Goldin lists early Pokemon Red prototype with $25,000 bid

A development cartridge for the 1998 Game Boy game Pokemon Red is currently listed on the Goldin auction site.

As of October 23, 2026, one bidder has placed a bid of $25,000 on the item. The cartridge was first identified by Retro Dodo, which described the piece as incredibly rare.

Specialists at PSA authenticated the hardware. They could not perform a complete data read, but they successfully accessed the first 32KB of the contents. PSA labeled this result technically unique. The authentication report states that the readable game data is completely identical to the U.S. retail version. PSA expressed confidence that the unreadable sections match the standard release as well.

The report identifies two specific differences in the ROM header data that do not affect gameplay. At offset 0x014C, the Mask ROM version is set to 55 instead of 00. This error changes the calculated header checksum at offset 0x014D to CB rather than 20. The cartridge also features a sticker reading DMB-MBC-16M-FLASH and the part number DMG-(F)KGDB-01.

Experts suggest the DMB prefix likely refers to Dot Matrix Game, the original internal codename for the Game Boy. The MBC abbreviation probably stands for Memory Bank Controller, a custom chip that allowed games to exceed the console's 32KB ROM limit. The 16M designation indicates 16 megabits of flash-writable memory. The physical cartridge is longer than a standard Game Boy unit.

The auction describes the board as previously undocumented, though the part number DMG-(F)KGDB-01 appears in the Rare Gaming Dump wiki for a 2000 development cartridge. That earlier entry used a 16-megabit Sharp flash chip labeled U1 FLASH MEMORY. Close-up images in the current listing show an almost identical design, but the older wiki entry displays a sticker reading DMG-MBC3-16M-FLASH.

Pokemon Red launched the global franchise in the 1990s. Combined sales for Red and Blue are reported to exceed 31 million copies. A commenter on the original report claimed this copy is a master unit that powers on and plays normally. That claim comes from a reader and has not been verified. The auction remains open for several more days.