Pokémon Box | DJcube

Pokémon Box is a useful tool to organize your Pokémon.

JP release: 30th May 2003
NA release: 12th July 2003
EU release: 14th May 2004
Developer: Game Freak, Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo (NA/EU), The Pokémon Company (JP)
NGC Magazine Score: N/A
Mods Used: None

The North American version of Pokémon Box is incredibly rare and sells for over $2000 in its box. Part of this is that it was only sold via the Pokémon Center (either in New York or through their website). In Europe, it’s nowhere near as rare (usually around 90% cheaper), where it was in a bundle with Pokémon Colosseum. I can’t find details on how it was released in Japan, but as that version of the game is quite cheap, I presume it just had a standard release. Pokémon Box isn’t really a game, but more additional storage for Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. For the purpose of this, I downloaded some save data for Pokémon Ruby.

The main feature of Pokémon Box is what its title implies: it’s a box for storing Pokémon. In Ruby & Sapphire, you can store a measly 420 Pokémon (enough to have all 386 Pokémon and plenty of duplicates). If that isn’t enough, then Pokémon Box can provide an additional 1500 slots. It does feature a nice interface that shows you all the stats of your Pokémon and makes it easy to transfer to a game connected via a Game Boy Advance. Oddly, even though Pokémon Box doesn’t require any input on the GBA and just accesses the save file, it’s not compatible with the Game Boy Player (well, technically it is if you use the Game Boy Player on a second GameCube).

Outside of this, you can also set up dioramas. You can have different textures and backgrounds, but the Pokémon are all just the 2D sprites on some kind of sign. I understand having 3D models would be a lot of work, but even an option of having the sprites alone would be better. The “hologram” option looked the best. While it makes it look like the Pokémon are trapped, it’s better than the other options, which look more like gravestones.

The final option lets you emulate Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire on your GameCube. If you were serious about doing this, you would probably have a GameCube player, especially as this doesn’t support trading or battling with others. As a storage for Pokémon, it’s nice to have some extra stuff, but they could have done more, such as connectivity to Pokémon Colosseum – really, it could have been included on the Pokémon Colosseum disc.

Poor

It’s difficult to justify Pokemon Box as a standalone package, which is why it’s an extremely good thing that Nintendo has packed it to the gills with physical extras, and priced it at a budget tag. For twenty bucks, you’ll get the GameCube disc, a very cool Ruby/Sapphire Memory Card 59 and a GameCube Game Boy Advance link cable. If you’re lucky, the Pokemon Center (the only place that Pokemon Box can be purchased) will throw in a couple Pokemon extras like creature pins.
Craig Harris, IGN

Remake or remaster?

It’s just storage for one Pokémon game.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to buy Pokémon Box.