Pokemon Red & Yellow sell at auction for record-breaking $162,000

Two sealed copies of Pokemon Red & Yellow sold at auction on November 20 for mind-blowing amounts of money. The 90s Game Boy RPGs broke records and brought in over $160k combined.

Pokemon made its North American debut in 1998, and quickly became a cultural phenomena. The series is just months away from its 25th anniversary, and has never been more popular. In 2019, reports listed the Nintendo property as the highest-grossing media franchise of all time, in fact.

In 2020, the 1999 Trading Card Game has had a major revival in popularity, with items selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, now it looks like it’s not just the TCG that is seeing an explosion in value, as two Game Boy RPGs sold for as much as a house during a November 20 auction.

Pokemon Red & Yellow sell for insane amount of money

For many children of the 90s, their introduction to Pokemon was through the Game Boy titles, Red & Blue. The Game Freak RPGs hooked players with their addictive “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” mechanics. Decades later, adults are spending absurds amount of cash to rekindle their nostalgia.

On November 20, a 1998 sealed copy of Red sold for a whopping $84k, and a 1999 Yellow $78k. Both items were sold off at Heritage Auctions where bidders spent an absurd amount on the rare collectibles. In total, the two classic releases brought in $162k – a new record for both games.

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It should be pointed out that both copies were sealed and had a 9.8 rating in condition by professional grading company Wata. Finding these 21-year-old collectibles in such pristine quality is nearly impossible in 2020.

Pokemon has had a massive year so far in terms of collectibles. A sealed 1st Edition booster box from the 1999 Trading Card Game sold at the same auction company a day earlier for over $360,000.

As Pokemon inches closer to its 25th anniversary in 2021, the Nintendo franchise has never been hotter. Kids around the world that fell in love with the Nintendo RPGs are now grown up and wanting to recapture their childhood.

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With the game set to have a major presence at the Tokyo Summer Olympics next year as well, the sky is the limit as to how much items from the series are going to continue to rise in value – but it doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon.