Let's take a closer look at recent chart-busting sales for video games -- including several big sales from Heritage Auctions in late February -- and see what they say about the state of the video game collecting market today. As a reminder, GoCollect ranks the most expensive verified video game sales from auction sites like Heritage and eBay anywhere from 10 days to a full year. With that in mind, let's take a look at several of the biggest video games sales during the past few months.
#1: A 9.8 WATA copy of Pokémon Red Version sold for $81,250 in February 2025.
The biggest video game sale of 2025 so far occurred on February 22nd when Heritage Auctions sold a 9.8 WATA Pokémon Red Version for $81,250. As most know, a WATA 9.8 is the highest grade a game can realistically achieve (although 10s are theoretically possible).
When this game (along with Blue Version) was released in 1998 for Nintendo's Game Boy, it unleashed a pop culture phenomenon: Pokémon. This game (along with the Blue and Green Versions) sold over 31 million copies worldwide. And more importantly, its popularity helped Pokémon make the jump from video games to TV shows, movies, trading cards, and toys. Pokémon's slogan -- “Gotta Catch ’Em All” -- drove gamers to become collectors.
This box cover also made Charizard one of the most popular Pokémon of all-time.
#2: An 85+ VGA Nintendo Entertainment System sold for $68,750 on February 22nd.
The second biggest sale in the video game market for the first quarter of 2025 wasn't a video game, but perhaps the most famous video game systems of all-time: the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This particular NES, graded 85+ by VGA, sold for $68,750 on February 22nd, 2025 by Heritage Auctions:
The NES is, of course, perhaps the most important video game system of all time. Two years after the video game crash of 1983 -- caused by too many consoles (e.g., Atari 2600, Intellivision, ColecoVision) and too many low-quality games (e.g., E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) -- the NES rescued the industry in 1985 by introducing iconic franchises like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. It paved the way for consoles like Playstation 2 and Nintendo DS.
#3: A CGC 9.8 copy of Secret of Mana sold for $62,500 on February 22nd.
This sealed copy of Secret of Mana is a pristine example of one of the most important action RPGs of the 16-bit era.
Originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2, this game became the first Seiken Densetsu marketed separately from the Final Fantasy franchise. Published by Square in 1993 (before the Square Enix merger in 2003), there are few copies of this game that are still complete; i.e., still have the original box, manual and map. While approximately 1.8M copies of this game sold worldwide. WATA has graded only a dozen sealed Secret of Mana copies, with five 9.8s.
#4: A 9.8 WATA copy of Pokémon Crystal Version sold for $42,500 on February 22nd.
At No. 4, we have another Pokémon video game; this pristine 9.8 WATA copy of Pokémon Crystal Version sold for $42,500 on at the same Heritage Auction held on February 22nd:
Released in 2021, Pokémon Crystal Version is highly collectible for several reasons, including being the first Pokémon game that allowed players to play as a female, the first game with animated Pokémon sprites, and also introduced 100 new Pokémon. It also had a unique and easily recognizable see-through blue cartridge.
As impressive as this sale was, it's nowhere near the all-time high sale for a WATA 9.8; another WATA 9.8 sold for $90,000 back in April 2021, at the height of the covid-fueled collectibles boom.
#5: A VGA 90 copy of Chrono Trigger sold for $40,000 on February 22nd.
Coming in at No. 5 is an impressive $40,000 sale for one of the best RPGs of all-time, a VGA 90 copy of Chrono Trigger on Heritage Auctions:
Designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the famed creator of the Final Fantasy franchise, Chrono Trigger is a legendary RPG released in 1995. Released late in the Super Nintendo Entertainment System's life cycle, this resulted in a smaller number being produced by Squaresoft. Finding high-grade CIB copies of this game can therefore be difficult; at this time, there are only 32 on WATA's population report, and only three of those received a 9.8.
