New e-Reader Card Sets

GBA

October 22, 2003, 10:40 am EDT
Total comments: 7

Also known as "pieces of paper that will make Nintendo more money."

NEW E-READER CARD SETS ENHANCE GAME PLAY FOR HOT GBA SP GAMES

The news from Nintendo of America Inc. continues to be e-mazing. This week, Nintendo issued new sets of e-Reader cards that bring enhancements previously unavailable to three hot games for the Game Boy® Advance SP.

Just connect two Game Boy Advance hand-held systems and slide the cards through an e-Reader while playing Pokémon® Ruby, Pokémon® Sapphire or Super Mario® Advance 4: Super Mario Bros.® 3 to activate the special bonuses while playing . The compact size of these power-packed cards – and an MSRP of just $5.99 for each set – make these ideal stocking stuffers and holiday gifts.

# Pokémon® Battle-e cards: With 2.5 million Pokémon® Ruby and Pokémon® Sapphire games sold, players will find that using Pokémon Battle-e cards allow them to battle new Trainers and receive exclusive berries.

# Super Mario® Advance 4: Super Mario Bros.® 3-e cards: These cards allow players to play new levels that don't exist in the game pack, use special power-ups and learn strategic techniques within Super Mario® Advance 4: Super Mario Bros.® 3, the hand-held version of the best-selling game of all time, Super Mario Bros. 3TM.

The Game Boy Advance has sold more than 15.3 million in the United States and more than 37 million worldwide since it debuted.

Talkback

Bill AurionOctober 22, 2003

I really want the Super Mario 3 cards...hopefully they will be out in my area by this weekend...

joshnickersonOctober 22, 2003

I got both sets of Mario cards today... and let me just state that some of those e-Level cards are just... EVIL.

Bartman3010October 22, 2003

Nice.

Wheres the Game and Watch cards?

Fluke WormOctober 23, 2003

grrrr what are Game and Watch cards, I can't be the only person that doesn't know. Answer me this time Bartman ANSWER ME!

(a reply to your thread "Game and Watch e-cards.")

Quote
No. What's that? Some advertising/demo thing? I did a quick google on it and got amongst other things a link to Nintendo's page which came up as an error.

ruby_onixOctober 23, 2003

The GameBoy Advance Forum is somewhat slow. So people don't usually check it all the time.

Anyways, I can probably answer your question.

The "Game and Watch" was an important piece of Nintendo (and videogames in general) history. Nintendo started off making their "electronic toys" by making arcade games like Donkey Kong, but then they realized that computers were more widespread than people thought. People with digital watches were carrying computers around on their wrists!

So Nintendo made a kind of big digital watch called a "Game and Watch". Instead of displaying a bunch of rectangles that made up passively changing numbers, it displayed interactive stick men and and enemies and obstacles.

They were portable, about the size of a GameBoy Advance, and they needed a controller that was small and cheap and worked well. So Nintendo invented (and perfected at the same time) the digital "crosskey" controller design for them.

They were the grandfather of the GameBoy Advance and GBA SP (I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of the Game and Watch units had a flip-top design, like the GBA SP too). And Nintendo released a whole series of them, with games like Mario and Zelda on them.

I'm not entirely sure about Game and Watch e-cards though. But Nintendo could release the Game and Watch games as e-card programs you could play on your GameBoy Advance. They're certainly small enough. The original Game and Watch units are quite rare, and they've been mentioned lately thanks to things like Smash Bros Melee, so I'm sure a lot of people are curious to see what they're like.

Personally, I think they'll lose a big chunck of their appeal without the antique hardware that came with them (but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in them).

Fluke WormOctober 23, 2003

oooh, they're little single game machines with prerendered generic graphics. When you said rare it made me think to do an Ebay search and yep there they are. I also think your right with some of the appeal being with the unique hardware. Anyway thanx for the help

Bartman3010October 28, 2003

I found out that you only need to buy 1 pack of Series 1 and 2 cards for SMA4. If you buy another pack of say, series 1 cards, your getting the same cards as you did last time. So dont bother buying the same pack, just get series 2 or just wait fr Nintendo to make some more.

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