Last Friday, a new game cartridge auction record was set by selling The Legend of Zelda for the NES for $870,000.
Now, just two days later, that record was broken with another high-value auction, this time from an unopened copy of Super Mario 64 sold today.
The auction was conducted by Heritage Auctions, who reports that the unopened copy of Super Mario for the Nintendo 64 sold for $1,560,000. This number doubles the previous record.
The sealed cartridge that was sold at the auction was the 1996 American version of Super Mario 64 with A++ quality.
“The state of this copy is so impressive that we are lost,” the auction house said in its product description. While copies of this game are not particularly rare, it is very rare to find a version that has never been opened.
Super Mario 64 is a very special game for several reasons. Not only was it the childhood-defining title for many millennials, but it was also the best-selling title on the iconic Nintendo 64 console and the first time fans were able to experience the character, Mario, in a 3D environment.
No wonder, then, that someone was willing to pay a huge sum for an incredibly rare piece of video game history.
It seems that the value of retro game cartridges has exploded in the last couple of years, at least as far as the collectibles market is concerned. If you have an unsealed and undamaged classic set in a box, now may be the time to dust it off and see what it’s worth.