An auction recently saw the sale of three immaculate copies of the first Pokemon games: Red, Blue, and Yellow. These games fetched an impressive $2 million, making them the second most expensive retro games ever sold at auction, surpassed only by a copy of Super Mario Bros, which sold for $3 million in June 2026.
With older Pokemon TCG cards consistently commanding high prices, often leading to issues like scalping, it’s unsurprising that the original Generation I games have also achieved significant value.
Each of the Pokemon games sold had near-perfect PSA scores
The PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) grades, commonly used to evaluate TCG cards, are also applicable to video games. The sold copies received the following grades:
- Red Version: 10
- Blue Version: 9.8
- Yellow Version: 10
These scores are exceptional, even for the Blue Version. Given these games are about three decades old, and with the franchise celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, finding any physical copies in such a condition is remarkable. The PSA rarely awards perfect scores to video games, but in this case, no flaws were detected.
It is likely these games were never played and will be preserved as artifacts of gaming history. The sale was facilitated by the brokerage service Nostalgix, transferring ownership from an anonymous collector to other individuals. This collection is referred to as The Dubal Collection, likely due to the high prices and the affluent buyers involved.
Edited by Akash Sil
