Nintendo e-Reader

"My favorite Gamboy Advance add-on."

I remember the first time I heard about the E-reader. It was an article in Nintendo Power saying that it The E-reader was an accessory to the Gamboy Advance that would allow it to read info off of cards stored in tiny strips of dots. It Blew My Mind!!!

I was about 12 years old when the E-reader hit stores, and I wanted one so badly. I was a avid Pokemon card collector, and I was curious to see what could be on the little dot codes that were scattered across the corners of the new game cards. Not only that, but a lot of game stores were even starting to hand out free cards that were compatible with the E-reader such as Air Hockey, and Nintendo Power's kirby slide game. too me, the possibilities of the E-reader seemed endless, and the fact that it came with a 3 full game [Donkey Kong jr, Manchop Crush, and Manhole] made me want to get it all the more. Unfortunately the system was $50, and it would be another full year until would actually get one.

First off, I wanna explain the flaws of the E-reader...

1. Multi card scanning- Even though this wasn't a total problem,it was pretty annoying. It was especially annoying when you had to scan 5 different card on both the left and right side just to get a game that takes shorter time to play than it did to scan it. Not only that, but it was easy to loose the cards too. If you want to play Donkey Kong,but were missing just 1 code, you could not play the game at all.

2. Over complicated Gamecube/Gameboy connectivity- In order too transfer card data onto Animal Crossing, you needed a Gameboy to Gamecube connection cord, an E-Reader, and the cards necessary to transfer data. Not only was this complicated, but expensive too. In total, it cost me at least $75 just too have too right materials too upload my Animal Crossing cards onto my game. It was even worse with E-reader to GBA data transfer, because you need a separate Gameboy for your game and the E-reader. Also data transfer doesn't work with a Gamboy Advance SP since the linking slot is not in the right place.

3. Underutilized potential- The only games that were released for E-reader in the U.S were the NES series, the Game&Watch cards, The Pokemon card minigames, Mario Party E, and the Freebee cards [Air Hockey and Kirby Slide]. Other than that, there were no other actual game for the E-Reader at all. Not only that, but the game upgrading cards could have been so much more than just adding trainers to the battle tower in Pokemon, or adding new neighbors in Animal Crossing. Other than adding or uploading new content, the cards didn't really do much to enhance the game-play experience, except for the Eon Ticket[ a freebee card in Nintendo Power that allowed you too catch Latias/Latios in Pokemon.]


Even though the E-reader's flaws kinda bogged down its value and usefulness, it was still a pretty neat system, and the good actually outweigh the bad.

1. Cheap Azz games- lets face it, what other game system sell $5 games new? NES Classic GBA cart of Ice Climbers for $20? Pfft, no way, when I got it on my E-reader for $4.99

2. Makes a great "portable" NES- Thanks to the 3 NES series to be released on the system, the system is home to many of Nintendo's classic games such as Excite Bike and Balloon Fight. Kinda wish they ported Super Mario Bros. to it though.

3. Made collecting Pokemon cards "fun" again- When I was 12 years old, I was about to drop out of Pokemon cards. Thanks to the E-reader however, I continued to buy them just too play the games and nifty little gadgets that were mixed into them. Even though it sometimes took a lot of searching just to get the cards needed to play a game, the pay-off was so worth it.

4. Cheap Azz system- Even though it was $50 dollars back when it first came out, you can easily find one at any used game store [except for Gamestop] or Ebay for dirt cheap. the lowest I have seen one for sale was $2.50.

In conclusion, even though the E-reader has its flaws both big and small, its still a nifty little system that I still get enjoyment out of to this day.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/09

Game Release: Nintendo e-Reader Hardware w/ Pinball (US, 09/17/02)