A 1981 promotional poster for the original Donkey Kong, featuring the first public appearance of Mario, has become the the most expensive piece of original video game art ever sold at auction.
But this artwork nearly got thrown out in the garbage. According to Landry Pop Auctions, who facilitated the sale, a former Nintendo of America employee named Donna Darbous saved the poster from a collection of materials that were marked for disposal.
The poster was drawn by artist Leslie Cabarga as an arcade flyer for Nintendo of America, depicting Donkey Kong angrily hoisting a barrel over his head as a determined Mario — then simply named ‘Jumpman’ — makes his way up a building to save Pauline, who cowers in fear behind her hulking captor.
As told in a press release shared with IGN, this flyer has now sold for an eye-watering $329,400, making it the most expensive video game artwork ever sold at auction. That record was previously held by the original cover artwork for Prince of Persia, which sold at Heritage Auctions in 2023 for $63,000 — meaning the Donkey Kong poster blew it out of the water by a staggering $266,400.
The poster inspired a sale of other historic Nintendo artworks titled Landry Pop Auctions' Jumpman: The Beginning of an Icon. This event included original production artwork from Super Mario Bros. and even some of the first illustrations of the game series’ iconic enemies.
For example, original artwork of Mario and Luigi from Super Mario Bros.
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