Shopping Report: Switch OLED, Metroid Dread Special Edition, amiibo, and Pokémon cards

Samus and Pikachu, together again (on the resellers’ market)

Today marks one of the bigger “Nintendo shopping events” in recent memory. This morning, the new Switch OLED model launched alongside Metroid Dread, the game’s special edition, and pair of new amiibo. The Pokémon Company also release a bunch of new Pokémon cards, including a 25th Anniversary Elite Trainer Box.

I’ve spent the day checking out the stock on these hot sellers at local Targets, Best Buys, and GameStops, and from what I can tell, their rarity (from least to most common) seems to be running something like this:

1. The Pokémon cards (Targets and Best Buys in my area were not stocking these, perhaps due to “inappropriate customer behavior.”)
2. The Metroid Dread Special Edition (Target and Best Buy did not have this in-store)
3. The Nintendo Switch OLED (the white version of the console was sold out within minutes of opening of all the stores I visited)
4. The Metroid Dread amiibo (I saw about 12 on the shelves at one of the GameStops I popped into)

From what I could see, there was also a lot of cross-fan chatter in stores, resulting in more purchases all around. I saw more than a few folks who came for the Pokémon cards or the Switch who left with the Metroid Dread amiibo too, “just for the heck of it.” I guess the fan fever got to them.

There was even one guy who, on impulse, threw down $600+ on the new Switch, a Syvleon Pokémon Card Box, the 25th Pokémon Anniversary Elite Trainer Box, the Metroid Dread Special Edition, and the amiibo. Then he did an air fist bump (to God?) and hugged a woman waiting for him outside the store.

All this stuff feels so scarce, so it really can feel like a “win” if you manage to find any of it in the wild. The Switch OLED and the Metroid Dread amiibo and Special Edition have continued to go in and out of stock throughout the day on GameStop, but those Pokémon cards? Forget about it. The scalpers own that world now. It’s like the Dawn of the Dead mall except the soulless husks are eating people’s money, not their flesh, in exchange for laminated drawings of fictional yellow mice.

On that happy note, have any of you tried picking up any of these new toys and games today? If so, how’d you do?

Jonathan Holmes

“Where do dreams end and reality begin? Videogames, I suppose.”- Gainax, FLCL Vol. 1
“The beach, the trees, even the clouds in the sky… everything is build from little tiny pieces of stuff. Just like in a Gameboy game… a nice tight little world… and all its inhabitants… made out of little building blocks… Why can’t these little pixels be the building blocks for love..? For loss… for understanding”- James Kochalka, Reinventing Everything part 1
“I wonder if James Kolchalka has played Mother 3 yet?” Jonathan Holmes