Interesting Nintendo E-Reader Cards from the U.S. Region

NES Games

Let's start with the NES series, perhaps the most impressive use of the technology. An entire NES game could fit on just five cards!

These versions had two drawbacks:

• High scores were not saved; each session started afresh.
• Multiplayer was unavailable, even in games that originally supported it.

Nintendo released 13 NES games across three series: five in the first, five in the second and three in the third.

Each game was sold as a separate pack of five cards.

On September 16, 2002, the first series of NES games was released.

The first series included 5 games:

• Balloon Fight-e
• Donkey Kong Jr.-e
• Excitebike-e
• Pinball-e
• Tennis-e

On November 12, 2002, the second series of NES games was released.

The second series also included 5 games:

• Baseball-e
• Donkey Kong-e
• Ice Climber-e
• Mario Bros.-e
• Urban Champion-e

On April 21, 2003, the third series of NES games was released.

The third series included only 3 games:

• Clu Clu Land-e
• Donkey Kong 3-e
• Golf-e

While we are on the subject of classic games, another planned card series deserves a mention.

Game & Watch Games

Like the NES cards, Game & Watch cards were designed to load games into the E-reader. Most of the planned series never reached shops, for reasons that remain unclear.

Manhole, included in the E-reader starter kit, was the only Game & Watch title released.

Page 13 of the Nintendo Winter Catalog 2003 advertised the E-reader alongside Game & Watch cards. It promised more than 25 games and even showed completed card designs. Yet only one of those games was ultimately released.

Update. Perhaps the most interesting find was in Nintendo Power #174.

Each Game & Watch game would have required between one and three cards. Nintendo planned to sell random packs of five cards, each containing two complete games plus extra cards for other games.

Those packs never reached shops, but the magazine article documenting the planned games survives. You can read it here: Nintendo Power #174: E-reader article.

Mario Party

With this set, Nintendo returned to its roots: a tabletop game played with cards!

The box contains a board, 64 cards and a rulebook.

For a closer look at the cards and board, see Photos of E-reader Cards: Mario Party-e.

Eleven of the cards can be scanned with the E-reader, each loading a different minigame.

For example, the Waluigi and Super Waluigi cards:

After a card is scanned, the players take turns attempting the minigame. If the player who used the card wins, its effect takes place. If that player loses, nothing happens.

Pokemon TCG

Seeing a card description or a short animation on a Game Boy Advance is a nice novelty, but it has limited appeal beyond that. For a collector, though, the extra content adds something to the card.

Some cards did more than display information: they had secret abilities that could only be revealed by scanning them. Imagine discovering an extra move on a card you already own! These cards were banned from tournaments, but the idea added an unusual twist to the TCG.

Take this Miltank card. The printed text describes one ability:

Scan its code strip with the E-reader, though, and something different appears:

Pokemon

One card in particular makes the Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire series worth including here:

Eon Ticket

This card unlocks a secret island in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. For more, see How to Get the Eon Ticket and Unlock the Secret Island in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire on an Original Cartridge, Without Hacks or Cheats.

The Rarest Card in the American Region

Wanted, dead or alive: a winning version of the Kirby Contest card distributed at E3 2002. Scanning one of these cards reveals one of three results: "1st Prize," "2nd Prize," or "No Winner Message."

The winning cards are extremely rare, but we are patient. Reportedly, only ten were made, and cards redeemed for prizes were torn in half and discarded to prevent anyone from claiming twice.

Hopefully, a winning card survived. We—and perhaps our descendants—may be waiting a few millennia for someone to dump it.

The E3 2002 Kirby promotion was essentially a lottery: you scanned a card to find out whether you had won. Collectors are still searching for surviving cards that display a winning result.

Epilogue

There were many other interesting cards, including some exceptionally rare ones. The three below, for example, were sent to 530 shops in Japan rather than sold to the public:

Whether or not the idea appeals to you, the E-reader added something special to many games. It stands out as one of Nintendo's more unusual accessories.

The more closely you explore it, the more you appreciate both what it could do and how much of its potential went unused.