Someone just turned $25 into $3 million with NES Super Mario Bros.

Someone has effectively traded a game originally worth just $25 for $3 million for a copy of the original Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This copy Super Mario Bros. it broke a number of records and probably left the original owner extremely pleased with the result of its time at auction.

While not every game is destined to become a collectible, those who are patient and have games carefully tucked away somewhere safe can sometimes turn them into a substantial profit. In the past, auctioned games sold for tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on their condition and rarity. However, this new success leaves them all in the dust.

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Super Mario Bros. sells for a whopping $3 million at auction

On June 12, a copy Super Mario Bros. for NES successfully sold for US$3 million at Heritage Auctions. The stunning performance was due to the game being in excellent condition and being an extremely rare copy. When sold separately back in the day, Super Mario Bros. he was selling for $25, which would be worth about $77 today due to inflation. This particular copy Super Mario Bros. featured a glossy sticker rather than a matte sticker or shrink wrap sealing the game's box, making it a second production copy.

What kind of weapon is that?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

What kind of weapon is that?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s) Medium (5.0s) Hard (2.5s) Permadeath (2.5s)

Only three sealed copies of the game with this particular sticker are known to exist, and the $3 million copy that just sold is in the best condition of all, with a PSA grade of 9.6 A++. It was previously estimated that a maximum of 10,000 copies with this particular seal ever existed, and potentially only 2,000. As a result, even after 40 years, it would be difficult to find one in poor condition Super Mario Bros.' original edition.

Mario in the world 1-1 - Super Mario Bros.

While the sale is notable, it's not the first time Super Mario Bros. broke records like this. One of the above glossy copies of the seals Super Mario Bros. broke records in 2019 when it sold for six figures, while a differently packaged version of the same game sold for $660,000 two years later. This record was eventually broken in the same year The Legend of Zeldawhich sold for $870,000 and many other records have been set since then. However, this new $3 million sale does Super Mario Bros. it took back its crown and became the most expensive game ever sold in video game history.

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Learning that someone has spent seven figures on a video game can be overwhelming, but it's far from the only time fans of the game have spent tons on their favorites. Outside of video game copies, things like Pokemon TCG cards have made millions of dollars in sales, with a rare Pikachu Illustrator previously selling for $1.4 million in 2026 and a copy of the same card owned by Logan Paul selling for $16.5 million. Meanwhile, a retailer has listed one of the Space World 2000 GameCube prototypes for sale for $100,000, which, while vintage, doesn't actually contain any internal components, so it doesn't function like a real console.