A collector assisting a vintage collectibles shop owner in Wisconsin has uncovered an astonishing find: 97 unreleased copies of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The cartridges, discovered in a storage unit, represent a unique variant of the game, featuring a manual on the back of each cartridge and a bilingual back label. This discovery is particularly remarkable given that Duck Hunt was a pack-in game for the NES, and by December 1995, when a shipping label on the box indicates these were prepared, the console was nearing the end of its lifecycle.
Jason Ganos, owner of NintendoWire, began helping Kevin Braun, owner of the shop OneStopWonders, with selling some of his inventory. Braun had acquired a box of NES cartridges six years prior from a seller whose grandfather reportedly worked for a precious metal recovery service. The story suggested that Nintendo sold surplus stock to the service for gold extraction from circuit boards. Initially skeptical, Ganos was surprised by the contents of the box, which had a sticker noting it contained 100 pieces of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt for the NES, shipped on December 1, 1995.
Upon inspection, Ganos found 97 individually wrapped copies. He initially believed they couldn't be valuable due to the game's widespread distribution. However, after sharing images on a collector's Facebook group, he was advised by directors from grading companies, including PSA Games, that the cartridges appeared to be either fake or a previously unseen variant. They noted differences in the back label, manual text, manufacturing dates, and the internal motherboard, which bore markings not found on known copies.
Further investigation, including detailed photographic evidence and Ganos's flight to California with the cartridges for authentication, confirmed their legitimacy. PSA graded 97 copies, with five receiving a perfect 10 — a score never before awarded to an NES cartridge. The grading breakdown included 60 9.8s, 31 9.6s, five 10s, and one 9.4. Claire Shelton, Head of PSA Video Games, expressed shock at the condition, noting the rarity of achieving such high grades due to the inherent imperfections in manufacturing.
The pristine condition of the cartridges was attributed in part to the plastic baggies they were stored in, protecting them from dust and micro-wear. The unique attributes of this find include their unopened state directly from the manufacturer, the new variant with a rear manual, and the bilingual back label. Shelton speculated that the value of these cartridges could range from the four-figure to potentially five-figure range, especially given the rarity and the high percentage of near-perfect grades.
Three of these cartridges are scheduled to go up for auction through Goldin Auctions starting August 12 and running for three weeks. Ganos also expressed a desire to auction one copy for charity.