e-Reader

A rendering of the e-Reader being used with an original Game Boy Advance.

The e-Reader (Japanese: カードｅリーダー Card e Reader) is a peripheral for the Game Boy Advance that is used to scan special cards in order to unlock new features in existing games, add new features to games that have e-Reader functionality, or to play minigames on the e-Reader itself.

Developed jointly by HAL Laboratory and Olympus, the original Japanese Card e Reader lacked the link cable functionality when it was released in December of 2001. A re-release, the Card e Reader+, added a link cable port, allowing it to connect to a second Game Boy Advance or a Nintendo GameCube using the same link cables that the Game Boy Advance system alone would use. This version of the e-Reader was the one that was later released in the west as the e-Reader in September of 2002.

Though it was popular in Japan, with e-cards released until the end of the Game Boy Advance's lifespan, the e-Reader proved to be unpopular in North America, leading to its discontinuation in 2004. e-Reader functionality, included in the Japanese versions of Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald, was removed from the English and other translations, as the compatible cards were never planned to be released. Due to this early discontinuation, the e-Reader was only released in North America and Australia, though e-cards were released in Europe as well.

Technical specifications

• "Dot Code Technology" (Optical scanning technology)
• 8 Megabit flash memory.
• 64 Megabyte mask ROM.
• The long strip on each e-Card holds 2.2 kilobytes of data.
• The short strip holds 1.4 kilobytes of data.
• Passthrough game link port.

Pokémon e-Cards

• The Pokémon Battle e card series.
• The Expedition Base Set TCG expansion.
• The Aquapolis TCG expansion.
• The Skyridge TCG expansion.
• The EX Ruby and Sapphire TCG expansion (Pokédex entries only)
• The EX Sandstorm TCG expansion (Pokédex entries only)
• The EX Dragon TCG expansion (Pokédex entries only)
• The EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua TCG expansion (Pokédex entries only, select cards only)
• Select Wizards Black Star Promos and Nintendo promotional TCG cards.
• Special cards containing extra features for the Smeargle Paint minigame in Pokémon Channel
• Special cards allowing a player to increase the likelihood of special events in the Japanese version of Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire

Trivia

• The minigame Machop At Work was included with the purchase of an e-Reader in the US and Canada.
• According to Nintendo Power v.169, it would take roughly 62,500 e-Reader cards to equal the data on one GameCube disc.
  • However, this is a gross understatement when checked mathematically. Assuming the figure listed in the tech specs of this article (2.2KB per strip) and the standard two-strips-per-card format, it would take approximately 350,320 e-Reader cards.

Images

The original Japanese Card e Reader.

The Japanese Card e Reader +.

The North American e-Reader, based on the Japanese Card e Reader +.