The Nintendo e-Reader | Nintendo Facts 

Finally someone actually explains this, in actual depth

8:36 All these Pokemon contributed to the scattered bits of Corsola that lie on Alola's ocean floor.

If you ever do an in depth "Pokémon eReader Mini-game Collection" Video, I would be 100% down on that. I loved those, and didn't realize how MANY different games there actually is.

Cool. Didn't the E-Reader have something to do with accessing that locked door in Mossdeep City, though?

I already know about the ereader but I could listen to Josh talk about garbage cans I would click the video.

Oh my god, I asked my mom to buy me an NFC amiibo reader and she bought one of these online, it came with Donkey Kong Jr. Cards. I didn't even know what it was at the time haha

I remember this thing from the bajillion times I mashed the Random Page button on Mario Wiki when I was bored.

"Ancient Streetpass"

I'm surprised that you didn't mention the E-reader commercial which involved DK Jr getting flattened into a card....

Bucket list goals: Shake hands and give Josh and Renae a big hug for being them! E-reader was such a huge part of my coming of age card game life

As someone who knows about a few technical things: e-Reader mostly does not "unlock", per say. The program, or the data is actually inside the dotcode which uses obviously the same tech as QR codes. While Amiibo, let's admit it, only unlock things (with few exceptions), most of the time on e-Reader, it wasn't like that. Super Mario Advance 4 Level Cards do actually contain Level Data in them. We kinda understand it now and it's not impossible to make custom cards to play on your original SMA4 cartridge for real if we want to. That's the interesting part: custom e-Reader cards have a lot more potential, and you can even make your own homebrews just fine for the e-Reader. Pokémon games were mostly just that, really. Japan has a lot of cards and potential to use, F-Zero cards were like Level Cards (that said, all the e-Reader content for F-Zero Maximum Velocity are actually included in western releases in the ROM!), there are also very rare Mario VS Donkey Kong Level Cards. But some e-Reader levels are actually included in the ROM of the US and Japanese versions for debug purposes, it's possible to access those.

I REMEMBER THIS THING, I loved my childhood JWittz keep up the awesome work

You have quite a collection, nice video!

I can Confirm that it does work with the DS Lite

Jwittz: Has enough money to buy tons of Nintendo merchandise and decoration Me: Can barely afford new pants

I remember whenever I was in elementary school and the E-reader Pokemon cards came out a kid at school told me that they were used to get free Pokemon onto my gameboy games. I went back home and tried everything possible to get them to scan to my gameboy, but had no luck. I went to school the next day and called the kid a liar so we stopped being friends. 10 years later, this video comes out and now I realize he wasn't lying lol.

I've been wanting to know about this thing for a decade, so, thanks! I got a Game Boy Advance SP and Super Mario 3 for Christmas one year, and it came with a card. I remember when I saw the screen that told you to scan the card, I looked up and down my SP multiple times, thinking there was something on the system that was used to scan it. Then, years later, I figured out the E-Reader was a thing and felt like an idiot lol.

Josh could make a phone book sound intersting.

The Super Mario Bros 3. e-reader cards are actually super cool and by far the best application of the technology. It's a shame that these didn't catch on and were so expensive, it was a neat idea.

6:29 Pikachu was on his daily stroll but he got interrupted and failure to escape Jynx and gives him a sweet kiss

I always wanted an e-reader to go with my Skyridge and Aquapolis cards when I was a kid. I had no idea there were entire minigames involving them.

The Mario vs. Donkey cards hold a bit of a mystery. Five cards were released by Corocoro Comic, 1 was given away for participants at the 20th World Hobby Fair. And there was a Japanese contest where cards were distributed across 1000 players, but nobody knows which ones, or even if they're the same. The game has 12 slots for new levels, but I don't think it's possible to access them at all.

You forgot to mention that Super Mario Advance 4 also had power-up cards that change the properties of the games, like adding the vegetables of Super Mario Bros. 2/Super Mario Advance and the Cape Feather from Suepr Mario World/Super Mario Advance 2.

My cousin and I had one when we were younger, it's difficult playing when no other friends have it and finding the specific cards was not easy

I would LOVE a video of all the Pokémon minigames!! I had no idea what they actually did!

5:00 *spits my drink* OMG! I remember that card! The Lady Astrid battle!

Man, I have some of the Pokémon TCG cards compatible with the e-Reader, and just now, realizing what that random "e" in the corner meant just blew my mind. I've had those cards for years, had no idea the secrets they were hiding. The e-reader is a thing that I've known the existence of for quite a while, but didn't really know in detail. I really enjoyed this video since I finally got to learn about it! :D

I had an E-Reader when I was about 8 years old. I remember it being incredibly confusing, but enjoying playing balloon fight and looking at the Pokemon entries. VERY cool device from both a hardware and software standpoint! It's almost a throwback to when programs were made with punched holes in paper...

I had one growing up and was literally the only guy who did, people thought I was so cool (not ironically which makes it more hilarious), remember when RS didn't have every Pokemon on it? I used to think Mewtwo Ex was a way to get Mewtwo and that's why I originally bought it. That Pokemon Construct is so good, I recommend Juggler and starting off with Skarmory, I tried to get every single card for that game alone! Also, seriously? those attacks aren't tournament legal? never knew that, I used Kadabra's attack against someone once and it won me the game simply due to my opponent not expecting it! xD So many memories, had to click on this video =P

Thank you so much for this. I need to comment more on your videos, but the content you make is amazing and I love it.

My personal memory with the e-Reader is Emile's rant about the Eon Thicket when he LP'ed Pokemon Emerald a couple of years back, describing one of the main issues that ultimately doomed the system quite succinctly.

I remember the E- reader was like a legend at my elementary school among Pokèmon card collectors, mostly because there was a rumor going around that it gave you the Pokèmon that you scanned like sort of a precursor to the mystery gifts. It's fascinating to finally learn the true purpose of this schoolyard fable.

Anyone else feel old remembering this?

Better question: what is this thumbnail? It's not bad, it's just nothing like a Jwittz thumbnail.

I still have my E-reader. A while after I got it, my local Hollywood Video store was going out of business and had most of the classic NES game card packs for 90% off. I knew about most of the games but it was these cards that taught me about cluclu land, which is now one of my favorite NES games.

Thank you so much for making this video! Growing up, I played a few games that mentioned the eReader, but I never saw an eReader in a store anywhere! I never had any idea what it had or what it could do- and now I'm really glad to see it all in action! Thanks so much for showing me what I was missing out on! :p

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOREVER FOR THIS VIDEO YAYYYYYYY

So it's like ancient DLC?

Only thing you left out is maybe spend a few minutes talking about the technlogy behind e-reader. I find Nintendo's gadget often find interesting uses for relatively mature/low cost technology. Things like how much data is actually stored in one of those barcodes etc. would be really fun to know. Great video nonethless

I got one these back when I was a kid, and it actually came with quite a few cards to use. There was a Game & Watch: Manhole card, one for Animal Crossing, the Donkey Kong Jr. card pack, and three Pokémon TCG cards (Machop, Machoke, and Machamp) to play a minigame called Machop Punch.

I remember you talking about making this video a few years ago.

R.I.P Jango Fett

This is one of the most interesting videos I've seeing in a while. I learned a lot and thanks to it my appreciation of this device is even bigger. Thanks Jwittz.

over here in austrlaia i was literally the only person i knew growing up that had one, even these days with collecting i don't think i've seen one pop up in someones collection. i stil have mine to this day and can't wait to buy more cards for it.

It Reads E's

you can probably print out the dot codes

this was a good watch, always wondered what that thing did and its nice to know i can play the unlockable mario levels with the virtual console.

I'v always wanted to know more of these. This was a great and easy to understand breakdown. Great video!

The pokemon mini games look better than most of the games I own Period.

7.8/10 too much wires.

Oh, man, I'm gonna have to watch that stream now! I've always wanted to see footage of Mario Party -E. I've only vaguely heard about it. Also those SMA4 e-Reader levels are so cool. They implement gimmicks from other Mario games entirely, like pulling vegetables from SMB2, or elements from Yoshi's Island.

Ah, I actually remember using the e-Reader a bunch. I got some of the classic games, Animal crossing stuff, SMB3 Advance, the Mario Party card game and of course the pokemon cards. Fun times

Whoa whoa hold on there!, there was an actual, legit and oficcial mario party electronic (in some way with gba) board game!!!???

I still got my e reader in closet somewhere xD

Pokemon Channel also had e-Reader connectivity in the form of unlockable paints for the Smeargle II coloring minigame and constellations for Camp Starlight.

I remember getting the glacier gba e reader bundle for my birthday as a kid , had alot of fun playin the machoke minigame you get with its cards.

Nice video, but I cringed a bit when you opened the packs. Sealed E-Reader cards are pretty hard to find, especially the Animal Crossing ones.

Ugh, even back then, I knew the E-Reader would be bad... The only games I had worth using it was Animal Crossing and Pokémon, but I didn't want to buy a bunch of crap I'd never use again just for minor unlockables. Amiibos did it better.

I still have my old E-reader somewhere along with a few cards...fun times with that little thing

Great video! The E-Reader is such a unique little piece of tech, and I enjoyed learning more!

anyone have e reader cards for sell I can buy?? pm me

who was here before 1k views

Putting in the Nintendo E-Reader looks extremely satisfying, like putting in a USB port into your computer correct the first time around.

This brings back memories when I had an e-reader for my 13th bithday used to scan plenty of cards on it ranging from playing old NES games and opening extra goods SMA4: Super Mario Bros. 3.

I'm early....... Why?

I remember this thing! My parents got me it for Christmas with the Pokemon Ruby cards, but since I didn't have a second Gameboy I wasn't able to use them. Still, I bought Excitebike for it, and played for so long making my own tracks with that. After going through all my Pokemon cards, I found I had a really cook Machamp minigame I would play whenever I got bored. And then recently I bought Mario Party-e on Amazon, and really loved it! Thanks for making this video and reminding me of this crazy little device

Finally, a well made video about the ereader with a ton of effort put into it. Info on this little gem is so sparce online.

i did have one of these growing up and i always thought it was the coolest thing, always wish i had more cards for it, the construction action game was my favorite

I got an e-reader back in the day because my best friend and I heard a rumor that if you scanned the Pokémon e-reader trading cards, it'd give you that Pokémon in your copy of R/S/E. Naturally, we were very disappointed when it didn't and couldn't figure out how the thing worked, but I actually still have it, if only for nostalgia. Thanks for explaining all about this device, JWittz! The video was really good and it was nice to finally learn how I was supposed to use it!

bought one of these at Toys R Us back in the day. Used to use the Pokemon ruby and super Mario bros 3 cards all the time. Absolutely used the leaf card to fill my inventory with tanooki suits

I've never seen an e-reader in person and didn't hear it talked about until very recently, but I knew of it for several years as some legendary device. Specifically I have Super Mario Advance 4 along with 3 cards and the Prima strategy guide which talked about the cards, and I have Mario Party e, which is playable without the e-reader and I have played a few times, but didn't know anything about the e-reader itself. Thank you for making this video.

I wanted so desperately to get the Super Mario 3 cards when I was. The game tantalizes you by allowing you to access the e-world, but all the worlds are locked. It's a brilliant ploy in Nintendo's part, really. I'm glad that those extra levels are on the e-shop, though, and I definitely plan on buying it now.

There was also some e-Reader cards that came with Pokemon Channel for the Gamecube that added new patterns for Smeargle Paint.

wittz! I haven't seen you since you reviewed pokemon cards! glad to see your still here

I missed the Nintendo Facts videos!! I loved it!! :)

Great job on the video, I really liked it! You should totally do a part 2 when you get those Japanese cards!

I always have wanted to try this out. But never had a chance. Thanks for doing a video on it I enjoyed it. I hope I can get one

I loved the e-Reader. It actually helped get me back into the Pokemon TCG because I wanted to play the minigames.

I remember pick this up at a game store a few years ago with a handful of cards it came with. It was a blast!

Wow I never knew about this! This is why I love this channel, thanks for sharing JWittz! =)

I had one myself, along with the Ho-oh Rapidash combo for a ring hopping game.

I would love to see the E-Reader Pokedex entries & Minigames all compiled into one video!! The Mario Party game, too!

I remember my brother and I owned one way back. I remember having the DK Jr game, as well as a couple of the Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire cards.

I remember one of the kids one block over from me had one and the Machop, Machoke, and Machamp cards for a minigame.

Wow. I always wondered what the bars on the side of the pokemon card were for. That's crazy. Great video

Non E-reader related GBA/Gc thing here, while on the subject of Animal Crossing, connecting your GBA to your Gamecube without an ereader was the only way to get to the tropical island. Not only that but you got your own little export of the pattern designer in the Able Sisterss shop :) Very fun times for me.

Such an in depth look at something that not many people had. Very good video.

TheJWittz Wow, I had no idea about that Wii-U release of the most complete and up to date version of Mario 3, thank you so much! I'm going to hold out for a Switch version of it but, if it becomes apparent that's not going to happen, you just literally sold me on the Wii-U based on that sweet Mario 3 content alone. As an archivist myself, though, I would love to see some sort of virtual e-reader deluxe package, basically like an "E-Reader Classic" sort of thing maybe? I mean, if they made a GBA Classic someday (and, let's be honest, why wouldn't they?) then making a little "E-Reader Classic" attachment for it would be a great marketing decision. The downside is that they'd probably only release, like, twenty copies of the attachment because, you know, weird Nintendo marketing decisions. ;p

Cool to finally see some pokemon e-reader cards in use, I want to get the Super Mario 3 e-reader cards

ive been waiting for this episode for like years

I remember seeing the commercial for this this, Donkey Kong Jr. was on some machine and suddenly started getting hammered, crushed and turned into a card

It's amazing how this small piece of odd tech for the GBA started with convenient ways to play games via scanning, leading to the amibo and excellent communicative ways to play games and transfer data forbsaid games.

I remember this but barely since I was very young at the time as I was only just born when it was released but my brothers had it. It got lost before I could really use it like a lot of old video game tech.

Good news for you @TheJWittz: Most of the Mega Man cards can be unlocked digitally in the Mega Man Zero Collection on DS. Their functions can be found on The Cutting Room Floor's page for MMZ3 and can be obtained by completing one of the four games in the collection. It's unknown if they still work in the continuous scenario where you play through all four titles one after another for a more comlete story.

Really interesting! I've always been interested in the e-Reader although I will probably never have one (Europa and stuff). But since I'm most interested in Mario Party -e, I will check out your stream soon :)

Another good thing to talk about would be Pokémon mini, that weird pokémon only mini-handheld that came out around the same time as the e-Reader.

Thank you for putting some much time into your craft

ah nostalgia i still have mine with the some of the cards as well

i'll never forget that the e-reader was literally the only legal way to get bass cross megaman in the gba versions of battle network 5, since the bass cross itself was a special e reader card that was given out for those that watched the battle network movie apparently.

Woah. I forgot all about those battle cards. I never knew what they were so I think I just got rid of them at some point. Also never knew what the Pokémon cards with E's on them meant, and never would have guessed they were connected to the battle cards. Fascinating