100 Unknown Super Mario Cartridges Found in Wisconsin

Sometimes the most incredible treasures hide in the most ordinary places.

Kevin Braun, owner of Onestopwonders in Waukesha, Wisconsin, bought a box of old Nintendo games two to three years ago from a man who'd kept them untouched in his garage for decades. The box sat forgotten behind Halloween decorations in Braun's storage unit until recently, when a conversation with gaming expert Jason Ganos prompted him to take a closer look.

What he found left collectors stunned. Nearly 100 copies of a completely unknown version of Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt sat inside, featuring different screws, labels, motherboards, and manuals than any previously documented variant.

The discovery gets even more remarkable. The production date stamped on the box reads 1993, two full years after the last known copy of this iconic game combination was supposedly manufactured. These cartridges were originally destined for a metal recovery service to be melted down for gold, but somehow escaped destruction.

While the games play identically to familiar versions, the physical cartridges themselves represent an entirely new piece of gaming archaeology. Professional Sports Authenticator graded several of the cartridges a perfect 10, marking the first time any Nintendo Entertainment System game has achieved that rating.

The Ripple Effect

The timing couldn't be better for the video game collecting community. Just this past June, a high-grade Super Mario Bros. cartridge sold for a record-breaking $3 million at Heritage Auctions. Claire Shelton, head of Professional Sports Authenticator Games, confirms the entire video game collectibles market is experiencing incredible growth.

Ganos, owner of Nintendo Wire, believes these cartridges were likely manufactured either as replacement stock for warranty repairs or for a bundle that was planned but never released. His expertise gives weight to that theory. After all, Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt is one of the most documented and popular video games in history, making this gap in the historical record even more surprising.

Three of the cartridges are scheduled to go up for auction at Goldin Auctions on Friday. Collectors worldwide are watching closely, eager to own a piece of gaming history that wasn't supposed to exist.

"Finding this kind of thing is just unheard of," Ganos said. For gaming enthusiasts and collectors, this Wisconsin storage unit just became the most exciting archaeological site in the world.