POP Culture - Videogames report on Meeting Art auction performance - Session 2

The second session closed with €20,400 in net awards (€25,500 gross with auction fees at +25%) on 25 lots, all sold.

For the second consecutive time, the market absorbed the entire catalog, confirming the demand recorded in the first session.

The structure of the awards reflects the same pattern as session 1, the 5 most sought-after lots:

- Taro Maru (3,500 €)
- Tekken (2,600 €)
- Metal Gear Solid (1,600 €)
- Micro League Wrestling (1,600 €)
- Luigi’s Mansion (1,100 €)

represent 20% of the catalog but 51% of the total awards (€10,400 out of €20,400).

All at the opposite end, 13 lots out of 25 are priced below €400 and account for 19% of the total. The lesson from the first session is confirmed: the result is built on trophy pieces.

The auction involved 8 active bidders, all online (100%), all men.

The geographic distribution shows Italy at 87.5% (7) and England at 12.5% (1). The level of competition generated 36 total bids across 25 lots, equal to an average of 1.4 bids per lot and 4.5 bids per participant.

If in session 1 the surprising data came from the Italian editions, in session 2 Japan emerges as the highest-value segment. 5 Japanese lots total €6,250, with an average of €1,250 per lot, driven by the top lot Taro Maru for Saturn (€3,500) and Metal Gear Solid (€1,600).

The Japan represents 20% of the lots but 31% of the awards.

4 Italian batches:

- Luigi’s Mansion (1.100 €)
- Zelda Twilight Princess (1.100 €)
- Eternal Darkness (900 €)
- Mario Galaxy Custom Box (500 €)

totaling €3,600 with an average of €900 per lot.

They are all Nintendo GameCube and Switch titles in the first Italian print run. The data confirms what emerged in session 1: Italian collecting has its own market with solid values.

Due lots only:

- The Smurfs for Sega Master System (600 €)
- Tekken first EU print for PS1 (2.600 €)

register the absolute highest average: €1,600 per lot.

Tekken in particular is the second most expensive lot of the entire session, confirming that the first European printings of iconic titles have a strong positioning.

The 1990s pieces still record the highest average: €1,421 per lot. The 1980s group, although the largest by number (13 lots, 52% of the catalog), comes in at an average of €500. The data confirms the nostalgia cycle: the generation that grew up in the 1990s is now the driving force of the market.

Micro League Wrestling 1,600 €: when collecting crosses worlds.

It is perhaps the most significant result of the session from the market perspective. It is not the rarest game in an absolute sense, but it is a piece that sits at the intersection of three collecting worlds: video games, wrestling, and sports memorabilia.

Whoever won this lot is not necessarily a Commodore 64 collector: they could be a collector of wrestling memorabilia or pop culture in the broadest sense.

This type of item has a broader demand pool than the single video game segment, and the price reflects it. It is the same dynamic that in session 1 pushed Jordan vs Bird to €800: when a video game intersects with a cultural icon, the value grows.

Taro Maru (Saturn, 1997) 3.500 €: the Sega Saturn as a treasure chest of collecting.

Top lot of the session and confirmation of a trend well known to the most experienced collectors: the Japanese Saturn catalog is one of the highest-value niches in the market.

Taro Maru is an action-platform game with a feudal Japanese setting that already had a limited print run at the time. In a market where the Saturn was commercially eclipsed by the PlayStation, its rare titles have over time acquired an almost mythological aura.

3,500 € for a title that doesn't have the mainstream recognition of a Mario or a Zelda says a lot about the maturity of the market: the most informed collectors know what they're looking for and are willing to bid on it.

Tekken first EU print run (PS1, 1996) €2,600: the paradox of a mass-market title.

Tekken has sold millions of copies worldwide. Yet the first sealed European print, in that state of preservation, ends at €2,600. It is the same phenomenon observed in session 1 with Golden Sun: certification transforms a commercial title into a rare asset.

The data is particularly relevant because it shows that the market does not only reward the intrinsic rarity of the title but the rarity of the condition.

Mickey Mouse in the Great Outdoors (Atari HC, 1983) 750 €: the first of all.

First Mickey Mouse video game on Atari, making it a piece of industry history, not just a collector’s item.

750 € today could be a price that, in a few years, will be remembered as a historic entry point.

ET Phone Home (Atari HC, 1983) 700 €: ET’s redemption

Tutti know the legend of ET for Atari 2600, often cited as the worst video game in history and responsible for the market crash in 1983 (not true).

The piece is classified as iconic. €700 for a title with this narrative background, the most infamous name in gaming transformed into a collectible item, is a story that tells itself.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari 2600, 1982) 750 €: the first Indiana Jones, the first Harrison Ford

Come with Hulk Hogan and Jordan, the piece lives at the intersection of cinema and gaming. The movie memorabilia collector here meets the retrogaming collector.

AD&D Cloudy Mountain (Intellivision, 1982) 750 €: the bridge between worlds

First tabletop RPG brought to console, with official TSR license (the publishers of Dungeons & Dragons). POP 3.

Un piece that speaks to three communities: video game collectors, D&D players, and fans of gaming history.

Stoke the same price as Raiders, same logic: the pieces that mark an absolute “first” have a value that transcends the individual title.

One On One DRJ vs Bird (IBM, 1983) 150 €: the lesson of CIB vs Sealed

In session 1, Jordan vs Bird for IBM in the 1988 version was awarded for €800. Here, the 1983 version, its direct predecessor, closes at €150.

Pac-Man and Dig Dug (Atari 2600) 300 € each: iconicity is not enough

Two of the most recognizable names in video game history end up in the lower range. The reason is in the grades: WATA 6.5 and 7.0.

Widely distributed titles, mediocre grades. The market is clearly saying that the name alone does not generate value; it takes a combination of title, condition, and rarity of the condition.

Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 Custom Box (Switch, 2025) 500 €: when grading becomes art

The most anomalous lot in the catalog and perhaps the most revealing.

A next-generation game with a retail value of €90/80, transformed into a €500 object by the TGM display case. It is not the title that determines the price, nor rarity, nor vintage.

È the presentation: the custom box TGM is a display case that is exhibited like a painting, hung in the home, lived with as a piece of furniture.

Whoever bought this item did not buy a video game; they bought an exhibition piece. 

The multiplier is over 6x the game’s commercial value, generated entirely by the certification and the display format.

It is the clearest demonstration of what grading can do when it stops being just a guarantee of preservation and becomes design.

The red thread of session 2 is cross-collecting: the lots that perform best are those that speak to multiple communities at the same time.

For the next sessions, the selection of lots should systematically favor pieces with this double or triple cultural affiliation.

Anche in sessione 2 TGM domina (anche per quantitativo di pezzi): i 5 lotti più interessati sono tutti certificati TGM. The TGM average (939 €) is almost double that of WATA (500 €). The data confirms what emerged in the first session: the European grader is not penalized by the market; on the contrary, it is rewarded.

The average per lot is €816, the median is €600. The gap confirms the concentration of value in higher-end pieces.

The median at €600 indicates an even more accessible entry point compared to session 1 (€750), in line with a catalog focused on mid-range retro pieces.

The second session confirms the strength of the market that emerged in the first session. Sales distributed across all price ranges, with a predominance of 1990s pieces.