Prices of Used Nintendo 3DS consoles with “Pokémover” and “Pokémon Bank” continue to soar in Japan

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A small “phenomenon” is occurring on Japanese auction sites and flea market apps where individuals can easily buy and sell products. The trading price of “Nintendo 3DS” (2011-2020), which is Nintendo’s previous generation portable game console, continues to soar.

Futaman recently released an article to discover why this is happening.

Among the 3DS currently traded on auction sites, etc., there are some that are traded at a high price of over 50,000 yen. This is despite the fact that it is not a limited version that tends to be priced at a premium, but a general model that has been mass-marketed. In the past few years, when the latest models “Nintendo Switch” and “PS5” were at their peak, the transaction price of 3DS was steadily declining.

In the past one to two months, however, there have been cases where it has been sold at more than double the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (25,000 yen) when it first went on sale, which is surprising.

There are “special terms” for the 3DS with these high prices. It is that the terminal has already installed “Pokémover” and “Pokémon Bank”, which are download versions of the popular game “Pokémon” series.

This phenomenon started when the ban on the use of software “Pokemon HOME” to bring your favorite Pokemon from the previous work was initiated in the latest Pokemon work “Pocket Monster Scarlet Violet” released on November 18, 2022.

In recent Pokemon new works, it is customary to say, “Pokémon HOME cannot be used = you cannot bring past Pokemon. The ban on “Pokemon HOME” has been lifted. As a result, Pokemon can be brought in from past works, but in addition, if you use the above-mentioned “Poke Mover” or “Pokemon Bank”, you can play Pokemon more than 20 years ago by going through successive hardware and past works. However, “Pokémover” and “Pokémon Bank” became unavailable for download due to the termination of Nintendo’s game content distribution service “Nintendo eShop” on March 28. Therefore, it seems that the 3DS with them installed, which is now difficult to obtain, has been traded at a high price.

The merit of bringing past Pokemon to the latest work is the existence of marks displayed on the Pokemon status screen, “Ribbon” and “Akashi”.

Pokemon with these can be given various “nicknames” when they go into battle (introduced from the 8th generation), and Pokemon that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame in each region can be recognized at a glance. Pokemon with ribbons from older works can stand out in “Scarlet Violet”, adding new fun and added value.

In addition, the Pokemon that has been used for many years from the past work and the Pokemon distributed at the movie theater will all have memories. One of the benefits is that you can see your favorite Pokemon in the latest graphics.

There must be many people who want to move their phantom and legendary Pokemon such as Mew and Mewtwo to “Scarlet Violet” and enjoy the latest version of the graphics.

If you bring in Pokemon from the third generation Ruby Sapphire or Pokemon Colosseum, it will be a big move from vintage game consoles such as “Game Boy Advance” and “Nintendo GameCube”. It is a time-consuming and labor-intensive task, but there are quite a few fans who want to collect the past “ribbons” even if it takes that much effort.

For that reason, the 3DS with “Pokémover” and “Pokémon Bank”, which are currently soaring, cannot be avoided. I am just impressed that the compatibility continues.

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