You know what's wild? Video games have become the most expensive collectibles on the market, and we're not just talking pocket change here.

The pandemic really changed things. While everyone was locked down, people started hunting for rare cartridges like they were hunting for vintage cars or baseball cards. But video games? That's a whole different beast. Some sealed copies of classic Nintendo titles have sold for absolutely insane amounts.

Let me break down what we're talking about. Back in July 2020, a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. hit $114,000 at auction. That was already mind-blowing. But then things escalated fast. Within a year, the same game would fetch $2 million. Yeah, you read that right. The most expensive game in the world at that time was an original NES cartridge.

In April 2021, another Super Mario Bros. copy went for $660,000. Heritage Auctions called it the finest known example with the original hangtab packaging. This one had an interesting backstory too - it was literally forgotten in a desk drawer for 35 years after being bought as a Christmas gift in 1986.

Then summer 2021 happened and things went absolutely crazy. Early July, Super Mario 64 became the first video game ever to cross seven figures, selling for $1.56 million. Two days before that, The Legend of Zelda commanded $870,000. Both were sealed, unopened copies - that's the key to these astronomical prices.

But the real shocker came in August when that $2 million Super Mario Bros. sale went down. An anonymous collector dropped serious money on what's essentially the most expensive game in the world by that metric. The cartridge was in pristine condition, original packaging intact. Rally, the collectibles platform, facilitated the deal and had actually acquired the cartridge just a year earlier for $140,000. The value jumped 14 times in twelve months.

What makes these games so valuable? Condition is everything. We're talking sealed, never opened, original packaging - that's rare. Most copies of these games got played, wore out, got thrown away. Finding a mint condition example is like finding a needle in a haystack.

The Nintendo connection is huge too. Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda - these are the games that defined gaming for Gen X and millennial collectors. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and when you combine that with scarcity, prices go through the roof.

What's interesting is how fast this market emerged. Video game collectibles went from basically nothing to a million-dollar category in just a few years. The right sealed cartridge from the 1980s or 1990s could genuinely make you rich. That's not hyperbole anymore - it's just market reality. The most expensive game in the world shows just how far this has gone.