Rare Discovery of Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt Cartridges

A few years back, a store owner in Wisconsin informed Jason Ganos, a notable Nintendo game collector, about a box of Super Mario cartridges sitting unused for years. This led to an important find.

The box contained 97 “absolutely pristine” copies of Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt. This well-known Nintendo game first came out in 1988. Ganos discovered these were a new variant and the last known production date.

Most cartridges will be auctioned online until September 9. Ganos, a dedicated fan with Nintendo tattoos and over a decade of operating Nintendo Wire, a news service, found the discovery almost unbelievable.

Kevin Braun, owner of One Stop Wonders near Milwaukee, asked Ganos for help with sales, which included standard Nintendo games and Pokémon cards. Braun had purchased the Mario cartridges years ago. They came from a family who kept them for metal scraps, believing them to be worthless. These cartridges, made in 1993, came after the bundle’s discontinuation in 1991. Braun and Ganos believe the copies might be warranty replacements or part of an uncompleted retail bundle.

Appreciating their potential significance, Ganos flew to California with the cartridges packed in his carry-on luggage, stressing over security checks. He sought verification and grading from video game experts to determine their value.

Professional Sports Authenticator video games never previously rated a cartridge a perfect 10. Five of Ganos’s set achieved this score. Ganos anticipates these perfect scores will hold historical value due to their connection to many people’s childhoods and the rarity of such a score in NES cartridges.

Collectors highly value ultrarare video game cartridges, especially those with unusual production backgrounds. Such items can fetch six- or seven-figure sums. Ganos remains unsure about the actual worth of the cartridges, given their unmatched nature in his experience. Predictions range from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars.

Ganos and Braun will auction three perfect 10 cartridges at Golden Pop’s Culture Auction. They plan to keep one each among the perfect 10s, along with others rated in the higher 9s. Though buyers can play the games, Ganos hopes they remain in mint condition.

Ganos reflected on the game’s significance, noting he first played Mario Duck Hunt as a child. After the current auction, Ganos and Braun intend to hold a charity auction.

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Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America places journalists in local newsrooms to cover underrepresented topics.