Super Mario Bros. has been a household name for quite some time, with fans recently celebrating the 25th anniversary of Super Mario 64. A known staple of the Mario series is the coins scattered throughout each game, which Mario and his friends can collect by defeating enemies or traversing the environment. There has been speculation about how much these coins could actually be worth, and a recent article may have answered the question.

Currency in video games is common, helping to provide a monetary system that allows players to purchase and sell items within economic frameworks. Having a form of currency can provide a sense of normalcy in games with wilder themes, or can simply act as a form of regulated progression through the experience. It can be used as a form of scoring as well, leading some (like some GTA Online players) to aggressively acquire as much money as possible.

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Gold coins are the most common form of currency found across all of the Super Mario games. Other types of coins with differing worth have found their way into the series over time, like the redy coins in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island and the purple coins in Super Mario Galaxy. The gold coins remain the most popular variation, even recently appearing as an Easter egg in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

Mario’s Coins Are Incredibly Valuable

A recent article written by Barbara Davidson at NetCredit analyzed a wide variety of fictional video game currencies to determine the wealth of 12 specific characters. The study also focused on the determination of how valuable each game currency is by using the comparison of in-game items to the value of the real-world counterpart. It was determined that the coins from the Super Mario Bros. series have the most real-world value, with one coin at an estimated worth of $80,000.

The exchange rate for Mario’s coins was explained by determining the value of Mario’s life through coins in relation to a real person’s value. When Mario collects 100 gold coins throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, he is awarded an extra life. Looking at the value of a human life, the insurance industry claims that the worth is around $8 million for a single person. Using simple division, it is calculated the worth of one gold coin being $80,000, which is more than any of the other video game currencies that were included in the study.

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Using the real-world value of Mario’s coins and considering the large number of coins collected throughout the Super Mario series, NetCredit also estimated Mario’s net worth at $805,676,122,480. The study even goes one step further by determining New Super Mario Bros. 2 to be the game where Mario accrued the most coins, with an estimated haul of almost 10 million gold coins, which equates to $799,999,920,000 collected. It seems that the Super Mario Bros. have done really well for themselves (assuming Luigi has done a significant amount of collecting himself), which might explain how Mario gets to do so many fun things like taking his friends golfing in the new Mario Golf: Super Rush.

Source: NetCredit

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About The Author


Mason Teague
(150 Articles Published)

Mason is a freelance Game Features Writer for Screen Rant with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Media from Wingate University. Being involved in video game journalism has always been a goal of Mason’s, and being able to contribute his gaming knowledge to Screen Rant is a dream come true. Working out of North Carolina, Mason spends his free time trying to catch up on his backlog of games or finishing one of the 10 TV shows he’s currently watching.

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