Full Breakdown
Rare Nintendo Cartridges Unearthed in Wisconsin
8/10/2026, 1:13:35 AM
Discovery and Contents
A storage unit in Waukesha, Wisconsin, yielded a box of roughly 100 Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges containing an undocumented variant of Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. The find includes 97 intact cartridges that were never melted for precious metal, despite a seller’s claim that Nintendo had sent the box to a metal-recovery service for gold extraction. The cartridges differ from standard releases in their back-sticker, screws, manuals, and motherboard designs, marking them as a distinct production run printed about two years after the last known printing of the games.
Unique Characteristics and Grading
Collectors note that the cartridges’ condition is exceptional; several have earned a PSA 10 grade—the first such rating for any NES title. The altered labels, hardware components, and documentation make the set one of the most-documented video-game artifacts ever uncovered, according to experts.
Auction Plans and Potential Value
Three of the cartridges are slated for auction in August through Golden Auctions. Industry observers suggest the rarity and pristine condition could drive sales into the multi-million-dollar range, though exact estimates remain unsettled.
Official Comments
Jason Ganos of Nintendo Wire, a longtime video-game collector, described the discovery as “once in a lifetime” and emphasized its significance for preservation. He noted that the variant’s unique hardware details have never been seen before and that the find underscores a gap in Nintendo’s production history. Ganos added that the community’s reaction confirms the find’s importance within the collector market.
Verbatim Quotes
- “These were printed about two years after the last known printing of these games. So no one understands fully why Nintendo made a box of 100 of these,” — Jason Ganos, of Nintendo Wire
- “The back sticker on the cartridge is different. The screws are different. The manual is different. Even the motherboard for the game is different. So this is one of the most-documented games in the history of video game preservation and nobody has seen these specific carts before,” — Jason Ganos, of Nintendo Wire
- “In the video game community, it's a very, very big deal. This is one of the most documented video games in history, and to find a new variant that pretty much was sitting in a warehouse for 30 years, that's something that's special,” — Jason Ganos, of Nintendo Wire
