A few years back, the owner of a pop culture shop in Wisconsin mentioned to Jason Ganos, an avid Nintendo collector, that he had a box of Super Mario cartridges gathering dust in a warehouse. Ganos was instantly intrigued.
He found out it contained an exceptionally rare collection of 97 “completely new” copies of the beloved 1988 game “Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt.”
After digging a little deeper, Ganos realized not only was the cartridge a new variant, but it also represented the last known manufacturing date of that game.
Most of the cartridges are set to be auctioned online starting this Friday and will be available until September 9th.
“I still can’t quite believe this is actually happening,” Ganos shared. “It’s all a bit coincidental and strange to me.”
A passionate Nintendo enthusiast with tattoos and a background running Nintendo Wire, a service tracking Nintendo news for over a decade, Ganos was hesitant to guess what the game might be worth.
Yet, upon seeing the box, he sensed its significance.
“It felt like discovering the Holy Grail,” he remarked, adding later, “They’re extraordinary.”
This amazing find occurred after Kevin Brown, who owns One Stop Wonders in Waukesha, a Milwaukee suburb, consulted Ganos for assistance in selling various Nintendo games and Pokémon cards.
Brown recounted how he acquired the Mario cartridges years ago from a customer whose family considered them scrap metal, unaware of their potential value.
The Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt cartridge in question was produced in 1993, years after the bundle was discontinued in 1991. Brown and Ganos are puzzled as to why it was made, suspecting it could be a warranty replacement or part of a retail bundle that never sold.
Realizing the value of what they had, Ganos quickly booked a flight.
“I took 97 cartridges with me in my carry-on, sweating through the security line. I remember thinking, ‘What if they ask about all these circuit boards?'” Ganos recalled, feeling anxious during the security check.
Once he cleared security, he met with a game expert to verify and assess the cartridges, which helped him gauge their worth.
No cartridge has ever achieved a perfect score of 10 on the Pro Sports Authenticator scale for video games, Ganos mentioned, and astonishingly, five of his 97 received that coveted score.
“I believe a 10 holds historical significance,” he explained when discussing potential auction values. “It’s tied to so many childhoods, and until now, no NES cartridge had ever scored that high.”
Ultra-rare video game cartridges—especially those with unique manufacturing stories—often fetch six- to seven-figure amounts among collectors. Ganos noted that the pristine condition of the 97 cartridges makes them even more valuable, similar to high-grade comic books or sports cards.
However, Ganos hesitates to speculate on a final value since nothing he has seen compares to these collectibles. They could be worth hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands, he reasoned.
At the Golden Pop’s Culture Auction starting on Friday, Ganos and Brown plan to auction off just three of the 10-rated cartridges. They each possess a copy scored at 10, alongside several others rated 9 or above.
The buyer can choose to play the game, but Ganos prefers to keep these pristine.
“Finding uncirculated items is thrilling for me,” he admitted, remembering how important this game was during his childhood. “Mario Duck Hunt was a massive part of my growing-up years.”
After the current auction, Brown and Ganos aim to hold a charity auction.
