Nintendo has been surprisingly coy when it comes to special editions of the Switch 2. Up until now, during the console’s first year, it’s created precisely none of them. So yesterday’s announcement of a special The Legend of Zelda 40th anniversary edition Switch 2 is bizarrely welcome news. Less welcome is the inevitable follow-up: the scalpers already trying to sell a device not releasing until October 29 for almost double its price.
The decorated console comes with a black-and-gold dock, black-and-gold triangle motifs on the reverse of the device, and two green-and-gold Joy-Cons. There’s also a matching case sporting the gold Triforce logo, and a special edition of the Pro controller with a combination of the black, gold, and green designs. I love how all of it looks, except for the dock, which, without a green detail, rather unfortunately looks to me like something from the Trump White House. Anyway, clearly a lovely-looking set, and something extremely desirable to diehard Zelda fans, or those who are looking to pick up a Switch 2 this winter.
So of course, step in the scalpers.
Tears of the Kingdom
Best Buy, Walmart, and Target have all listed the Zelda Switch 2 on their websites for pre-orders, charging $520, a further $20 on top of the recently increased price for a vanilla Switch 2, although all immediately sold out. So, as GamesRadar observes, scalpers are already listing the product on eBay at anywhere from $700 to as high as $985.
Some are, infuriatingly, showing more sense than both Nintendo and the big-name outlets and listing the new prettier Switch 2 alongside the forthcoming Ocarina of Time remake. Extraordinarily, Nintendo isn’t bundling the game with the console, and is in fact launching the 40th anniversary Switch 2 a week earlier than the much anticipated updated classic, due November 6.
Obviously no one should pay these grotesque prices, and they’ll only become more grotesque as people do. While those Joy-Cons are undeniably beautiful, the machine itself won’t run any differently! You’d be paying an extra $400 for some drawings.
This isn’t helped by Nintendo not making the special edition available for pre-orders on its own sites yet, let alone seemingly manufacturing it in such scarcity that it’s possible for demand to outstrip supply months before it’s even on sale. Nintendo did make some special efforts to ensure customers were able to buy the original Switch 2 from their sites when it launched in 2025, so perhaps there could be plans for something similar to come?