Game Boy Advance e-Reader

[alienjesus]

I've been kind of interested in this accessory lately, and would like to know more about it. It never came out here. So here are some questions:

1. Is the e-Reader region free? Will it work with a PAL GBA? I assume so because the GBA itself is region free, but it's good to check.

2. Are the e-Reader cards region free? Will I be able to use japanese e-reader cards (like the pikmin cards) with a US e-Reader?

3. Are e-Reader cards that work with particular games (eg the extra level cards for SMB3 or the pokemon ones) region free? Will I be able to use a US extra level card with a PAL copy of the game?

4. What's out there for it? I seem to find new things all the time. I know theres a whole selection of NES games - Donkey Kong, DK Junior, DK3, mario bros, clu clu land, ice climber, excitebike, tennis, baseball - What else? And what other cards are there? I seem to remember some animal crossing ones, I know there are some pikmin cards, some mario party cards. What do they all do?

Feel free to discuss the e-Reader in general too! It looks like a pretty unique device.

[noiseredux]

1-3. yes, everything is region free related to GB/GBC/GBA/e-Reader
2. Mostly it is NES games. Most of them were re-released as Classic NES series on GBA, though some weren't like Pinball, Baseball, Golf, Urban Champion, etc. There were a few random mini-games released only on e-Reader that are sort of hard to find. There's also Pokemon cards and then things that link up with GameCube like in Animal Crossing that you pointed out. Those mostly gave you extra items in the game. SMB3 GBA has a bunch of extra levels in it via e-Reader cards. It is supposedly possible to print out e-Reader cards off the internet, though I've never tried. I've heard that you need a really good printer and certain paper to get it working properly. Anyway, the e-Reader is awesome. It's weird. But I love it. (I'm actually working on a big blog post about it for the near future, how timely!)

[noiseredux]

oh by the way, the e-Reader DOES work in the GameCube GBPlayer. Which is awesome.

It DOES NOT work in a GBA SP without modifying it. I don't think it works in a Micro either, but never tested.

[alienjesus]

oh by the way, the e-Reader DOES work in the GameCube GBPlayer. Which is awesome.

It DOES NOT work in a GBA SP without modifying it. I don't think it works in a Micro either, but never tested.

I did not know this, and am glad you said. I dont own an original GBA or a GB player yet. Why doesnt it fit in an SP?

[noiseredux]

oh by the way, the e-Reader DOES work in the GameCube GBPlayer. Which is awesome.

It DOES NOT work in a GBA SP without modifying it. I don't think it works in a Micro either, but never tested.

I did not know this, and am glad you said. I dont own an original GBA or a GB player yet. Why doesnt it fit in an SP?

oops I'm wrong:



The Game Boy Advance SP is also fully compatible, although the e-Reader doesn't mount flush with the SP (see picture). As the link cable connector on the SP is unobstructed, the pass-through on the e-Reader is not used.

so it DOES work with SP. In my head it wouldn't fit cuz of the link cable port. But yeah. You're all set.

[alienjesus]

At first I was concerned that the e-reader feature of SMB3 and Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire would have been removed from the european version (like it was for leafgreen/firered/emerald/colosseum) outside of japan, but apparently the e-reader made it to australia and cards for those games exist, so I imagine its still intact in all PAL versions.

Are the mario party e mini games any good? I saw a pack of those way back when in a toy shop, but I never bought them (because I was a poor schoolkid with no income). I thought it was odd that they released some e reader cards without the e reader, but apparently they also play a card game or something?

I have a few pokemon cards with an e reader bar down the side too. No idea what they do.


Edit: Also, I looked it up and found people saying the e reader WOULDN'T fit in an SP. Weird. They said it WILL work in a Micro though (but to use the link function you'll need an adapter) and also on the DSLite, but not the original DS.

Typically, I own an SP and an original DS. How annoying...

[noiseredux]

actually I'm not sure personally. I have an almost complete set of NES e-Reader cards, and I have a SMB3 level card. But that's it so far.

[alienjesus]

OK, after looking some stuff up, I think the answers to my questions are:

1. It is region free
2. The cards are not region free
3. Any cards that add extra content or link up to a game will not work with european versions, mainly due to the feature being removed.

4. Thus, I can play all the NES games, a selection of pokemon mini games, the pikmin mini games and the mario party mini games (dependent on which region of e reader I get). Potentially I could get an American or Japanese version of Mario Bros 3 for GBA to try out the extra levels for that, but otherwise I should stick to the games that dont require being linked up.

Also, compatability:
Yes - GBA, GBA SP, GBA Micro (but with linking issues), Game Boy Player, DSLite.
No - DS phat

I think that covers it :p


Theres a list of pokemon mini games at the bottom of this page: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/E-Reader
Each link tells you which cards are needed to play the mini game (normally 2 or 3). I imagine being pokemon cards it could be slightly pricy to get all the ones you need for all the games.

[YoshiEgg25]

If you have some packs of Pokemon cards from the days when that was out, you can get what amounts to Pokedex information on the Pokemon card you swiped.

There are also some cards that are compatible with GameCube and other GBA games. Animal Crossing and Pokemon Channel had cards included, though I believe there were other Animal Crossing cards. There were also cards that allowed you to face a special trainer in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire.

[noiseredux]

sounds about right AJ. Although do you have Animal Crossing for GCN? Because if you do, then really the only NES e-Reader that you can't play in Animal Crossing is Urban Champion. And the AC games can be downloaded to your GBA using a GCN-GBA link cable. Just thought you'd want to know.