A Nintendo Super Mario 64 game cartridge sold at auction for $1.56 million, making it the most expensive game in the world

• An unopened Nintendo Super Mario 64 game cartridge sold for $1.56 million at auction, making it the most expensive game in the world.
• Two days earlier, a Nintendo Legend of Zelda game sold for $870,000 by the same auction house.
• Last year, another Super Mario game released in the 80s was auctioned for $660,000.

An unopened Nintendo Super Mario 64 game cartridge sold for a record-breaking $1.56 million at auction on Sunday by Heritage Auctions. According to the Verge, it's now the most expensive game in the world.

The Super Mario 64 game - Mario's first 3D adventure - was released in 1996. On Heritage Auction's website, the starting price for the near-mint video cartridge game was $19. The identity of the buyer has not been made public.

The $1.56 million sale marks the third time the record for the world's most expensive game has been broken in 2021 alone.

Two days prior, on Friday, a Nintendo Legend of Zelda game from 1987 sold for $870,000 by the same auction house, per the AP. And another copy of Nintendo's Super Mario Bros sold for $660,000 in April. According to a report from the New York Times, it was purchased in 1986 but left in a desk drawer, where it was forgotten by its owner.

In June 2020, a US version of a Super Mario game released in 1985 sold for $114,000, reported the Verge.

As the coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a standstill, investors and collectors have been expanding their sights. The past year has seen people paying millions for NFT digital art in the form of GIFs and memes as well as nostalgia items like Pokemon cards and video games.