Nintendo announced Metroid Ravenous during last week's Direct, opened pre-orders the same day, and the $119.99 Special Edition was gone before most people finished watching the trailer. By the following morning, completed eBay sales for those pre-orders were closing between $250 and $325, according to Terapeak data cited by Notebookcheck.
The game does not ship until January 28, 2027.
That is four and a half months of somebody else holding your money on a promise to forward a package. It is worth slowing down and asking what is actually inside that box, because the answer changes how urgent this feels.
What Is in the Box
The Metroid Ravenous Special Edition, at $119.99 in the US and £99.99 in the UK, contains three things:
- A physical copy of the Switch 2 game
- A blue SteelBook case with artwork drawn from the game
- A Samus (Metroid Suit) amiibo figure
That third item is the whole story. Nintendo has confirmed the Metroid Suit Samus figure is exclusive to the Special Edition and cannot be purchased separately. The other two figures in the Metroid Ravenous amiibo series are sold on their own: a standard Samus at $24.99 (£16.99) and a Chozo Statue at $44.99 (£33.99). The Chozo Statue is oversized, posed with knees raised and palms extended forward, which is where the higher price comes from.
So the series has three figures, and exactly one of them is locked inside a bundle.
The Math Nobody Did Before Clicking
Start with the standard edition. The physical game is $69.99. The digital version is $59.99.
Subtract the game from the Special Edition and you are paying roughly $50 for a SteelBook and an exclusive figure. Compare that to the Chozo Statue at $44.99 on its own. At MSRP, the Special Edition is the best per-item value in the entire Metroid Ravenous lineup. That is not an accident, and it explains the speed of the sellout better than any narrative about scalpers does.
Now run the same math at eBay prices. At $300, after backing out the $69.99 game, you are paying about $230 for a SteelBook and one standard-size amiibo. For context, you could buy both separately sold figures at retail, the physical game, and still have roughly $90 left over.
There is a reason those eBay listings exist and a reason most of them will look foolish by February.
Why This Structure Is New for Metroid
The comparison point is Metroid Dread in 2021. That Special Edition ran $89.99 and included a SteelBook, an art book, and five art cards celebrating each 2D game in the series. The Dread amiibo, Samus and E.M.M.I., shipped as a separate $29.99 two-pack. A collector who wanted everything bought two products, and both products stayed available.
Ravenous inverts that. The art book is gone. In its place is a figure that exists in no other SKU. If you are the kind of amiibo collector who finishes series rather than picking favorites, the bundle is no longer optional. That is a structural change, not a marketing flourish, and it is the reason the Special Edition drew heavier demand than Dread's did at a similar point in its cycle.
It also means the after-market for this box will behave more like a figure market than a game market. Loose Metroid Suit Samus figures will appear on eBay within days of launch as buyers keep the game and flip the plastic, or keep the plastic and flip the game. Sealed Special Editions will trade at a premium to the sum of their parts, but the gap will be smaller than the current $300 listings imply.
Three Unknowns That Should Slow You Down
The cartridge is unconfirmed. Nintendo has not said whether the physical release contains the full game on the card or a Game-Key Card. The estimated install size is 20.2GB, which fits comfortably on a Switch 2 cartridge, and first-party Nintendo titles have generally shipped complete. But "generally" is not "confirmed." If long-term sealed value is your reason for buying, that detail decides whether this is a game you own or a license you store in a nice case. Wait for confirmation.
The amiibo functionality is unannounced. Nintendo's listings say you can tap the figure to unlock in-game items. What items, and whether they matter, has not been detailed. Anyone buying at a 150 percent premium for content they have not seen described is guessing.
Restocks are likely. Nintendo Store UK ran a queue system, moved the Special Edition from "available on back order" to "out of stock," and then stock reappeared at Very in the UK within a day. The three-per-customer limit on the standalone amiibo tells you Nintendo is managing allocation rather than running a hard-capped print. First-party special editions from Nintendo have a long history of returning in waves over the months before launch, and Dread's Special Edition was still being restocked at retailers well after its release. Four and a half months is a lot of runway for that pattern to repeat.
A Practical Plan
If you want this and do not already have a pre-order:
Lock in a standard pre-order now. The $69.99 physical edition is widely available at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Nintendo Store. It costs nothing to hold and gives you a floor. You can cancel it if a Special Edition lands.
Set restock alerts rather than refreshing. Stock returns in waves, usually without announcement. Retailer alert tools and the Nintendo Store queue both work better than manual checking, and the queue in particular rewards being early in a session rather than fast on a click.
Decide whether you want the box or the figure. These are different purchases. If you only need the Metroid Suit Samus for a complete amiibo shelf, loose examples will be plentiful and comparatively cheap in February. If you want a sealed collectible, the box is the point and patience is cheaper than a premium.
Skip the pre-order flips. An eBay listing in September for a January item is not a product. It is a stranger's promise, with four months of counterparty risk attached and no protection if they simply cancel and keep the money when retail stock returns and the premium collapses.
Key Takeaways
The Metroid Ravenous Special Edition sold out because it was underpriced relative to its contents, not because it is genuinely rare. At $119.99 with a $69.99 game inside, a $50 effective cost for a SteelBook and an exclusive figure beat every other price in the lineup.
The one real change from Dread is that a figure now lives only inside the bundle, which pulls amiibo completionists into a game purchase they might otherwise have skipped. That pressure is real and it is deliberate.
Everything else argues for waiting. The cartridge contents are unconfirmed, the amiibo unlocks are undescribed, restocks are already appearing, and there are nineteen weeks between now and release. The only collectors who should be paying $300 today are the ones who have decided that certainty is worth $180, and even they should ask what happens if the January stock arrives and the figure turns out to be the third-most interesting thing in the series.
Prices and market values move quickly. All figures here are estimates based on listings and completed sales at the time of writing, and current pricing may differ.