Despite being unable to attend the city party at EB Games on Swanston Street (as per my usual launch party attendance), I did manage to catch one of the other midnight shindigs for Pokémon X and Y at another EB in a shopping mall closer to home – Knox City Shopping Centre in Wantirna South, just a short drive from the Nintendo Australia headquarters. In fact, only four stores in the state of Victoria were able to host such launch parties, the only two other venues for the event in the entire country being held in Queensland. Sucks to be you, Sydney.

Now that's dedication!

Pokémon Fever (thankfully not to be confused with Pokérus) was rising well before the store began preparations for the midnight release, and the most eager of fans had been waiting on deck chairs since as early as 3pm. The accommodating staff at EB screened episodes from the original season of the TV show on their overhead display screens, and before long they were passing out hot popcorn in time for an in-store session of Pokémon: The First Movie. Elsewhere in the store, a Pokémon battle tournament was held over local wi-fi.

If only we all had a giant shiny Magikarp...

Crowds amassed as time passed, with some avid cosplayers amidst the foray. With the majority of the store overrun, the shopping mall walkways out front became a community of trading, battling and StreetPassing. Finally as the stroke of midnight approached, the customers eagerly lined up to receive their games. The diligence and preparation on the part of the staff paid off, and within a very short time, everyone was well on their way home with their new games in hand. All up it was a sizeable crowd and the enthusiasm of the fans helped to make it a great night.

As an additional bonus, those who had preordered within Australia also got a neat little Poké Ball storage case to hold their 3DS games, you can expect some details on that pretty soon.

Temptation for evil Pokémon gangs.

In the meantime, if you're not too busy playing the game you can check out my gallery of photos below. In regards to missing the understandably epic city launch this time around, I do apologize – unfortunately there's only one of me and this was one time I just couldn't catch 'em all.