A sealed second-production copy of Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System sold at auction on Friday for $3 million. According to Heritage Auctions, it was the most significant video game the company has ever offered.
The game had reportedly remained untouched in a box with a launch-edition NES Control Deck for four decades, according to the auction house. The console is still sealed in its original packaging with the protective plastic intact.
What really makes this copy stand out is the glossy sticker seal, which has never been broken. Nintendo only used these seals for a short time in 1986 before switching to shrink-wrap, so finding one this well preserved today is incredibly uncommon.
According to Heritage Auctions, only three second-production copies with the glossy sticker seal are known today. This one is regarded as the best of the bunch, earning a PSA 9.6 A++ grade. The auction house added that a sealed example of this variant had never been offered at a public auction before.
Both the game and the console come from Nintendo’s early Los Angeles test-market days, when the company was just beginning its push into the U.S. market. Heritage Auctions said owning this set is about as close as collectors can get to owning a piece of the moment when Super Mario Bros. changed gaming forever.
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