If you have old video games stored in a box somewhere, it's worth checking what's in there. A copy of Super Mario Bros. for the NES just set a world record by fetching $114,000 at auction.
As Heritage Auctions reports, a Comic & Comic Art event held on July 10 included a number of video game auctions, some of which were extremely rare items. One of the games was a copy of Super Mario Bros. for the NES, originally released back in 1985. As well as being sealed, what made this black box copy so rare and highly sought after is the use of a cardboard hangtab and plastic wrap.
The introduction of plastic wrap rendered the cardboard hangtab on the box useless, but it took Nintendo a few variants of the box design to remove it. This is one of those variants, which was only produced for a few months and therefore increases its rarity and subsequent value. Add to that the condition of the game earning it a 9.4 A+ rating and it's clear to see why collector's were willing to pay a world record $114,000 to own it. According the Heritage Auctions, it's the most ever paid for a video game.
Although nothing came close to Super Mario Bros. on the day, other lots in the auction did extremely well. Highlights include a prototype Sega Pluto-02 games console, which was designed as a "cost-reduced Sega Saturn with built-in NetLink Internet Modem and hard drive, making it one of the first consoles to have internet support straight out of the box" according to Sega Retro. It fetched $84,000. A copy of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! managed $50,400, and the first sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 went for $38,400.
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