Up to £799 for a Cardboard N64 Box and £480 Without the Game: Scalpers Target Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2
The collector frenzy surrounding Hyrule's 40th anniversary has officially crossed into pure comedy. Barely twenty-four hours after the global launch of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2, the exclusive midnight launch freebies handed out to fans who braved the autumn chill in London have flooded eBay UK and European marketplaces, with asking prices now eclipsing the cost of the console itself.
500 Copies at Midnight on Tottenham Court Road: Inside the eBay Frenzy
On Wednesday night ahead of the November 5, 2026 release, UK retailer Argos hosted a special midnight launch event on Tottenham Court Road in central London. Exactly 500 physical copies of the Switch 2 remake were up for grabs at the stroke of midnight. To reward fans who queued in the cold, Nintendo bundled each copy with two commemorative extras: a cardboard replica of the original black PAL Nintendo 64 box from 1998 and a metallic Ocarina of Time keyring.
Predictably, scores of those midnight bundles surfaced on eBay before sunrise. Across eBay UK, Buy It Now listings for the first-print game alongside the replica N64 sleeve and keyring have escalated to staggering heights: £513.91, £646.77, £696.62, £700.17, £717.25 (already tracked by 26 watchers), and up to £799.18 (roughly $1,030), while one active auction has already climbed to £259.43 after 14 bids.
£479.89 for an Empty Cardboard Box Without the Game: The Resale Breakdown
Looking closer at the active listings reveals just how far resellers are pushing their luck over a piece of corrugated cardboard:
| Listing Contents / Reference | Marketplace | Listed Price |
|---|---|---|
| Full Bundle (Switch 2 Foil Cover Game + PAL N64 Replica Box + Keyring) | eBay UK (Buy It Now) | £513.91 to £799.18 (~$660 to $1,030) |
| Empty PAL N64 Cardboard Box + Ocarina Keyring (NO Game Included) | eBay UK | £479.89 (~$620) |
| Switch 2 Game + PAL N64 Replica Box (Missing the Keyring) | Seller in France | £321.62 + £54.22 shipping (£375.84 total) |
| Authentic 1998 PAL Nintendo 64 Complete-in-Box Copy + New Switch 2 Remake | Retrocharting Guide + Retail | ~$145 (£112) + £59.99 (~£172 total) |
The boldest listing on the platform belongs to a seller demanding £479.89 or Best Offer strictly for the empty cardboard replica box and the keychain, keeping the actual Switch 2 game card for themselves. Meanwhile, a seller based in France has listed the game and the replica N64 box without the Ocarina keyring for £321.62 plus £54.22 in shipping fees.
Why the "Foil Cover" Hype and Original 1998 N64 Prices Make Scalpers Look Ridiculous
To inflate perceived scarcity, many of these listings aggressively advertise the Foil Cover Limited Edition sleeve inside the standard red Switch 2 case. While the metallic foil artwork is technically a first-print bonus from Nintendo, it is far from rare at launch: virtually every copy sitting on supermarket and high-street shelves right now for £59.99 / $69.99 features the exact same shiny foil insert, ready for anyone using our system settings trick to sprint and move the camera in Ocarina of Time or pairing the game with HORI's official $49.99 Electric Ocarina accessory for Switch 2.
More importantly, comparing these speculative prices against genuine vintage hardware exposes how absurd the markup really is. Not only does the sold-out Nintendo Switch 2 Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition console (£434.99 retail) frequently trade for less on eBay than these cardboard sleeves, but according to the official Zelda: Ocarina of Time Nintendo 64 price guide on Retrocharting, an authentic 1998 PAL Nintendo 64 copy complete in its original box (CIB) currently averages around $145 / £112 (and roughly $70 / £54 loose). You could literally buy a mint 1998 N64 boxed copy, a brand-new Switch 2 copy, and still keep more than £500 in your pocket compared to these eBay listings.
My Perspective
It takes a special kind of nerve to list an empty corrugated cardboard sleeve and a promotional keyring for £479.89 while keeping the actual Switch 2 game cartridge for yourself. Watching scalpers queue on Tottenham Court Road at midnight just to flip 500 Argos launch freebies by breakfast is an exhausting ritual at every big Nintendo launch. Paying £717 for a 2026 cardboard facsimile when a genuine, complete-in-box 1998 PAL Nintendo 64 copy of Ocarina of Time costs around £112 is pure madness: leave those eBay listings to gather dust and spend your Rupees on the real thing instead.
Based on the outskirts of New York City, Chaya 'Chayane' spent five years studying software engineering in Montreal before returning to her home state. A Full-Stack developer and Deep Learning AI architecture researcher, she explores neural networks and algorithmic optimization while engineering data pipelines for Retrocharting and Gamescharting alongside Grimtag. A gamer for over 20 years and an avid collector of Nintendo history and The Legend of Zelda, she explored World of Warcraft's Azeroth before bringing her deep technical background to video game analysis.
