If we’d known what we know now about old video games when we were young, we might be rich now. We used to think that video games were like old CDs – useless and without value when we no longer needed them. When a new console came along to replace the one we already owned, we’d either sell or throw out our old machine and all the games that came with it to make room for the new one. Little did we know that a collector’s market driven by nostalgia for old games would spring up a few years later – and little did we imagine that the prices people would be willing to pay for such games would be so high.
This story is all about an old Super Mario game that’s sold at auction for a shockingly high price. You probably imagine that we’re talking about a very old Mario game – perhaps something from the original Nintendo Entertainment System from the 1980s or a rare, imported version of the same game. We’re not. The version of the game in question is nowhere near that old and isn’t a limited edition. Nor is it an import. It’s the plain, factory-issue edition of Super Mario 64. The only thing that’s special about it is that it’s sealed and still in mint condition – and that was enough to persuade someone to pay $1.5m for it at an event run by Heritage Auctions in the USA last week.
The most shocking thing about the sale is that the game isn’t especially old. Super Mario 64, like the console that it runs on, was released on June 23rd 1996. It was even packaged with the console, meaning that there are (or were) tens of millions of copies of the game in existence. The crucial factor is that this copy wasn’t opened. The first thing that almost every gamer would do upon tearing into their brand new N64 box is to also tear into the box for the game and play it immediately. It was the first-ever three-dimensional Super Mario game and is considered one of the greatest games ever released for the platform. Very few people resisted the temptation to open it. Heritage Auctions, which has handled similar sales in the past, believes that there is only a maximum of five sealed copies of the game in the world. However, even they were surprised when such high bids rolled in. The sale makes this copy of Super Mario 64 the most expensive video game of all time.
The sale of the Mario cartridge marked the second time the world record was broken within the same week. Two days earlier, an unopened 1988 copy of “The Legend of Zelda” for the Nintendo Entertainment System sold for $870,000. That sale was also handled by Heritage Auctions and was technically part of the same auction. Video game specialist Valarie McLeckie said at the time that the first sale to break the $1m barrier would probably occur at the next auction. She was stunned to see the $1m mark not only broken but shattered within 48 hours of her remarks. The drastically higher price – almost double the cost of the Zelda game – reflects the supreme popularity of Mario as a character.
As we alluded to in the title of this article, the boom in the video game collector’s market is a good reason to look in your old cupboards and storage spaces for any classic video games you might have forgotten about. It’s also a reason to do so quickly. As great as things are for sellers right now, the good times won’t last forever. Gaming journalist Pat Contri has already observed that there’s no way of truly knowing how many sealed copies of Super Mario 64 might exist elsewhere, nor how many copies of other supposed rarities might be on somebody’s shelf. He feels that prices are artificially high at present and that buyers might not necessarily be getting good deals. If that’s the case, and you have something valuable to sell, you might never get a better chance to get a large sum for it.
While a buoyant market might explain the record-setting high price, at least some of the value of the sale should be ascribed to the fact that it’s a Mario product. Experience has taught us that products related to Mario tend to attract more interest and achieve higher prices than products attached to any other video game character. For example, Tag Heuer is currently selling a Mario-themed smartwatch with a retail price of two thousand dollars. An online slots game by X Play called “Mario World” has attracted thousands of players since it was launched in May 2019. Online slots based on video games are generally considered niche interest products, but if one based on Mario can draw players to websites like Rose Slots IE, it says a lot about the character’s enduring appeal. Whether we’re talking old games, watches, or online slots, the Mario name persuades people to put their hands in their pockets and spend money.
With all of this in mind, perhaps it would be a good idea to get hold of a copy of the most recent Super Mario game and keep it safe. That would be “Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury,” which was released in January this year. As it’s now more than seven months old, it’s likely to be available at a reduced cost compared to its purchase price when it was released. There’s also a new model of the Nintendo Switch headed to stores in October, and that will doubtless be accompanied by a new Super Mario game in short order. Whenever Nintendo has something new to sell, they turn to their old moustache-wearing plumber friend to help them sell it.
Given the arrival of video game streaming, the very concept of owning hard copies of video games might soon become a thing of the past. That’s all the more reason to keep hold of any unopened games you might be lucky enough to own. Chances are you don’t have the next record-breaking cartridge or disc among your collection – but you never know how the value of your collection might be assessed twenty years from now!
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