Three unopened, first-print copies of the original Pokémon Blue, Red and Yellow Game Boy cartridges have sold for a combined $2 million (approximately £1.57 million), in what is being described as the second-largest graded video game transaction on record. The sale, brokered by collectibles firm Nostalgix, went to the owner of the Dubai Collection, one of the world's most prominent video game and trading card collections, and underlines how far the market for pristine retro physical media has grown.

Each cartridge was graded by PSA, a leading third-party grading authority, achieving near-perfect scores of 9.8 for Blue and a flawless 10 for both Red and Yellow, making them the highest-graded first-print set of the games ever recorded. The deal ranks just behind a single Super Mario Bros. cartridge that sold for $3 million in June, though that record was later overshadowed by the discovery of 97 pristine Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt copies in a Wisconsin warehouse, five of which also scored a perfect 10. Nostalgix founder Nathan Howerton said the sale reflects growing recognition of rare, high-grade games as collectibles on a par with valuable comics, trading cards and sports memorabilia, particularly as the industry moves further towards digital distribution, exemplified by Sony's plan to end physical game production from January 2028.