A video game has sold for well over $100,000 in the United States, the highest ever price at an auction.

News that will send gamers scrambling up into their loft searching for their old school games that could earn them a fortune. 

A sealed copy of Super Mario Bros 3 for the NES was sold to an anonymous collector for a whopping $156,000 (£116,793) by Heritage Auctions, in Texas.

While the game was one of the most popular of its era, meaning it would have been mass-produced with many copies likely still around, the rare version that sold at auction had a very slight variation, making it a collector’s dream.

Why was it so expensive?

On the front of the game cartridge, the word “Bros” appears to the left of Mario, whereas the standard version of the art shows the word to his right.

Bidding started out at $62,500 and the eventual winner managed to outbid 20 other collectors to take home the special copy of Super Mario Bros 3.

Also sold during the same auction was a sealed copy of Pokemon Red for the Nintendo Gameboy, which went for $84,000 (£62,889).

Are there other games which could be worth a lot of money?

With so many collectors all over the world and more than four decades worth of video game memorabilia to pick from, there are plenty of other old games that can fetch a high price at auction or online.

Vintage, unopened special edition games are going for as much as £28,000 on eBay right now, and even some classic games go for more than £1000, so it’s worth checking those boxes in the loft to see if there’s any treasure hidden among your old games.

Here are some of the super-rare old video games that are going for big money on eBay right now:

  • Sealed Duck Hunt 1984 Hong Kong for NES in blue box - £18,440.73
  • Sealed Super Mario Bros 1985 for NES first print - £16,135.57
  • Sealed Final Fantasy 1987 for NES - £8,644.36
  • Sealed Super Mario World 1990 for SNES - £7,500
  • Sealed Super Mario Kart 1992 for SNES - £7,484.16

Several classic games are also selling for significantly more than their original cost too, including:

  • Diablo for PlayStation 1 - £1,138.71
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for Sega Genesis - £1,135.51
  • Shadowgate for Nintendo 64 - £995
  • Snowboard Kids 2 for Nintendo 64 - £966.47
  • Alien vs Predator for SNES - £600