Last year, Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy, and more recently, it started the process of closing down all its stores in the United States. While there are currently some ongoing attempts to revive Toys R Us or save it in some capacity, the fact remains that almost all of the Toys R Us locations in the US have ceased operations or are in the process of closing down. This process has included some deep cleaning of the retail giant's various locations, and that has resulted in a rather interesting discovery.

It seems as though Toys R Us employee and Reddit user RaspberryChainsaw has found an old box for Mario Kart 64, the once-premiere multiplayer racer, under one of its shelves. The extremely dusty box was apparently empty, as it used to be commonplace for Toys R Us to remove games from their boxes and put them on display in anti-theft cases.

With Mario Kart 64 launching all the way back in 1997, one has to wonder just how long this box was hidden underneath the shelf. It's possible that it is an early-run of the game, though it's worth pointing out that Mario Kart 64's immense popularity meant that it was readily available through most of the Nintendo 64's lifespan and even beyond, so it could have been delivered to the store at a much later date.

Regardless, this is an exciting find, and it will be interesting to see if any other Toys R Us employees discover some hidden gems as they continue clearing out the stores.

Mario Kart 64, meanwhile, remains one of the most celebrated entries in series history. Alongside GoldenEye 007, it was once a fixture at college dorms, and remains a popular game at arcade bars. The game has also been re-released by Nintendo on a couple of occasions, including on both the Wii and Wii U Virtual Consoles.

Mario Kart 64 is out now for the Nintendo 64, and is available on Wii and Wii U through the Virtual Console.