We discovered a new variant of Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo Wire

What the report says

Nintendo Wire reported that a longtime video game collector uncovered what may be a previously undocumented variant of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt after examining a forgotten shipment of NES cartridges at OneStopWonders, a retro game store in Waukesha, Wisconsin. According to the account, store owner Kevin Braun had acquired a box of NES games years earlier and kept it in storage, not realizing it might have unusual historical significance.

The box reportedly contained 97 individually wrapped, unused copies of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt, each paired with a pristine manual and packaged in the type of bag used for official NES console bundles. Labels on the shipping box included Japanese text, “NOA,” a product description reading “Mario – Hunt Remanufactured NES,” a listed quantity of 100, and a date of 12/19/95. Nintendo Wire said a translation of the Japanese label indicated it referred to 100 assembled NES cartridges.

The article says Braun had been told the box came from inventory that was supposed to be processed by a precious-metal recovery service in the late 1980s or early 1990s, but the shipment was never salvaged and remained in a garage for decades. That origin story is presented as part of the store owner’s account, not independently verified in the supplied text.

After photos were shared with a high-end gaming collectors group, Nintendo Wire said representatives from two grading companies noticed unusual details and requested closer images and an internal board inspection. The reported conclusion was that the cartridges had a back label not previously documented, potentially making the find significant for collectors and video game preservation despite the base title being one of the NES library’s most common releases.