First-Print Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow Games Sell Together for $2 Million

Three sealed first-print Pokémon Game Boy games have reportedly sold together for $2 million in one of the largest video game collecting transactions ever recorded. The deal included first-print copies of Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue and Pokémon Yellow, according to an Instagram post documenting the transaction and a report from IGN.

IGN described the $2 million deal as the second-largest video game transaction ever reported. Nostalgix, a private collectibles brokerage service was the company the facilitated the transaction. The highest selling video game of all time was a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. that sold through Heritage Auctions for $3 million.

The three games represent some of the earliest U.S. releases from the first generation of Pokémon games, making their packaging variations particularly important to sealed video game collectors.

Unlike later printings that can appear nearly identical at first glance, collectors distinguish early Pokémon Game Boy releases through differences in box artwork, ESRB markings, text and other production details.

Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue introduced the franchise to North American Game Boy players in 1998, followed by Pokémon Yellow in 1999. Finding unopened examples from those early production runs in exceptional condition has become increasingly difficult as collectors place greater emphasis on sealed games, print variations and historically important releases.

The $2 million transaction is especially notable because the three games were sold as a group rather than individually. That makes the deal less useful as a direct price comparison for any single copy of Red, Blue or Yellow, but it provides another major benchmark for the upper end of the vintage video game market.

The transaction also highlights the growing overlap between high-end Pokémon collecting and sealed video game collecting. Pokémon’s largest sales have traditionally been associated with trading cards, particularly trophy cards and rare promotional releases, but early sealed games have increasingly become centerpiece collectibles in their own right.