offers intimate look at museum's popular treasure from Stettheimer Family

Utility Defined: How Can A Baby Change Table Help You?

Wheel and Tire Package

Arts and crafts: from hobby to career

Black Friday with CanvasWAY

Tips to choose the best online flower delivery service

What are the advantages of gaming?

How To Choose The Best Projector For Artists

Toto for picking your favorite sport

How to choose the best plumber there is?




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful