Left Vs Right Super Mario Bros 3 - What's So Special About Left Bros

In this episode, we dive deep into the rarity of left Bros, the original cartridge and label variant of Super Mario Bros 3, and discuss what is so special about Left Bros & why it may be more valuable.

There are so many amazing titles for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, and many of those titles had cartridge variants. Everybody knows about the original gold Legend of Zelda game, but how many people have seen the gray cart variant? Metroid had such a famous label with gameplay footage on it, but what about the second label with Samus in her suit? One of the more sought-after variants happens to belong to one of the most popular and best games for the NES, that being Super Mario Bros 3, and the tale of the left Bros.

When Super Mario Bros 3 was originally released, it had a slightly different box, manual, and cartridge art. Whereas many people know the label is having the Bros butted up to the three, the original variants had Bros under the left-hand side of the logo above Mario's right hand. This only lasted through the initial batch of Super Mario Bros 3, as later revisions had the more traditional placement that we all remember. While not super rare, it is desirable and collectible. In August 2022 a standard right Super Mario Bros 3 loose is worth about $10, but a left Bros is worth about 25. When you get to the boxed copies, a boxed right Bros is worth about $50 to $60, and a left Bros is worth $150 to $200.

I managed to find this copy of left Bros while waiting for a Target pickup order. Just a few doors down from that store is a Disc Replay, and they specialize in used media including video games. I was making my final pass through the store before heading to go get my Target order when IT caught my eye. "That couldn't be a left Bros," I thought to myself. "Left Bros has to be the common one, right Bros is the rare one, right?" I did some quick searching on my phone and sure enough, it was a left Bros and it was the more rare variant. I waved over to one of the guys working the counter and snatched it up to take home.

This particular copy was not the cleanest I had ever seen, it looked like there may have been a little bit of water damage to the label, but you really need to look to notice it. There was also some dirt on the top of the cartridge, and when I ran a 1UP Cleaning Card over the pins I got a lot of dirt out. I had heard through one of the comments to the community post about the left Bros that I posted that speedrunners actually preferred left Bros since it ran a little bit faster. I had always assumed that the boards and the chipsets were the same, so I decided to open up the cartridge to compare.

I was a bit surprised to see that almost none of the chips are the same between the left Bros and the right Bros that I picked up a few years ago. More than that, I was concerned about the overall condition of the pins in this game. This is one of the worst-looking games that I've ever seen regarding dirt and corrosion. These pins had been neglected and abused for some time, and a 1UP Cleaning Card would not suffice in this situation.

I spent about 25 minutes cleaning, polishing, recleaning, and repolishing with a combination of cotton swabs, Brite Boy, and 1UP Cards. When I was done I had a nice little pile of cotton swabs sitting on the bench, this game was filthy. I'm glad that I opened it up to take a look at it, I don't want that kind of Gunk and mess in the pins of my NES. When I put it into my system, it popped right to life, something I was relieved to see.

I don't tend to seek out variance or oddball versions of things, if I have the item to use and play I'm generally pretty happy. Being such a fan of Super Mario Bros 3, however, this was one I needed to go ahead and pick up. I will be looking for a box and a manual to complete the set down the road, but for right now I'm just glad that I have both cartridges. Have you ever found a valuable variant or rare version of a game in the wild? Do you have a left bros? Did you know it was a thing? I'm glad that I knew it was a thing and excited to go ahead and complete this for my collection.

#NES #RareGames #LeftBros #SMB3 #SuperMario3