Good luck if you want to collect them all

In October, I was in Glasgow for a few days for VGC Live, the first live event held by the gaming outlet VGC (headed up by the wonderful Chris Scullion, the stunning Andy Robinson and the fairly decent Jordan Middler). It was an incredible time, filled with incredibly kind people, friends that I think will last for my entire life, and a sense of closeness that I haven’t felt in a long time. On the Saturday morning, everybody took a pilgrimage to Forgotten Worlds, the UK’s largest retro video games store, and what I saw there made me realise something I probably should have realised a long time ago.

Trying to collect old Pokémon games costs about the same as it costs to get a new kidney.

Now, I’m not an idiot. I already knew the secondary market in general was pretty bad – people have driven supply and demand to such a degree that getting hold of a New 3DS XL costs almost as much as a Nintendo Switch 2 does. But I wasn’t prepared to spend £140 on two Pokémon games that were released not that long ago, relatively speaking (Pokémon Omega Ruby limited edition and Pokémon Ultra Sun).

To put it into context a little, the prices in Forgotten Worlds were extremely fair, all things considered. A boxed copy of Pokémon Yellow was £140, compared to chain game store CEX, where a copy is £160. Pokémon Ultra Sun was £50 compared to CEX’s £52. But when you look at the bigger picture? Things get hellish.

If you look at eBay, then you’re looking at anything ranging from £150-£300 for a boxed copy of Pokémon FireRed. Pokémon SoulSilver boxed is between £100-£300, depending on whether you want the Pokéwalker or not (if you don’t even care about the game, it’s £25 for just the box). All of this is without even touching on the card game scene, something I’m not well-versed enough in to discuss, but I understand is filled with scalpers.

This puts into context for me why Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen sold over four million units in six weeks when they were released for the Nintendo Switch. Even if they were only digital releases, people really wanted to be able to say they “owned” these games, since actually buying them for the Game Boy Advance would set them back a small fortune. Sure, you can get a ROM online fairly easily, but that’s not the same thing, y’know?

All of this is to say that I’m really quite curious what happens when we hit a point where getting a 3DS is next to impossible, a situation that looks more and more likely as prices spike. Obviously, games like Pokémon SoulSilver/Heartgold and Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire are remakes, so there’s always a chance we’ll see the originals on the Nintendo Switch before long – but what happens to games like Pokémon X/Y and Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon? We’ve at the very least been back to Kalos since X & Y, but only a small portion of it in Pokémon Legends ZA’s Lumiose City. What happens to Alola? These games might be less loved, but they’re no less part of the series mythos because of that.

I’m also concerned that remaking Pokémon Diamond & Pearl as faithfully as possible in Pokémon Shining Pearl & Brilliant Diamond means we’re just not going to see Pokémon Platinum, one of my favourite Pokémon games of all time, brought over to the Nintendo Switch in any form, and it actually made Generation IV fun to play. That’s without even getting into the fact that all of the Unova region is currently stranded on the DS, and it’s often cited as people’s favourite Pokémon games. What happens to these games when the prices become too high?

I’m not saying I want everything ported to the Nintendo Switch 2 right now, but I would like a guarantee that everything will come eventually. Promise me that we’re going to see Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon again. Promise me that Pokémon Platinum will eventually be ported, and I’ll be able to see the Distortion World once more.

I know that asking for the world will just disappoint me inevitably, but I’d like to be able to play a version of every generation in one place eventually. Sure, I can do most of them through emulation. But I want to properly own everything in one place. If Nintendo and The Pokémon Company can promise this, then I think I speak for all fans when I say I’ll be extremely happy.

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