Unopened Super Mario 64 cartridge fetches $1.56 million at auction

An unopened Nintendo 64 cartridge of Super Mario 64 has netted a record $1.56 million. That is converted to more than 1.3 million euros. The previous record was $870,000 for a The Legend of Zelda cartridge for the NES.

The classic 1996 3D platformer went up for auction this weekend at Heritage Auctions with a starting price of $100,000. It is a cartridge that was released for the American market and is not particularly rare in itself. However, the game’s condition was rated with a 9.8 A++ on the Wata scale, making the game as good as new. That’s unusual for a game that’s a quarter of a century old. Heritage Auctions writes that this cartridge is one of the few known Mario 64 cartridges to be in that condition.

The previous auction record was $870,000 for an unopened NES cartridge of the original The Legend of Zelda game. That record was set just a few days ago. That game was auctioned for that amount because it was a rare print of the game packaging, and because the game was also in relatively good condition with a Wata score of 9.0 A.

Until a few months ago, the record for the most expensive video game stood at $660,000. That amount was raised in April with an unopened cartridge of the original Super Mario Bros game for the NES. About a year ago, the same game was auctioned for $114,000.

Super Mario 64 was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1996 and received critical acclaim from critics. Since then, the game has been reissued for the Nintendo DS, and last year it appeared on Nintendo Switch in a Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, which also includes Super Mario Sunshine and the first Super Mario Galaxy.

Source: Heritage Auctions