Rare video games have sold for millions before, but an upcoming auction might set a new bar for collectors.
A game shop in Waukesha, Wisconsin recently discovered nearly 100 copies of a never-before-seen version of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridges in storage, ABC7 News reports. The cartridges, which feature different labels, manuals, screws and motherboards than earlier copies, are especially rare, having been created two years after the last known run of the game.
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They’re also in pristine shape. Prior to this discovery, no Nintendo cartridge has ever been given a 10 out of 10 rating by Professional Sports Authenticator video games, the authoritative grading service Five of the 97 games found in the storage unit received that perfect rating
That could make them especially valuable to collectors. Kevin Braun, owner of Onestopwonders, the pop culture store that had the games, and Nintendo game collector Jason Ganos, who helped verify the cartridges and got them rated, are expected to sell three of the five cartridges that got a perfect score of 10, while keeping one each for themselves.
The auction will take place onlineot yet been posted to the site.)
An unexpected gift
Braun came into possession of the cartridges two to three years ago when he bought the box of games from a man who had them stored in his garage for 20 to 30 years. The games were apparently destined to be melted down by a metal recovery service for the gold in the motherboards, but for some reason they were never destroyed.
Braun discovered the box tucked away behind Halloween decorations in his storage unit and mentioned them to Ganos, who encouraged him to open the box after hearing about the cartridges.
The games themselves are a curiosity. They were made in 1993, which is two years after Nintendo had cancelled the game bundle, which was included with most Nintendo Entertainment Systems in the mid- to late-80s and early 90s. (Both Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt are typically on a single cartridge.) Neither Braun nor Ganos know why the cartridges were made.
