Let's Talk About Pokémon Video Game Prices... 

Nostalgia is the happiest yet saddest feeling ever

Looking at these prices, I'm about to become king of the pirates ☠️

One of the biggest regrets I have is not rebuilding my Pokémon collection ten years ago when the idea originally crossed my mind. At the time with how cheap things were it was really just a "oh I can do it later" because at the time there was other things I was interested in buying. I played Yugioh, I collected kpop, and I had the most recent games at the time so worrying about older games and re-obtaining them never felt like a huge priority when I had other priorities. Fast-forward and here we are in a market that I don't think the me of ten years ago would have ever predicted. Getting into full odds shiny hunting also accelerated my desire to obtain these older games and while I'm quite close to finishing both a set of English and Japanese games it still feels so insurmountable to finish with these prices. And I unfortunately don't see prices going down ever just because that's the nature of it. Great video; always enjoy seeing takes on the absurd state of retro games Oh and my favorite game is probably Black 2/White 2

Because retro game market went mainstream and people infected the hobby to make a quick buck.

It really pisses me off because as a kid I had zero funds to my name so once I got a job around 2020 as a new adult, all of a sudden everyone is back into fucking Pokémon and the prices are high. This will sound like gatekeeping and please forgive me I'm just disappointed, but I remember when half these people didn't give Black and White 2 a fair shot and NOW look at everyone. Unbelievable. Now while I do have my respective copies, this is still insane. I like to think there are still so many loose copies out in the wild that does not justify these prices I mean they've sold millions. We just have to look towards remakes and the new generations now to get back those old experiences moving forward

Biggest troll ever would be if Nintendo one day miraculously said "we're going to flood the market with all the retro pokemon games from days past and make them easier to obtain for all" Would never happen though. Emulation it is I guess

I thought it would be cool if Pokemon Home would actually be like NSO and let us play the old games for a subscription price. Even if they bump up the price, to be able to play the old games again and fill up the Home DEX and even bring over those Pokemon to the Switch games.

At the end of the day, there are emulators for price-conscious consumers but having the physical copy of the game you played as a child is a whole other feeling. Especially that Emerald CIB 🐉

Glad I kept all my OG Pokemon games from Red and Blue to Pokemon Platinum when I was a kid 💯

For me the problem is the people that buy them at these prices , if everyone and i mean everyone had a limit on how much they value the games the prices wouldnt be like this.

It's hard to believe that just back in 2018-19 when I started buying the GBA games for myself I could get them for about $40 USD apiece loose -- and the most expensive DS game was HGSS at about $50 USD loose. The current prices are absolutely distorted. As much as I think resellers and scalpers have a role in that, I also think it's just the nature of Pokemon game collecting. Think about it -- most Pokemon fans tend to hang onto their games, which constrains supply. It's fascinating because few other games follow this trend. Try to buy a game that came out a decade ago on another console, like Skyrim for instance. It's depreciated in price, as have most others. Pokemon games somewhat break this rule as they've consistently appreciated in price. I also think some of it might have to do with the fact that Pokemon games only have one save file, which incentivizes accumulating multiple of the same game (I've done this for several) but this logic doesn't seem to hold for any game post-gen 5. XY are actually worth less than when they released, last I checked, and I can purchase games like Sun and Moon for similarly low prices too. I think this is because they remained available first-hand for so long, for one thing. The GB games (RBY, GSC) skyrocketed in price the moment the Virtual Console games became unavailable, at least at my local used video game store. I also think another factor is that generations that grew up with previous games are now old enough to have disposable income and indulge their nostalgia -- as I've seen the reputation of games like BW improve as the people who played them as kids grow into adulthood, their prices have also gone up. Just a few of my thoughts on this. The state of the secondary market for Pokemon is somewhat depressing. These games have become utterly unaffordable for all but the most dedicated collectors. It feels like almost everything has undergone ridiculous price inflation within the last few years though.

the same scalpers who resell sneakers, clothing, playing cards, etc. infected the gaming community (retro games) and are now preying off of our nostalgia and it’s truly saddening.

I've been buying pokemon games since the 90's, kept all and never sold, had no Idea 20+ years later it would turn into a massive collection, I just enjoy my pokemon games. So glad I did buy them during release because the prices are out of control

I can understand the frustration with how pricey the older OG games are. That’s just life unfortunately. Save up and grab the games you want. You’re not in a race. Get off social media, slow your life down, save money, and buy that emerald when you have enough. Life is fantastic ❤

I completed my non cib collection during Covid. I do have to admit that I was buying a bunch of lots of games and handhelds from OfferUp. I ended up keeping the best labeled games and selling off the rest. I built my collection almost for free, minus the time it took to hunt and buy the lots. With the amount of people doing it now I couldn’t imagine trying to hunt a full collection at a reasonable price and time.

Well spoken. We can only speak from experience but the last few years i've seen loose games be at or above these prices in stores or at conventions. I can't really blame vendors for setting a price, the FOMO is real and both the vendors, collecting and thrift haul videos all contribute to that. Plus, add to that pokemon being the multi generational franchise that parents get their children into and you have a recipe for increased prices. I think if people have the money and can afford the prices, good for them, but some of these games are literally portions of my monthly rent so im sure its not cheap for others. I think the best we can do is educate people on prices, that yes, we can choose to NOT buy something, and to find ways to reduce those costs associated with collecting. My last three pokemon games were acquired from trading pokemon cards, which is not a cheap hobby to collect for, but something about not paying the full market price associated made me proud to finally get a deal, even if the cards were at a similar value. I got more to say but i'll leave it there, im curious about what everyone else thinks as well!

I’ve been on a childhood nostalgia kick in a HUGE way lately and decided today I was gonna look into the Gen 1 Pokemon games. Holy crap…

Yea these games have some insane prices now. I had Crystal on the 3DS and wanted to get the rest of the older games but the eShop shutdown and ruined my plans. I found some ppl online that were selling a 3DS with all the old games but it was $750. Really wish I held onto the older games when I was younger. I still want the old games and am longing for Nintendo to release them on the Switch. Pokémon will never stop. The biggest multi-media franchise on Earth. They'll continue the trend even long after we're gone. 150 years from now it will be a trailer like "A century ago, collecting best friends was born!" Pokémon forever!!! 😍😍😍🔥🔥🔥🔥

I hope they just officially release all these games on current Nintendo consoles.

There are entire generations that want to play Gen 3, 4, and 5 and can’t because of the prices. Nintendo not releasing them on virtual console is probably hundreds of millions of dollars being left on the table.

Started collecting when I was 17 in high school (07), it was such a fun somewhat niche hobby. Really miss those days.

Dude it's nuts. I recently tried to re-buy red blue and yellow because I stupidly sold / traded them 9 - 10 years ago and have wanted to replay them on my restored / upgraded to IPS Game Boy DMG-01 - I feel like such an idiot because I had all of the games up to Ruby. I can't believe how much they have gotten.

So happy i have every single one of them. These prices are absolutely insane

This may be a unpopular opinion. It’s just that, an opinion. If emulation isn’t cutting it for you, maybe it’s not the game itself you’re nostalgic for, but something you can’t get back.

If you don’t like the prices emulate it, it’s a collectors item at this point, vintage sells for more.

This is why ROMs exist. It's the easiest and cheapest way to play any of these old games. Many you can play on your phone. I just bought a Retroid Pocket 4 Pro to feed my nostalgia. Anbernic, Powkiddy, Miyoo, or many more all exist for this reason. Handhelds and emulators get better and better everyday.

Original hardware is nice but not with 1x speed. As a kid I didn't mind but now as an adult time is limited.

Before the pandemic, I bought Black CIB for $25. I should’ve bought more at that time

Not only are the prices increasing, many of those people who buy the games don't play them... Like the point of those games is to buy them and enjoy them. If you buy this game just to have it sit on your display and not play it ever then that's kind of sad.

im always so thankful that i was a total pokemon nerd as a kid and was trying to get every game i didnt have at the age of 10, so i got most of the more expensive games today for decent prices. seeing how it is today is totally nuts to me. its so inaccessible for people who either have never gotten the chance to play these games or who want to play them again but dont have their copies anymore. i really do hope it goes back to a more normal level someday, or that maybe they get rereleased on new platforms (although i personally dont think that feels as authentic, it would work for a lot of people)

A majority of the people that would buy the games or get them as gifts wouldn't care about CIB. Yes, the prices have gone up (that's what inflation and demand for specific games do) and they're not going to go down anytime soon. Loose is still cheap and you can get the box with the inserts for relatively cheap, so doing CIB isn't worth the hassle imho

Theses are some of the most popular and high selling games. They're everywhere. Makes no sense for them to be so expensive.

One thing that is overlooked in driving up prices is GBA/DS cart scammers, there have been times I've felt like it was safer to buy a CIB copy because it is far less likely to be a bootleg.

this is why preservation through emulation is important

Never played it when I was younger, but now that I’m in my 40’s I am collecting like crazy. Paid $40-100 for each of the GB/GBC games. HG/SS were around $120-140 CIB. D/P/P were $50-120 CIB. I’ll probably take a break because the GBA ones are pricey. Maybe B&W next.

My favorite is Gold version. I had the original Blue version. But Gold version was my favorite. Both ended missing for some reason.

Crazy to think black 2 i paid 29.99 at ebgames over 10yrs ago, and now I paid over 200 for white 2.. I'm holding onto my ps3, ps4 games and my resident evil collection for sure.

I wish I've could take care of my original HeartGold copy more plus the thick blue DS I bought from my young neighbor for $20. I used to work as an overnight security guard in 2015-16 and video games helped passed the time. One early morning, I left behind my DS with HG inserted at the property and never recovered it. Went to GameStop, HG copy was like $60, I was shocked and the female employee said "Yeah, Pokémon games are always pricey." Still bought it and still lost it at my job.

Another major reason I think a lot of that these older games are holding their value is the cross gen transfer feature. I wouldn’t be surprised if prices would be affected once Bank inevitably shuts down

Just completed my GB through 3DS collection last week. Hope to share them if I ever have kids. That being said, It did not feel great caving in to buy some of these. Sucks too cause there's no excuse as to why most of these aren't on Virtual Console at this point.

I don’t care what the reason are for why the prices are outrageous. It’s simply not worth it. This is one of the reasons why emulation will always exist

So glad I kept my HGSS copies with everything, box, Pokewalker, manuals. Those are so expensive now

More people are trying to buy them than ever due to nostalgia. Re sellers like Dk Oldies are price gouging and the supply isn't as high as release due to broken/lost copies.

Pokémon is the best franchise is the world. When it hit the rest of the world back in 98-99, it was unlike anything else. There’s a reason millions remember it as “Pokemania”. Glad I was born in 1990 and was able to be a kid for the beginning.

I feel you. I’ve been making game hunt vids also. For the DS games , I just use my hacked DSIXL .

if you think pokemon games are expensive, wait till you see how much some of the fire emblem games are 💀and they sold way fewer units.

Let's all buy a thing and then jack up the price for reselling. Surely this won't ruin the market and or economy.

Mistakes were made when I was a young child when trying to grow up and sold my pokemon games and gameboy :( now I’m paying the price for it. 😢 it’s gotten expensive! 🤣

Back in 2016 I started to collect all the Pokémon games that I used to have when I was a kid, I always was a Pokémon fan and I used to play every game as I can, usually one per generation, but after enjoyed that game I used to trade it o sell it to get the next one. With the release of Pokémon sun/ moon and the 3ds Virtual Console Pokémon Gameboy games release I wanted to get back those games. I thought that it would be easy, because at that point, I remembered that older Pokémon games were cheap but when I start researching, notice that those games were rising in price, games that were 10 to 15 bucks then seems to cost 30 to 40 just cart, I remember that this used to be the CIB price. It was alarming because a brand new game were 40-50 back in those days, I remember been so confused about how a just cartridge game that sells millions could cost almost the same price as a new release, then I decided that I don't want spend that ridiculous amount of money and started hunting some deals for only cart. At start I just wanted one game per generation, I gave preference to that one that I have back when were release, but soon got some deals offers that couldn't resist, I got all generations one trough 3 including the remakes for 7 to 15 bucks each except for Leaf green that was the last one and got it for $20, remember been so happy and proud when I find Emerald for $12 and Cystal for $7 and both for me are a most have, for ds games the well... by then I already haved Soul silver and Diamond CIB from back in the day when were released and awaited too much time thinking that prices could fall to get the the others. This year I got Heath gold CIB without cardboard and Pokewalker and in 2023 Platinum CIB and can say that didn't paid more that $100 each😢.

It really depends, because if we're talking GBA era or earlier, there a whole ton of non-genuine bootleg cartridges saturating the market. These are of course, not genuine copies, not legal, and shouldn't even exist, but they are super cheap. So if you only care about playing the game, just buy one of those. those regularly go for like $20, problem solved. It's a whole different story when we're talking about *_authentic_* complete in box (CIB) copies of pokemon games. Those are exceedingly rare, especially in good or excellent condition. This is because while yes, millions of copies of these games were sold back in the day, most kids did not take good care of the box, or it's contents, nor the cartridge itself. To find everything in immaculate condition after nearly 20 years is pretty uncommon. Most people looking for all that in the modern day are collectors, plain and simple. The average person probably doesn't even care whether they have a CIB version. They just want to play the game. Hell, most would rather just use an emulator.

Japan-only video games are pretty much common in Japan. It is a good thing too to also ensure you are getting the uncensored versions.

The reality is if a game have a price tag and somebody buys it, it means this is its value. People can cry about it, but if they do, it means they want it, right ? Meaning there is demand.

So happy I bought all my gen 3 games in 2015.. Prices are crazy!

I live in Asia and my countries second-hand app ill sometimes find great deals on these games, but more times than not Japanese imports are way cheaper than the American version of the games. I also import games from both Japan and America, and I've discovered more and more people are discovering that the Japanese version of games are often significantly cheaper, in much nicer condition and CIB is obtainable so with that more and more people knowing that, even the Japanese version of games are sky rocketing unfortunately.

I was lucky enough to get all my Pokémon stuff at a time when the market was alright. So I have almost every main series game except for brilliant diamond on the switch.

Downloading Roms and then moving save data on to authentic cart 🤤🤤

you make disney adults look good

As someone trying to collect Pokemon AND Zelda games, yeah I feel this 100% I hope the games go back down in price, but honestly I kinda doubt it will. At this point, I'm just hoping Nintendo sells Virtual Console copies of the games on the eShop for Switch 2 so I can at least call that good enough.

I collect games too, but just games I actually like to play. We were a Nintendo family so there were many games I WANTED but never got, before covid I used to come home from these hunts with alot of loot, but these days I usually come home empty handed because the games are so expensive now, most of the games I want are over 100 dollars, and you might think "Yeah you first got the stuff thats easier to find first and now you only have the harder to find stuff left" but even stuff I bought for like 20 bucks then are now over a 100, its crazy

The best thing to do when prices get unreasonable is to take advantage of it and sell into the FOMO. I can play these games a million different ways now.

Great video! was very exited for this video and you made really good points!

Watching videos like these makes me feel better about paying 100 bucks for all 5x mainline GBA games (Japanese version) 5 years ago. At 20 a piece, makes dealing with the language barrier less of a problem, especially if you have a western version to play side by side.

I was walking around a game shop last week and saw how much gen 3 games were going for.... I remembered I have LG/FR/Emerald and a gameboy sp buried at home! First thought was go make money and sell. I ended up keeping them... 5 days later and I have 33 hours on leaf green 😅 I only played it once as a kid and it was a fake cartridge.. being able to play the real thing almost 20 years later is amazing.

ive held on to gba sp with fire red(i cant find my copy sapphire) which i bought off ebay 10 years ago for less than $100 all together. I been wanting to get a 2ds/3ds and experience those games but the market is ridiculous

I honestly can’t believe that the Delta emulator didn’t drive these prices down now that you can play them all for free

The only reason resellers are "reselling" video games is because of the demand. IF and when something else is worth "reselling" resellers will focus on that catagory. Resellers have little to nothing todo with "setting" the market. Its not like they are getting together and saying "Only sell pokemon Emerald for $250"... lol

While I do still have a good number of my physical Pokemon games, there are a few I don't have purely because I either traded it in (SoulSilver because I was a dumb kid who got stuck and decided the game was trash) or lent it to a friend who didn't bother giving it back (Pokemon Mystery Dungeon EOS, How I miss you 😭) I was lucky to find a cartridge for Pokemon Diamond some odd years back, because while I didn't trade it in or give it to a friend, one of my cousins had stolen my copy. But yeah, trying to get the ones back that I've lost is hell in a handbasket

seeing people with 10 copies of the same game has genuinely made me give up on collecting anything retro anymore, id rather just emulate it and save the money for something better, no reason the market is the way it is other than greed

It's crazy that back in the early 2010s, I could always find just an old sega genesis game, sometimes even an original xbox old controllers etc at a local thrift store. You won't see any of that there now. The only thing I'll see is old pc peripherals, that's it. The market is wild now people know what they have and sell it online instead. Even goodwill sells that stuff online now, too, instead on the shelf.

i remember when i started collecting around 5 or 6 years ago i found an insane deal for the GBA games. LG, Ruby and Sapphire all CIB for 90 euros together. even got the case and manuals from Firered with it as a bonus. I later sold just the Firered case and manuals for 50 euros and bought a CIB copy for 70. to complete the set I bit the bullet and bought a CIB copy of Emerald for 90 which at the time felt insanely pricey to me. fast forward to now im insanely glad I did

Emerald is the predecessor to Ruby and Sapphire? 3:42

Well, the only console they are selling at least in my country is the Switch 1, so it's Planned Obscolance. Even if you try, you can not buy their products. That leaves one option.

Honestly don’t mind it, the absurd prices made me do two things I won’t regret. 1. Installing randomizers, the convoluted transfer methods are an immense waste of time if it’s not your original file and mons, why would I want to transfer statistically inferior pokemon for an extra $2000? Not to mention the allure of it with link cables and trading in the GTS are all defunct now, there’s not a person to person joy of trading to complete a dex, and all the single player enjoyment you can get can be had on a rom and even more so by changing the file to your liking. 2. The $200 I could’ve spent on Emerald got me another retro console and led me to discover a whole different library of games I could now enjoy and purchase multiple different titles for the same cost as one loose copy of a Pokémon game. I have no regrets not being into the franchise anymore, if anything Gamefreak and Nintendo’s staunch stance against bringing these to virtual console has just made me go enjoy other consoles and IP’s.

Major Resellers have hundreds/thousands of copies of gen 1-5 pokemon games Ebay has thousands if not tens of thousands of listings of "authentic" copies of Gen 1-5 There is no reason it needs to be priced the way it is. The fact of the matter is, people will buy it, because people absolutely love Pokemon. It's the same reason the newer games are made horribly with 0 technical optomization or graphical polish. I hope one day it changes, but I don't know if it ever will. The one hope I have, is so many of the people wating their money on these games are people who hope to turn future profit, so if demand ever goes down ( which it probably won;t for a long long time) they will have to sell at a loss if they want to sell. It's a sad time when 5 years ago gen 1-5 were less than retail prices, and after covid and the nostalgia boom, now they are 4 to 6 times as much as retail.... it's gross.

What’s happening?! I had all the pokemon games CIB (including the GameCube title pokemon box) up until 2020. I even had pokemon gold sealed. Sold em all literally 3 months before the gigantic price jumps

Should've started collecting 15 years ago like I did... Before prices were crazy I have doubles and triples of all the Pokemon Gameboy games complete in box. You can see them in the latest short video on my channel. Funny thing is I paid $10/each CIB for some of them... Pokemon Crystal being one of them. And that's just the complete in box copies I have....I have them loose too

If they would just re-release these on the switch and their future console piracy would slow down on these games and the prices would tank plus its MASSIVE money for them. I actually do not understand why they don't port them over it genuinely doesn't make sense.

As for me, I've been personally noticing that since the fiasco of both Scarlet and Violet older generation Pokémon games have been in both high demand and the prices have gone up. Unfortunately, for both Scarlet and Violet fans, the games do suck and have forced more players to start buying the older generation games and the older generation systems. I'm 1 of those players who was forced to do so in order to play good Pokémon games again.

*Pirates of the Carribean theme plays* I'll buy them *again* when they are available on a reasonable platform at a reasonable price. Until then, im preserving my nostalgia and this art any way i can.

I currently have all mainline pokemon games CIB from gbc to switch. I started hunting for them in 2020, so glad I bought those older games for cheap. Now they're all sitting in my room for display 😊

I feel you man. These prices are crazy ridiculous right now, especially for people who just wanna play them casually for nostalgic purposes. I'm happy I own every game but to try and own every game CIB is a damn nightmare.

I am an avid gamer since childhood and I am not a collector, I am a preserver of the gaming culture of which I have been apart of for a very long time and will continue to preserve my games for future use. Remember this, save all the media you have on cd format to a jbod when you can! CD rot is a thing and when you want a good copy you will need a good copy to copy from. Copy that? 2nd push and push for cartridges again! CD today can store way more than and music album or game can hold, carts will always be the best bet as of today. The new CD coming out will not make it due to people not knowing enough of it.

I got lucky once and found a copy of fire red for $50 at my local GameStop. Best purchase I made

And Pokemon can port all the games to the Switch in a collection and watch the money roll in.

Glad I hoped on getting all the main games early covid when you could find the games for a decent price if you searched for it and that I had most of the collection already. The rarest I was missing were white2/black2 and got Colloseum as a gift from a friend's personal collection.

I am glad here in Europe resellers aren't as big and prices are a little bit more reasonable. I picked up a CIB copy of Emerald last year for 200€ and I also have a loose Japanese copy which I bought for about 25€. Luckily a lot of my other games I bought in 2016/17, where prices were really reasonable or I had them still left from my childhood. But yeah, I kind of get why so many people want these games, especially Gens 3 to 5 - they are just really good games.

I genuinely don’t understand why the older games aren’t put on Switch, Nintendo has to hate their legacy content

I really feel bad for people who got into video game collecting now. They’ll never truly experience the CRAZY lots you could get for dirt cheap. I remember buying a GameCube with Metroid prime, wind waker, double dash, twilight princess, and the Zelda bonus disc for $40 all games cib. I miss those days but I’m happy I collected all of my GBA and GameCube stuff back when it was affordable. Pokémon games used to be worth next to nothing until covid basically shot them up. I owned multiple copies of black and white 2 that I got for like $20 sealed, wish I held onto them😂

Man I remember when you could buy the first two gens for loose for $10-15, It's crazy these games are being scalped so badly when these were far from uncommon

I just download all generation until ultra sun and moon for free on internet in my computer

The answer is really simple: artificial scarcity. These games are NOWHERE near rare (MILLIONS of copies were sold) but people still love to convince themselves that they are rare. The only reason why the prices are this high is because Pokémon is the biggest case of consumerism in the world and their fans let the prices reach these heights. It's because there are people like you who value these games at these prices and contribute to the market instead of stopping because you're so sold on the games that you believe that you just can't live without them. You comprehend that the prices are comically unreasonable but still go "I'm gonna keep buying these games" I enjoyed the video and I subscribed, but it's really sad to see people fall into this trap of thinking

Glad I got Gale of Darkness for $90 right before it sky-rocketed. Sadly, only box and disc. Can't believe just the manual is going for the price of an actual game at like 55-60 bucks.

That price chart seems to be very wrong in the UK the prices have been the same since 2016 overall with go and CoVid causing a Brief spike. Those US Resellers and speculators have killed your market for gamers

Crazy only maybe 5 years ago I picked up a Copy of Emerald at a Street festival for like $35

I'm missing red, blue, pearl, alpha sapphire, ultra sun, scarlet and violet.

I trade stuff on facebook marketplace for old pokemon games. So far Ive been able to get; White, Ruby, FireRed, and Silver w/ a new battery, all from trading like pc parts and random stuff like lego sets. It takes a while...just those 4 games took over a year but I didn't have to pay collector prices!

Thankfully I've been studying Japanese for fun in my free time, which incentivizes me to buy the typically cheaper Japanese versions. Only issue is that I would need a Japanese DS to play Gen 5 and 6 because of the region lock. At least Generations 3 and 4 don't have that though.

These retro game have become a status symbol. I have one game from every gen so I’m happy enough.

The weirdest the games are not rare.

The flip side to the prices going up is that the retro handheld market and rom hacking community has really pick up alot of steam lately and most of these games can be played for free for the most part.