NINTENDO OF AMERICA TO DISTRIBUTE AND MARKET POKeMON RUBY AND POKeMON SAPPHIRE-THEMED EXPANSION SETS FOR POKeMON-e TRADING CARD GAME

Nintendo Creates New Business Division to Oversee Pokemon-e Trading Card Game

REDMOND, Wash., Mar. 20, 2003 - Today, Nintendo of America Inc. announces new plans for marketing, sales and distribution of future editions of the Pokemon-e Trading Card Game (TCG) in North America. Nintendo is establishing a new division housed at Nintendo's Redmond, Washington, headquarters to manage the trading card business. Pokemon

USA, Inc. based in New York City, will work closely with Creatures, the Pokemon TCG designers, and Nintendo of America in support of the TCG.

The first expansion of the Pokemon-e TCG from Nintendo will

showcase all-new characters from the highly anticipated Pokemon(R) Ruby and Pokemon(R) Sapphire video games which launched for Game

Boy(R) Advance on March 19 in North America. Nintendo adds the Pokemon-e TCG to existing e-Reader(TM) card products, like Mario Party(R)-e, Animal Crossing-e(TM) and the NES(R)-e series. Nintendo of America will publish, market and distribute the first Pokemon-e TCG Expansion, based on Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire, in June 2003. These cards will be compatible with Nintendo's popular

e-Reader accessory, allowing consumers to access additional game information on their Game Boy Advance systems. In Japan, the new

Pokemon-e Ruby and Sapphire TCG series, known as Pokemon ADVenture, launched on January 31, 2003 and received strong response from Pokemon fans.

"Pokemon video games and the Pokemon TCG are so closely integrated in North America that it makes sense for Nintendo to manage both key components," says Tatsumi Kimishima, president, Nintendo of America Inc. "Through innovations such as e-Reader, Nintendo is able to consistently enhance the synergy between trading cards and video games."

Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire are the first Pokemon video game titles available for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance system and are available for an MSRP of $39.95 each. Game Boy Advance is available for an estimated

retail price of $69.95, while the newest edition to the Game Boy(R) family, the Game Boy(R) Advance SP will be available March 23 for an estimated retail price of $99.95.

"Since Nintendo already produces the Pokemon video games, it's a natural extension for them to distribute and market the trading card games," says Akira Chiba, president, Pokemon USA, Inc. The creators of Pokemon, along with Nintendo, first launched Pokemon in Japan in 1996 for play on Game Boy, the world's best-selling video game system. Since then they've watched the

original 150 creatures explode into a global cultural phenomenon, selling more than 110 million Pokemon video games worldwide. The

franchise arrived in North America in September 1998.

Pokemon USA, Inc., the New York-based subsidiary of The Pokemon Company in Japan, manages and oversees the Pokemon franchise in North and Latin America, which includes licensing, merchandising, TV animation, theatrical releases, home video entertainment, the official Pokemon website, the Pokemon Center NY in Rockefeller Center and www.PokemonCenter.com, an e-commerce site. Pokemon merchandise has generated over $15 billion in worldwide retail sales since 1998. The trading card game has global sales of 9.8 billion cards to date. For more information about Pokemon, visit the company's website at www.pokemon.com.

As the worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co. Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems. The systems include Game Boy(R), Nintendo(R) 64, Game Boy(R) Advance and Nintendo GameCube(TM). Since the release of

its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than .6 billion video games worldwide, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario(TM) and Donkey Kong(R) and launching such franchises as Zelda(TM) and Pokemon(R). As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for

Nintendo's operations in the Western hemisphere.

For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site, www.nintendo.com.