Collector Recon · Newsletter No. 003 · covers October 9–11, 2026

Pokémon games took the top graded-game sale in five of the last six weeks

The Graded Games Report, which tallies settled graded video game sales on eBay each week, counted 728 sales for September 29 to October 6, up 12% from 648 the week before. The median price was $315, up 5%, and the average $641, down 14%; 565 of the sales had confirmed prices. The top sale was a sealed 1998 Pokémon Blue for Game Boy at $16,150, which the report lists as PSA 9.6 A+ while the listing title says WATA. Six of the week's top eight sales were Pokémon titles.

Six weeks of top sales

Week (2026)	Top sale	Grade	Price	Sales	Median
Aug 25–Sep 1	Pokémon Emerald (GBA), sealed	VGA	$15,000	431	$349
Sep 1–8	Pokémon Red (Game Boy), sealed	WATA 9.4 A+	$30,000	831	$350
Sep 8–15	Super Mario 64 (N64), first print, sealed	VGA 9.2	$19,995	914	$350
Sep 15–22	Pokémon HeartGold (DS), sealed	PSA 10 A++	$14,000	722	$305
Sep 22–29	Pokémon Silver (Game Boy Color)	PSA 9.8	$40,000	648	$301
Sep 29–Oct 6	Pokémon Blue (Game Boy), sealed	PSA 9.6 A+	$16,150	728	$315

In five of the six weeks, the top graded game sold on eBay was a Pokémon title. The exception was the week Super Mario 64 led, when a first-print VGA 9.2 copy made $19,995 and a VGA 85 copy made $13,650. In the September 1 to 8 week, six of the top eight sales were Pokémon games, from the $30,000 Red down to a $13,500 Japanese Crystal.

The middle of the market did not move

Weekly medians ran from $301 to $350 across the six weeks, and the average sat between $641 and $916. Volume swung more than price: 431 sales in the last week of August, 914 two weeks later, 728 in the latest week. Sealed games had a $300 median over 427 sales in the latest report, and Switch was the most active console with 81 sales.

So the Pokémon lead is a top-of-table story. The typical graded game changes hands near $300 whatever the headline sale; what Pokémon cartridges have done is supply the five-figure sale almost every week.

Why Pokémon carries the top

The six top sales were three Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles, one Game Boy Advance, one DS and one N64. Our read: the buyers for sealed Pokémon handhelds overlap with the card market, and the prices follow the same grade logic as the cards. The five-figure sales land at the top grades, WATA 9.4 A+ for the Red and PSA 9.8 for the Silver, and the rest of the week's Pokémon entries sit well below them.

A caveat on the data. The report counts settled eBay sales and takes grades from listing titles, so a grader can be mislabeled, as with the Blue listed as PSA but titled WATA, and sale dates inside the week are not given.

What it means for the market

For the games lane, the weekly top sale is a Pokémon handheld more often than not, and the five-figure line has been crossed every week since late August. The record end of the lane sits far above these numbers: Heritage sold a sealed Wata 9.8 A++ Super Mario 64 for $1.56 million in July 2021, per Engadget. The weekly eBay market is where the next tier gets priced, and in that market a sealed Pokémon cartridge at a top grade is the one item that reliably clears $10,000.

What to watch

Next week's report, covering October 6 to 13, and whether a Pokémon title leads again.
Sealed Pokémon Red and Blue at the top grades. The $30,000 Red (WATA 9.4 A+) and $16,150 Blue (PSA 9.6 A+) are the comps to beat.
The gap between the median and the top. A rising median would mean demand broadening past the headline cartridges.

Figures are as reported by The Graded Games Report; sales are eBay listings settled in each week, with grades as the report lists them. This is market data and commentary, not investment advice.

Live eBay listings (affiliate link)

Sources

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