Where to begin? Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave came out this week. It’s a B-tier Nintendo franchise with a ride-or-die fanbase. It’s also the first entry in the strategy RPG series on Switch 2, and the console’s first big exclusive of the fall season. Here’s why that caused a run on bananas at Walmart.
Wario64 is a social media power user who functions like the wire service for gaming and gaming-adjacent deals. In addition to sharing up-to-the-minute news, he shares links to discounts. That is how the account makes money. Last night, the account shared an ongoing Walmart promotion that gives $10 off online pickup or delivery orders, pointing out that fans could use it to get almost 15 percent off the $70 digital version of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave.
The savings code doesn’t always work, however, so Wario64 encouraged people to use a workaround. “If code doesn’t work, try switching to pickup. If that doesn’t work, add a banana (weirdly this worked for me with FAST30),” he wrote. He also shared the link to the Walmart online store’s listing for single bananas.
It fucking worked😭✌️ https://t.co/KZovmK86wO pic.twitter.com/9gHVS2SppY
— An Average Gamer – N (@AnAverageGamerX) September 17, 2026
ay W deal https://t.co/ieBAajtzdC pic.twitter.com/38hGxe9Nk2
— OmegaX8 (@_OmegaX8) September 17, 2026
Wario64 forced a banana shortage at Walmart https://t.co/zRLd99eZd4 pic.twitter.com/oUlfklDOSL
— An Average Gamer – N (@AnAverageGamerX) September 18, 2026
And Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave players did exactly that. We know because some of them shared pictures of the games they’d purchased, next to the accompanying bananas. While it’s impossible to say how many people actually followed through with the banana cheat code, it is true that if you visit Walmart’s banana page right now, it says the item is currently out of stock, at least for online shipping.
While Walmart isn’t actually at risk of running out of bananas in-store anytime soon, it is running low on stock of physical versions of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. Despite the game running $80 for boxed copies, lots of players have reportedly opted to pay the higher price. It’s listed as “Low Stock” on Walmart’s website and has been out of stock at various points on Amazon between launch day and now.
UPDATE: Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave physical release is “temporarily out of stock” on Amazon and showing sold out at Walmart right now
Also #1 on eShop Best Sellers list
Check here for up-to-date availability: https://t.co/RR1aZeYVYP pic.twitter.com/auyAgt8dnD
— Nintendeal (@Nintendeal) September 18, 2026
Is this because players are rushing out in droves to get get the physical version of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, or did Nintendo just not produce a ton of physical copies to begin with, thereby ensuring they would be close to selling out throughout launch week? We saw something similar happen with Pokémon Pokopia, which was tough to get a physical version of the month it came out, though the initial shortages have since subsided as new inventory was released.
Whether or not this proves that physical game buying is still thriving, one thing’s clear: where there’s a Wario64 there’s a way.