Weird News
Rare Mario Brothers cartridges being auctioned off for sale after unique find in Wisconsin
Wisconsin store owner Kevin Braun discovered a box of 97 pristine Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt cartridges in storage and shared the find with Nintendo
Key takeaways
- A box of 97 pristine Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt cartridges was found in storage in Wisconsin.
- The cartridges were manufactured in 1993, two years after Nintendo discontinued the bundle in 1991.
- Five of the 97 cartridges received a perfect 10 grading score from Professional Sports Authenticator.
- There has never been a perfect 10 score awarded to an NES cartridge before this discovery.
Wisconsin store owner Kevin Braun discovered a box of 97 pristine Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt cartridges in storage and shared the find with Nintendo collector Jason Ganos. The cartridges represent a rare 1993 variant produced after Nintendo discontinued the bundle in 1991. Ganos transported them to California for authentication, where five cartridges received a perfect 10 score from Professional Sports Authenticator - the first perfect 10s ever awarded to NES cartridges. Three of these perfect copies are being auctioned online.
The discovery yielded the first-ever perfect 10 graded NES cartridges in collecting history.
In their words
“I flew down to California with 97 carts in my carry-on luggage, sweating bullets going through TSA, like why do you have 97 little circuit boards in your carry on?”
“Like number one, it’s so many people’s childhoods, and number two, there’s never been a 10 in an NES cart before.”
By the numbers
- 97
- Pristine copies of Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt found
- 1993
- Production year of the newly discovered cartridges
- 1991
- Year Nintendo discontinued the game bundle
- 5
- Cartridges that received a perfect score of 10
- 3
- Perfect 10 cartridges being sold in the auction
How it unfolded
- Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt is originally released
- Nintendo discontinues the game bundle
- The newly discovered batch of cartridges is manufactured
Why this matters
-
The copies were likely either warranty replacements or part of a retail bundle that fell through.
Turn stories like this into views
Ravenclip finds the Weird News news, makes the video, and posts it before attention moves on.
Common questions
- What happened with the discovery of 97 rare, uncirculated Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt cartridges?
- A box of 97 pristine Super Mario Brothers Duck Hunt cartridges was found in storage in Wisconsin.
- Where can I read the original report?
- Read the full report at AP.
