As most of you probably know, I love Nintendo and I have a soft spot for trading cards - so back when Nintendo announced the e-Reader for the Game Boy Advance, I was thrilled.
During the e-Reader's brief existence, several collections of cards were released for it, including 13 different NES games, 4 series of Animal Crossing cards, several Pokémon cards and all kinds of neat little things.
But what wasn't released was the Game and Watch-e series. This series was teased from the get-go, with a special promotional card given away at e3 advertising the series up until the very end. I've taken the time (just because I love you all so much) to scan in some of the Game and Watch-e related stuff I've hoarded through the years. Some of it, you've probably seen before. One particular piece, though, is one of my favorites - an advertisement from Walmart featuring something I've never seen elsewhere...
Sadly, I was unable to find the Nintendo Power article that I *know* existed about the Game and Watch cards. I've got several issues in storage that I just can't get up the energy to attempt to go through and drag out. Apparently, I don't love y'all that much.
So, without further ado, here's some images and descriptions:
Here are scans of the only two Game and Watch-e cards to have been released. Practically, they are the same card, with the same data on them - the card on top was given away at e3 the year the e-Reader debuted. The card on the bottom was included with every e-Reader sold.
This scan features a section of a pamphlet that was distributed (mine came from Toys R Us) by Nintendo when the e-Reader was first released. This pamphlet advertised several of the planned e-Reader releases, including the NES series, the Animal Crossing series, the first installment of the Pokémon Trading Game and some others.
Nintendo used to distribute (and still may?) these awesome, full color, 50-ish page booklets to retailers to give away featuring their line-up for the coming months. This half-page ad gives us our first glimpse of what some of the Game and Watch-e cards would have looked like - very different from the released Manhole card.
In the Winter 2003 preview booklet, the Game and Watch-e preview was expanded to an entire page. Unfortunately, the text and cards shown is the same as the previous catalog.
Perhaps in an attempt to clear out some overstock e-Reader inventory, GBA inventory, or both - Nintendo released a bundle that included the e-Reader and a Game Boy Advance. The bundle came with your choice of Indigo or Glacier GBA unit (this was after the GBA SP was released) and the Donkey Kong Jr. version of the e-Reader. Both items were packaged in their normal, retail packages (with a sticker over the individual bar codes) inside of a larger box. This box featured this piece of advertising for the Game and Watch-e set on the outside...
...and this hidden gem on the inside. Contained within the box (outside of both of the other packages) was a small little booklet with different sets of pages devoted to the different various types of e-Reader cards. This ad features a few of the cards we have not seen before, the modern versions of Octopus and Vermin.
Finally, we have my favorite....
This is something I'd never seen before and have never seen again - the artwork for the Game and Watch-e package.
This scan comes from an advertisement distributed by Walmart. The ad is dated "August 2003", the front cover features F-Zero from the GameCube, the three other pages feature various GameCube, Game Boy Advance and, of course, e-Reader games. When you unfold the entire ad, there's a big poster for F-Zero on the back side.
This ad has me convinced that Nintendo had every intentions of releasing the Game and Watch-e series right up to the very end. The booklet included with the e-Reader/GBA bundle is of interest as well, as every single other product advertised (Pokémon cards, Super Mario Advance 4 Series 1 and 2, NES Series, etc., etc.) in that booklet was released. While we all hoped for more Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 e-Reader cards (as there were several more released in Japan than in the US), these and other Japan releases were not mentioned anywhere in this booklet. Add in this advertisement which shows the finalized package design and a slash noting that they'll be available in October (in an ad that's dated two months earlier), I'm pretty much convinced that these cards were pulled at the last minute.
Anywhoo, I hope you enjoyed this little trip down Game and Watch-e lane with me.
Topic: Game and Watch-e: What was meant to be (Read 21493 times)
