This is a new record for a video game. A sealed cartridge of the legendary “Super Mario” for the Nintendo 64 console was sold on Sunday for $ 1.56 million, according to the American auction house Heritage Auctions.
“It’s the first game to ever auction for over a million dollars,” said Eric Bradley, a spokesperson for the company based in Dallas, Texas, enthusiastically. Heritage had already set a first record on Friday: a cartridge for the Nintendo NES consoles of yesteryear “The Legend of Zelda” had been sold for $ 870,000.
A character from 1981
This cartridge of “Super Mario 64” dates from 1996 and uses 3D for the first time. It is “the only known copy to receive a score of 9.8 A ++” from the video game expert company Wata which assesses the condition of the cartridges, said Eric Bradley, specifying that this score was “the highest that a retro video game could receive ”.
Mario, a hyperactive little mustached plumber wearing a red cap, is one of the greatest heroes in video game history and contributed to Nintendo’s worldwide success. Appeared in 1981 as the character of “Jumpman” in the game “Donkey Kong”, he was renamed “Mario” in 1985 and had many adventures, with his brother Luigi or at the wheel of a kart.
For several years now, retro video games have enjoyed growing success with nostalgic gamers. Last April, a 1986 Super Mario Bros. video game cartridge for Nintendo NES fetched $ 660,000 at auction, still at Heritage Auctions.