Video game: Super Mario 64 cartridge sold for 1.56 million dollars, a record

The collectible video game market is soaring!

On Sunday, a cartridge of the cult 

, released in 1996 for the Nintendo 64, was auctioned for $ 1.56 million (1.31 million euros), a new record for a video game, according to the American auction house Heritage Auctions.

This sale shatters the previous record, set only two days earlier by the same house.

A cartridge of 

on NES, the first game of this other cult saga, was sold for $ 870,000 (733,000 euros).

A new world record for a video game sale!

A sealed Super Mario 64 just sold for $ 1,560,000 @HeritageAuction.

Watch Sophie Duncan with the call.

pic.twitter.com/grpeoJPxjy

- Tommy Noel (@TommyNoel) July 11, 2021

A game never opened in perfect condition

The eagerly awaited sale of this copy of 

 only lasted a few minutes and reached $ 1.3 million, to which must be added the 20% auction house fee. A record sum for a cult game and above all a piece of video game history. As in all 

, we jump, we go through pipes, we face Bowser and we save Princess Peach. Except that for the first time in his career, which began in 1981, the little mustached plumber was represented in 3D.

First called

, then renamed Mario, the world's most famous video game hero has remained extremely popular through the decades.

As a result, its old games attract the greed of collectors.

The cartridge sold yesterday was also in excellent condition, kept in its original box, never opened.

"There are no strong enough words to describe this copy. The cultural influence of the game and its importance in the history of video games are colossal and its state of preservation is breathtaking," the house commented. Heritage Auctions before the sale.

© Heritage Auctions

As a result, the cartridge was rated 9.8 out of 10 by experts, the highest rating ever given to a video game.

This is what determines the value at an auction and which allowed this specimen to break the record.

What could not do a copy of 

present in the same sale but rated "only" 9.6 out of 10.

A booming market

The collectible video game market has been booming for some time. In April, a

, the first game in the series, on NES, had set a record at $ 660,000. Record beaten on Friday, with a cartridge from another cult Nintendo game:

 sold for $ 870,000. A record which only lasted two days. And it's a safe bet that the price of cult games will continue to climb in the coming months, the rich buyers of today being the child gamers of the 1980s-1990s. Nostalgia is priceless ...