During the latest Video Games Signature Auction, Heritage Auctions were able to sell all 314 lots in the auction which totaled $2,143,969. Pristine copies of Super Mario World, Mega Man, Castlevania, and first-production copies of Japan’s originating debut of the Pokemon franchise, Pocket Monsters Aka were among the top lots sold which brought a new auction record to internationally released video games. Other top sellers from this year’s lots include two of the world’s first integrated desktop computers, the Q1 Desktop Micro Computer with an internal printer from 1972, and the Q1 Lite. “The event presented two days of offerings where history met rarity in a celebration of vintage and collectible games and technology,” says Valarie Spiegel, Heritage’s Managing Director of Video Games. “The auction featured an eclectic and amazing assortment of treasures that span gaming’s history, from the earliest days of computers to the iconic console games of the ’90s and beyond.”

First-Production Copy of ‘Super Mario World’ Leads Heritage’s $2.14 Million Video Games Auction!

The May 24-25 event saw a new auction record for Japan’s Pocket Monsters Aka (the original Japan release of Pokémon Red).

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The top lot in the auction went to the second highest graded copy of a first-production Super Mario World from 1991. The Wata 9.4 grade copt sold for $125,000. The second highest selling lot was a copy of sealed, first-production Mega Man that was graded with Wata 9.4 A+ that sold for $106, 250. The third highest-selling lot was a first-production, sealed, graded with a Wata 9.2A+ copy of Castlevania from 1987 that sold for $100,000.

“When Castlevania debuted on the NES in 1987, following its 1986 release in Japan on the Famicom Disk System, it set a new standard for video games,” says Spiegel. “This first-production copy, as confirmed by the box’s perforated cardboard hangtab, is an exceptionally rare piece of video game history and well-deserving of its result.”

A high graded Super Smash Bros. listed on Wata’s March 2024 at 9.8 A++, sold for $93,750 and was among the top five lots.

The Q1 Desktop Micro Computer with an internal printer from 1972 made its auction debut surfacing last year when a U.K. cleaning crew discovered it in some boxes while on the job along with the slightly later Q1 Lite and Q1 Desktop companion printer. The Q1 Desktop model sold for $47,500.

There are very few surviving examples of these historic items,” says Spiegel. “The shift to a microprocessor-based architecture allowed the Q1 to punch well above its weight. This early machine marked a pivotal moment in technology history and demonstrated the vast potential of microcomputers to transform both professional and personal computing landscapes.”

Another Heritage first that happened with this lot was the offering of all four iterations of the first generation of Nintendo’s Pocket Monsters Game Boy series from 1996. Released 31 months before its USA counterpart, Pokémon Red Version, the Japanese title, Pocket Monsters Aka, along with Pocket Monsters Midori, marked the genesis of the Pokémon phenomenon and made it an integral part of gaming lore. The box art for Aka marked the first appearance of the beloved Charizard and predated the creation of the trading card game by six months. With its VGA grade of VGA 90+ NM+/MT NS Unopened, the copy of Pocket Monsters Aka sold for $45,000.

“This marked the first-ever offering of this incredibly significant series of Pokémon and Pocket Monster history at Heritage, adding to the prestige of this landmark signature auction,” says Spiegel. “It provided a rare chance for knowing collectors to add the first artistic rendering of the final starter evolutions to their collections, along with many other significant and rare titles that make up the cornerstones of both video games, and our longstanding relationship with the technology that allows us to enjoy them.”