An empty box for the 1996 Nintendo 64 game Super Mario 64, autographed by its creator Shigeru Miyamoto, sold for £8,450 (approximately $11,308.34) at a recent auction. The sale was part of a larger event hosted by Ewbank’s Auctioneers in Surrey, which featured a collection of retro video games and memorabilia totaling over £200,000 (roughly $267,599).
Miyamoto signed the Super Mario 64 box on February 21, 2003, during his only public appearance and signing event in Europe, held at the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street in London. This adds significant value to the item for collectors.
The auction also saw strong prices for other collectibles. A collection of five Pokémon trading cards, inspired by Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream," fetched £12,350 (approximately $16,524.24). In addition, a first-print, factory-sealed copy of the 2005 Game Boy Advance game Pokémon Emerald sold for £4,940 (about $6,609.70), and a sealed copy of the 2000 Game Boy title Pokémon Yellow achieved £3,640 (around $4,870.43).
Ewbank’s specialist James Spooner noted the substantial global following for Pokémon cards, describing the market as worth tens of billions of dollars. He observed that the majority of lots in the sale exceeded their estimates, highlighting the strong appeal of both Pokémon and other trading card series. Spooner also pointed to a noticeable increase in demand and prices for retro video games.
Further demonstrating the market's strength, a copy of the 1963 comic "The Amazing Spider-Man No. 1," which retells Spider-Man's origin, sold for £4,160 (approximately $5,565.83). A rare Japan-exclusive Panasonic Q, capable of playing GameCube games and DVDs, sold for £1,235 (about $1,652.36).
Auctioneer Andrew Ewbank suggested that PlayStation's recent announcement to cease production of physical game discs, shifting towards digital downloads, may be a contributing factor to the heightened demand for retro physical games and consoles. He stated that fans are actively seeking out historic games and consoles that have become sought-after collectibles in light of this industry change.