CGC Video Games Certifies Traditional Gamecube Rarity: Pokémon Box

This elusive Pokémon game is being offered by Heritage Auctions in January 2023.

Posted on: 1/9/2023

CGC Video Games™ recently graded one of the rarest games in the Pokémon video game franchise. An incredible copy of Pokémon Box Ruby & Sapphire for the Nintendo GameCube (2004) received a grade of CGC 9.6 A+ for its excellent condition and fantastic seal. The game is being offered in Heritage Auction's January Video Games Signature® Auction, which will take place on January 20-21, 2023.

Pokémon Box Ruby and Sapphire was released in North America on July 11, 2004 as an exclusive product available only at the Pokémon Center — now known as Nintendo New York — in New York City. North American versions were bundled with a special Ruby and Sapphire-themed memory card and a GameCube-to-Gameboy Advance link cable — a tool necessary to use Pokémon Box Ruby & Sapphire effectively. All of the components were nicely packaged in a big box bundle.

The game wasn’t so much a “game” rather than an external storage system for Pokémon. Players could store up to 1,500 Pokémon from Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed and LeafGreen versions to Pokémon Box by trading them to the GameCube game via the GameCube-Gameboy Advance Link Cable.

Pokémon Box Ruby and Sapphire also let players experience their Gameboy Advance Pokémon games on their televisions. To do this, gamers would need to plug in their Gameboy Advance to the GameCube using the link cable. If the Gameboy Advance had a copy of Pokémon Ruby or Sapphire in the game slot, Pokémon Box Ruby and Sapphire would recognize it and allow the player to continue their journey on the big screen.

In addition to acting as a storage system and console player for the Gameboy Advance games, Pokémon Box Ruby and Sapphire also gave players exclusive rewards for use in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed and LeafGreen depending on how many Pokémon were stored in Pokémon Box at once. The rewards included Pokémon eggs that, when hatched, gave the player a Pokémon that knew moves it wouldn’t normally learn. These Pokémon included:

  • a Swablu that knows the move False Swipe
  • a Zigzagoon that knows the move ExtremeSpeed
  • a Skitty that knows the move Pay Day
  • a Pichu that knows the move Surf

Because of its limited release, Pokémon Box Ruby & Sapphire has become extremely rare and sought after by collectors. For this reason, it is also listed as a Traditional Rarity in the CGC Video Games Reference Guide’s GameCube section. Any collector looking to fill out their GameCube collection won’t want to miss out on this rarity.

CGC Video Games began accepting submissions in late 2022 and has already certified many games across several consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, Atari and more. To learn more about CGC Video Games, click here.