When did Pokemon Ruby / Sapphire / Emerald disappear from store shelves?

[Room 34]

It seems like it was just within the last month or so that I was still regularly seeing Pokemon Ruby / Sapphire / Emerald on store shelves everywhere, still (inexplicably) selling for $35. And now... *POOF!!!* They're gone. Nowhere. What happened?

 

I'm curious about how games suddenly disappear like this. It has to be a coordinated effort by Nintendo. Are they buying up all of the unsold stock, or what? You'd think there might be a few stray copies on dusty shelves SOMEWHERE but even the few local non-chain places that sell video games are completely cleared out. And just when I was ready to buy them! Well, off to eBay... but I am still wondering what this is all about. I know the GBA platform is pretty much dead but you still see new shovelware on the shelves for it. Is Nintendo planning a Player's Choice release of these games or are they gone for good?

[AJ_Maine_Man]

go to all the circuit citys you can find and look in there bargin bins, thats where i found mine even if there marked $34.99 or whatever they were I forgot they rang up at like $14.99

 

I found them about 3-4 months ago and havent been back to circuit city for awhile but its worth a check.

[Wickeycolumbus]

My target has a stack of like 20 saphires about a week ago, but I did not check the price.

[Room 34]

Hmm... well I just remembered there's one particular Target here in Minneapolis (the one at The Quarry -- which is considerably harder for me to get to since the bridge collapse last year) that always seems to consolidate all of their old inventory from the entire metro area (I got a Game Boy Player for the GameCube there about 6 months after they'd disappeared everywhere else, and they were still selling the Game Boy Micro long after it was dead, too)... I should go there tomorrow and check it out.

Edited August 7, 2008 by Room 34

[OldSnakeWontDie]

Let us know how it goes.

[JimmydelaKopin]

Hmm... well I just remembered there's one particular Target here in Minneapolis (the one at The Quarry -- which is considerably harder for me to get to since the bridge collapse last year) that always seems to consolidate all of their old inventory from the entire metro area (I got a Game Boy Player for the GameCube there about 6 months after they'd disappeared everywhere else, and they were still selling the Game Boy Micro long after it was dead, too)... I should go there tomorrow and check it out.

 

 

Sounds like that's the highest-selling Target in the area.

Whenever other stores 'research'* their backrooms and the like, sometimes the 'researched' merchandise will be sent to a store with a higher volume of sales.

I'd have added that Target usually doesn't 'research' open merch, but games get delivered to the stores in repack boxes*, not boxes from the manufacturers.

 

*For those a bit confused by the lingo...every week an area of a Target backroom will get 'researched', or checked by computer inventory for full boxes of merchandise that aren't currently needed. When such are found, they're scanned for shipping and sent out.

Like I said, this usually doesn't happen with open merch--that is, merch not in the original boxes, as shipping from 'research' is primarily reserved for full boxes. But certain merchandise, like clothes, electronic software and books, and other small items (like dog toys and kitchen gear) are shipped in reusable repack boxes (which must be shipped back to the warehouse in bulk once a store accumulates enough of them).

In all, it's entirely plausible that the district managet for Target determined that the run for Pokemon has ended and put in an order to have all Pokemon games researched for shipping to the volume store in the area.

[Room 34]

Well I did go to "that" Target the next day like I had posted, and... D'OH! They've just remodeled it! All of the outdated video game stuff is long gone, of course.

 

So... I've checked all over (Target, Best Buy and Discland, the local place I mentioned, in Minneapolis; Target, Best Buy and Circuit City in the Chicago suburbs; Best Buy and GameStop in Rochester, MN) and there seems to be absolutely no sign of any new Pokemon games for GBA except FireRed. (Not even LeafGreen! And as for FireRed, it's just an empty space in the Target case, no actual copies!)

 

Anyway... after several outbids, I won a copy of Emerald on eBay, and I finally broke down and bought my son Sapphire used at GameStop --for $29.99. They also had Ruby and Emerald (with trashed labels!) for $34.99!!! Stupid @#%*)^ GameStop!

Edited August 12, 2008 by Room 34

[Wickeycolumbus]

Anyway... after several outbids, I won a copy of Emerald on eBay, and I finally broke down and bought my son Sapphire used at GameStop --for $29.99. They also had Ruby and Emerald (with trashed labels!) for $34.99!!! Stupid @#%*)^ GameStop!

 

That horrible! GameStop's prices suck. Those are some of the most common/best selling games for the gba and they cost more used than they do If you can find them new. What a shame...