Super Mario Bros. 2 Inspires Fierce Competition in Heritage Sale

The sealed Super Mario Bros. 2 is among dozens of video games certified by CGC Video Games in the August auction.

Posted on: 8/7/2023

A Super Mario Bros. 2 graded by CGC Video Games™ is competing for the top spot in an ongoing Heritage Auctions sale. The sealed Nintendo Entertainment System classic is among more than 70 CGC-certified video games in Heritage’s 8 to 64-Bit Video Games Showcase Auction, for which bidding is set to end on August 24, 2023.

The sealed Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (1993) is graded CGC 9.4 A+ (lot 79046). Super Mario Bros. 2 was a major contributor to the video game industry’s revival in North America. Interestingly, the Super Mario Bros. 2 released to North America was not the original sequel — its Japanese counterpart is called Super Mario USA, while the pure sequel (which was only released in Japan) was deemed too hard for North American players.

Meanwhile, a sealed Tetris for the Nintendo Entertainment System (1989) graded CGC 9.0 A++ (lot 79053) is turning heads. This version of Tetris was developed by Atari Games and published by Tengen for the NES. Unfortunately, the game was never licensed for use on the NES. Additionally, issues surrounding the publishing rights for Tetris led to a legal battle between Nintendo and Atari. Nintendo ultimately won the right to publish console versions of Tetris, while Atari was regulated to arcade versions. Since they lost the battle, Atari was forced to recall every copy of Tengen’s Tetris just four weeks after its release, making this game incredibly rare.

Other CGC-certified highlights in the auction include:

  • a sealed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters for the Nintendo Entertainment System (1994) graded CGC 9.8 A and pedigreed to the Mark Freedman Collection (lot 79052)
  • a Nintendo Power #1 (Nintendo of America Inc., 1988) graded CGC 9.2 (lot 79144)
  • a sealed Snake’s Revenge for the Nintendo Entertainment System (1990) graded CGC 9.6 A+ (lot 79038)
  • a sealed The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1992) graded CGC 7.0 A (lot 79075)
  • a Nintendo Power #1, (Nintendo of America Inc., 1988) graded CGC 9.0 (lot 79145)
  • a sealed Zombies Ate My Neighbors for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1993) graded CGC 9.2 A+ (lot 79096)