Super Mario Bros. It changed console gaming forever, won the hearts of millions and made the NES a household item. It's one of my favorite games and a title I go back to frequently. Sometimes for video-making purposes, sometimes for pleasure! It was packed-in with Duck Hunt, had standalone release and had 11 overall printings during the NES run. Odds are, most of you readers probably have access to this game in your own home! It's been playable in some way on almost every Nintendo console and handheld. It was ported to the SNES as part of Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario Bros DX on Game Boy Color, there's a Game Boy Advance port, Wii, Wii U, 3DS Virtual Console... there's a lot of ways to play it. Besides that, it's one of the most common games out there. So, I couldn't imagine anybody paying more than what it was initially worth for a copy!
Thanks to an auction that happened on February 6th 2019, the limits of my imagination have been tested. An NES copy of Super Mario Bros. was sold in an auction 100,150 US Dollars to a group of collectors. That's enough money to buy a house! If the game is so common, what makes this particular copy so special!? So valuable? Well, this cartridge is one of the few sealed, totally un-opened first edition printings of Super Mario Bros. from it's initial test market run in fall of 1985!
These days, we take for granted that everyone knows what Nintendo is and the both the NES and Super Mario Bros. are so ingrained in the pop-culture-sphere, but this was not the case in early 1985. Nintendo was largely unproved in North America. Making a new game console after the Atari crash of 1983 was considered a massive gamble. In fall of 1985, Nintendo of America released limited quantities of the NES consoles and the first batch of games for it in limited quantities in New York City and then later Los Angeles. This test run was a hit, created a demand for Nintendo products, and in the next two years, there was an NES in nearly every American home.
If you have a complete-in-box NES copy of Super Mario Bros. lying around your house, don't be thinking that you can strike it rich by having an auction of your own! All carts in this printing are market with a special sticker that later releases lack! Take that and excellent condition of the specimen (as graded by Wata Games) ....This sealed cart is a time capsule. An unmolested piece of gaming history. A true prize!
How far would you be willing to go? What do you consider a gaming treasure? How much money are you willing to spend on a single video game? Let us know below!
