Nintendo showed off the new Card-e Reader to the North American press for the first time. Now known as the e-Reader, it has also picked up the functionality to connect to the GameCube via the GC-GBA link cable. Instead of plugging into the Game Boy Advance directly, the e-Reader now has a port directly on it to accomodate for the fact that the unit covers the entire top of the GBA. It's unknown if Nintendo will release this new design in Japan, or if they'll come up with some sort of adapter for the Japanese version.

There's also new information as to how the link-up will work with GC games. Depending on the cards you use and the game you're playing, swiping a card can "enhance" games or unlock special items or levels. There are also specially themed card sets availble. Along with the previously announced Pokémon-e and Game and Watch-e cards, Animal Crossing-e cards will be released as well. When using them, you can get items, such as furniture for your in-game home. They can be used just like regular trading cards too, which will probably become collector items down the road.

The release date is now set in stone, September 16, 2002, with the MSRP set at $39.95. Card packs will retail for $1.99 to $2.99, depending on the cards, with Pokémon-e, Game & Watch-e, and Animal Crossing-e cards releasing along side.

Last updated: 08/23/2001 by Jonathan Metts

Nintendo has released a little more info about the E-Card system. The E-Card Reader is just that: a reader and not its own game at all. At E3 there was some indication that various GBA games might be released with the reader attached, like the tilt sensor and rumble pak hardware is included with some games. However, at least for now, there is no GBA game announced to be compatible with the E-Card Reader. There will be a new set of Pokemon Trading Cards with the E-Card system built in. When swiped, each E-Card will activate playing tips, short movies, or mini-games on the GBA screen. Each card has two effects, one when the side is swiped and one when the bottom is swiped.

Nintendo is also heralding E-Cards as a revolutionary new way to store data...although we've yet to see any applications other than the simple Pokemon mini-games and stuff.

Last updated: 03/09/2001 by Max Lake

Here's a quick update with a couple of specifics on this this interesting new hardware & its unique features. Each individual E-Card can save 2,064 bytes vertically and 1,296 bytes horizontally, which will potentially allow mini-games to be stored on them! Mini-games for "Pokemon Advance" are already expected to be included on E-Cards.

Additionally, Nintendo plans to release the E-Cards in Japan sometime in the fall of 2001 & fully plans to release the E Card Reader & E Cards in the US and Europe sometime thereafter. With Pokémon's International popularity, it should come as no surprise Nintendo plans a worldwide release of this seemingly "quirky" (yet brilliant) device.

Last updated: 03/07/2001

When it was announced that a new Pokémon game for the Game Boy Advance might use some kind of barcode reader I was like “what?” After looking into this E-Card thing I now understand the possibilities of it. The E-Card system is composted of 2 things, the first being the E-Card reader. The reader is a device that attaches to the GameBoy Advance, probably through the cartridge slot. This mean that a game using the reader will probably plug into a slot on the reader itself, but that is just speculation.

The second part of the system is the E-Cards themselves. An E-Card is a paper card, probably about the size of a credit card, which you can swipe through the reader. The cards are imprinted with barcodes. These barcodes can hold several hundred times the information of standard barcodes like those on products you buy at stores just about everywhere. The cards will be able to carry sound, visual, and other types of data on them. That data can be accessed when the card is swiped trough the reader. I don’t know how you can store information on a barcode though. Usually barcodes are just reference numbers that can be used to easily call up something from a database, such as a price. Knowing this, I believe that the cards will just cross reference information that will be loaded from the cartridge. Though I could be totally wrong and the cards may actually carry information themselves, seeing as they can hold much more information than standard barcodes.

What is this technology going to be used for? First of all, Pokémon. This E-Card system lends itself very well to the franchise. Nintendo could create a digital Pokédex where the user could swipe a Pokémon’s card and the information would be displayed on screen. The cards, which are paper, could be printed with Pokémon Trading Card Game cards on them so a player could swipe a trading card. A software program could be developed to catalog all of a player’s Pokémon Trading Cards. The system could also be used for other games. A football game could be developed for the Game Boy Advance. Then, instead of buying an entire new version of the game for the next year you could buy a card, which would then let you, play with that year’s teams. This way, you could plug in the cartridge and swipe a year and all the teams from that year would be available. You could play with Team A from year X against your buddy who’s using Team B from year Y.

The possibilities of this E-Card system are endless. I’m sure we’ll see many different innovations in video games because of it. They may all end up being niche genres but they will certainly be something entirely new.