By Emily Gu
On June 11th, history was made. An unopened copy of Nintendo’s SM64 had sold in an auction for $1.56 million, which was $2.08 million in australian dollars. It had completely broken the previous record for amount paid, which was set just a mere 2 days before.
It was noted that this was the first time a single video game was sold for more than $1 million.
SM64, otherwise known as Super Mario 64, was first released in 1996. It was also the first game that featured Mario in 3D. It had quickly become a classic.
The auction house had also stated that the boxed game had received a perfect A++ from WataGames, a video game grading company. This meant that the game was kept in near perfect condition.
The last record for most spent was $1.16 million in australian dollars. It was spent on a sealed copy of Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda. However, this record did not last the weekend.
Valarie McLeckie, a video game specialist, had said that the auction house was very surprised to see a game sell for over $1 million, especially when the record had just been set a few days ago.
“We are proud to have been a part of this historic event, and look forward to being on the forefront of the video gaming hobby and serving such a dedicated collector community in the years to come.”
The sale has also emphasized how much the market for collectibles has exploded and expanded during the pandemic.
Within the collectibles market, the Mario series hold a wistfully nostalgic position.