Mario gave a wholesome injection of life to the gaming business in 1985 with the primary Super Mario Bros. on the Famicom (NES) in Japan. Since then, Mario has launched many new consoles and has pushed tech-forward into the 3D area and even jumped into area itself.
There’s hardly a extra wealthy and traditionally vital legacy than Mario in gaming, so collectors have naturally held nice curiosity within the storied franchise. Here are 10 of the rarest and most costly Mario video games that can empty your pockets.
Like our earlier lists, PriceCharting is the supply used for brand spanking new and used recreation values. We’re rating these Mario gems utilizing the New Price listings, from lowest to highest. We embody the common used value as properly based mostly on the “Loose Price” from PriceCharting. Console bundles should not included since they usually high these lists and skew particular person recreation values.
10. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (SNES)
$1,156 New | $38.86 Used
Nintendo’s follow-up to Super Mario World didn’t come till the Super Nintendo was 4 years previous. The recreation is titled Super Mario World 2 regardless of not starring Mario as the principle character. This title was contentious to gamers since Yoshi’s Island is a prequel to present Mario video games and solely featured Mario as a child. regardless, Nintendo considers it as Super Mario World 2, and its high quality actually displays that.
The title just isn’t the one factor that put some gamers off of Yoshi’s Island. The Super Nintendo was nearing the top of its life cycle when Super Mario World 2 was launched. Some gamers have been already fixated on Nintendo’s leap to 3D with the upcoming Nintendo 64, and as a outcome, Yoshi’s Island grew to become considered one of a handful of video games to turn out to be considerably uncommon and underrated.
Despite the title confusion and launch so near Nintendo’s new 3D console, Yoshi’s Island stays probably the most beloved Mario video games. Yoshi’s Island’s high quality might be attributed to Nintendo EAD spending a full 4 years to develop the sport, an unprecedented growth cycle again then. Now, sealed copies of this Super Nintendo traditional fetch a premium with latest gross sales eclipsing $1,000.
9. Mario Kart 64 [Player’s Choice]
$1,189 New | $39.75 Used
Releasing on the daybreak of 1997 in America, Mario Kart 64 realized Nintendo’s push for 3D in high-octane kart racing kind. The Nintendo 64’s emphasis on multiplayer video games launched 4 controller slots to consoles for the primary time. Every 90s child remembers simply how enjoyable get-togethers have been with all of the four-player get together video games the Nintendo 64 had in its lineup.
As such, the console able to rendering 3D environments and 4 simultaneous gamers bought remarkably properly. Mario Kart 64 would go on to carry the quantity two place when it comes to Nintendo 64 recreation gross sales with a whopping 10 million items bought as of November 2023. But there’s one version of the sport that grew to become a bit much less frequent.
Player’s Choice was a label Nintendo used to promote video games that bought probably the most copies on the console. As such, these copies usually got here later within the console’s life cycle after the preliminary fervor of the sport died down. The relative shortage of Mario Kart 64 Player’s Choice Edition assist make it probably the most costly Mario video games with a latest instance being bought for $2,500 in April 2023.
8. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
$1,700 New | $18.44 Used
The West didn’t get Super Mario Bros. 3 till early 1990, a full 12 months and a half after the preliminary Japanese launch of the sport. Despite being launched near the brand new Super Nintendo console, Super Mario Bros. 3 proved to be one of many all-time greats when it comes to high quality and gross sales.
Super Mario Bros. 3 marked the second the collection got here into its personal. It firmly takes the whole lot that got here earlier than and does a masterclass with it. Levels not adopted one another in a locked linear sample. Mario 3 as a substitute gave gamers a vigorous overworld dotted with branching paths and hidden secrets and techniques. The explorative nature of Super Mario Bros. 3 grew to become a definitive carryover for the video games that adopted, together with the wildly well-liked Super Mario World.
Because of its status as one of many all-time greats within the collection and its progressive reputation within the West, North American sealed copies of Super Mario Bros. 3 fetch the best value of all of them.
7. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
$1,916 New | $89.99 Used
Releasing simply 4 months earlier than the Nintendo 64 console was the brand new Mario RPG co-developed by SquareDelicate on the Super Nintendo. Everything about this recreation was weird and wonderful in equal measure. This would mark the primary time Nintendo collaborated with RPG large Square whereas they have been on the top of their craft.
Because of the late launch and the unconventional style coming from Nintendo, Super Mario RPG grew to become a very uncommon and scorching merchandise on the accumulating scene. This is a type of video games that even sells properly used. If you might have a beat-up previous copy of this recreation for Super Nintendo mendacity in a closet like I do, you would simply get $100 for it.
The new Super Mario RPG Remake of the identical recreation has since boosted consciousness of the previous Super Nintendo traditional. Now, gross sales for the sport are projected to extend much more than they have been earlier than. A brand new copy of the SNES recreation bought for $1,532 the identical month the Remake was launched.
6. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
$2,375 New | $21.92 Used
Super Mario Bros. 2 was really based mostly on a prototype tech demo for the Family Computer Disk System. Presented on the Yume Kōjō ’87 media expertise expo, Doki Doki Panic used pageant theming for the characters and environments. Super Mario Bros. 2 would develop from this prototype, eschewing the problem of Lost Levels and creating a way more polished and distinctive recreation.
Like most video video games launched earlier than the 12 months 2000, the true sequel to the primary Super Mario Bros. got here to the West after its preliminary Japanese launch. Today, English variations of Super Mario Bros. 2 promote for over $2,000, granted it’s a sealed copy of the sport. Out of all of the video games on this listing, Super Mario Bros. 2 has been probably the most constant sellers with steady gross sales on the thousand-dollar mark month after month.
5. Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)
$2,557 New | $32.36 Used
Long thought-about probably the most revolutionary video games of all time, Super Mario 64 launched with the forward-thinking Nintendo 64. Super Mario 64 rendered advanced platforming phases in full 3D and but someway nonetheless retained that Nintendo high quality we’ve come to depend on.
Well, collectors find it irresistible simply as a lot as we avid gamers do, because the English version has turn out to be probably the most precious Mario video games. A bit a part of the explanation for its excessive worth might be attributed to the easy incontrovertible fact that Mario’s first foray into 3D generated a lot hype and recognition. Super Mario 64 is the best-selling recreation on the Nintendo 64 console, and discovering a sealed copy is like working into a gold mine at present.
4. Mario Bros. Arcade Classic Series (NES)
$3,259 New | $32.02 Used
The authentic Mario Bros. on the Atari 2600 wasn’t the revolutionary hit that Super Mario Bros. would go on to be, however it was nonetheless well-liked. Mario Bros. wasn’t a platformer in any respect, however somewhat a bout of fight in a vertical enviornment. Versions of Mario Bros. could be included in lots of Nintendo video games to come back such because the Mario All Stars model of Super Mario. Bros 3.
While the unique Atari Mario Bros. is price a fairly penny averaging round $800 for a new copy, its NES sibling model would go on to be really precious. The Nintendo Entertainment System launched a collection of traditional arcade video games with touched-up visuals and controls titled the Arcade Classic Series. Mario Bros. was one such recreation to grace the lineup and has since rocketed in worth turning into the fourth highest-selling Mario recreation available on the market.
3. Super Mario Bros. YM-901 (Game & Watch)
$3,487 New | $750 Used
This one’s wild. Most avid gamers at present know Game & Watch from Smash Bros. The odd character’s stilted actions echo the {hardware} it was based mostly on. Game & Watch was a moveable machine used to play first-party arcade video games with a watch inbuilt to inform time and set alarms to. It grew to become a scorching vendor in Japan because of the nature of commuting and the necessity for handheld gadgets.
Game & Watch was often full of only one or two video games put in, which entailed many many variations tailor-made for particular video games. One significantly well-liked Game & Watch title was Super Mario Bros. No, not that Super Mario Bros., a fully distinctive Game & Watch model with all of the stilted animation and quirkiness that comes with it. It’s a fully totally different recreation from the traditional we’ve come to know, as might be seen on this playthrough of the sport:
Super Mario Bros. for the Game & Watch nonetheless retained that eight world platforming construction the unique had, however the whole lot from platforms to Mario himself was designed within the Game & Watch fashion. The YM-901 launch of Super Mario Bros. had a distinctive yellow “Mr. Famicom” recreation case with googly eyes on the entrance. Only 10,000 of those restricted version Game & Watch copies have been printed, and will solely be obtained by successful Nintendo’s Japanese raffles from 1987.
2. Super Mario Bros. (NES)
$3,692 New | $13.33 Used
The recreation that legitimized video gaming as a factor, Super Mario. Bros single-handedly saved the gaming crash of the 80s. It was one of many first platforming video games to attach dozens of distinctive ranges throughout a single marketing campaign. Most video games as much as that time have been identified for his or her brevity and short-term playability from the arcade format. Super Mario Bros. gave gamers a prolonged recreation with distinctive design from begin to end proper from the consolation of their house.
This reputation would proceed on into the 2000s when the earliest sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. was bought for a whopping $2 million on the Pawn Stars present. While that $2 million value was actually an anomaly based mostly on the primary version grading of the cartridge, sealed copies of the sport nonetheless promote properly over $3,000. As of 2023, NES copies of English variations of Super Mario Bros. promote for $3,500 new.
1. Super Mario World (SNES)
$4,200 New | $16.50 Used
Super Mario World launched the world to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System again in 1991 as a launch title. The recreation would outsell each online game on the time. Not solely has Super Mario World stood the take a look at of time on the resell market, however it’s held up as probably the greatest platforming video games of all time.
Whether it’s due to its reputation on the Super Nintendo, or as a result of Super Mario World remains to be extremely thought to be the most effective Mario recreation at present, copies promote for insanely excessive quantities new. Super Mario World is a very uncommon recreation to search out unopened as a result of it was such a darn enjoyable recreation that demanded to be performed. Because of this, the discrepancy between new and used costs is laughably large. Used copies of Super Mario World might be present in each retro recreation retailer possible fetching costs as little as $15, but sealed copies stay a distant dream for collectors demanding $4,000 and up.
That sums up the highest 10 rarest and most costly Mario video games we’ll by no means get our palms on. What are some precious video games you personal? Check out our different uncommon video games lists right here on Twinfinite.
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