The top 10 most expensive video games to ever sell publicly are all sealed titles graded by Wata.
As the market for collectible video games has grown into a speculative investment class over the past few years, the headlines have belonged to record-shattering sales such as the $2 million paid for a Wata 9.8 A+ copy of 1985’s “Super Mario Bros.” for the NES by fractional investment platform Rally, as well as the $1.56 million paid for a Wata 9.8 A++ copy of 1996’s “Super Mario 64” at Heritage.
Of the 10 highest sales, half belong to “Super Mario Bros.”
But not all expensive games are sealed as Heritage is selling an opened copy of “Super Mario Bros.” from the game’s rare first production, with bidding currently nearing $20,000, including buyer’s premium, with 10 days remaining at auction.
Though the market for these titles, which was on fire in the summer of 2021, has waned at the high-end, collectors have shown an appetite for Complete In Box (CIB) titles, a designation used to describe open boxes still including its original components of the cartridge, manual and box.
Grading companies such as Wata or CGC authenticate and grade CIB titles similarly to sealed games, using condition grades for each component to arrive at the overall grade while marking the label with CIB rather than a lettered seal grade.
Considering the rarity of sealed games and their often cost-prohibitive nature, CIB titles appeal to buyers looking for cheaper ways to collect the most sought-after games in good condition and in desirable variants.
For “Super Mario Bros.,” that means finding the earliest production variants possible, like the CIB copy poised to sell next week at Heritage from the game’s six-month test market release in 1985.
During that initial rollout, the games were never actually factory sealed in shrink wrap and instead sealed with a sticker on the top of the box. The first two variants (there would be a total of 11 by the end of the game’s production) were estimated to be produced in numbers ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 combined.
No sealed copies from the game’s first production, identified by the Matte Sticker, have ever surfaced, making CIB examples the best possible option.
Heritage’s copy, which hails from the recent find of rare sealed and excellent condition video games in Dallas Fort-Worth, is the highest-graded of its variant ever sold publicly at CGC 9.0. Another Matte Sticker example graded Wata 8.0 CIB sold for $66,000 in April 2022 at Heritage — the highest price ever paid for a CIB title.
The video game market is in a far different place today than it was two years ago, but the pedigree and rarity of this title might be enough to draw out the competition necessary to reach that high-water mark.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.