other
purchase.
detour to Pok?mon Center. (Not much of a detour, really, as it is on the
way from Tokyo Station to the Apple store.) Why would
I go
there, when I used to have a fierce disdain for all things
Pok?mon?
Used
to.
Somewhere along the line, it
didn’t bother me so much. Maybe the anime “purist” in me took offense to it when
it first came on the scene in the US. Or maybe it was the weak animation is
repetitive nature of the episodes?
Or maybe I could tell it was
dumb.
It is dumb, but at some point
that stopped bothering me and I began to revel in its stupidity. I mean, the
basic premise of the show is the Pok?mon battles, which are nothing more
than a more complex version of rock, paper, scissors. And it’s a massive
marketing tool. But I’d never fall for something like
that?
Or would
I?
A few of the characters struck
me as having good designs, so I grabbed the miniature figures of the ones I
liked. No big deal, they’re only a couple bucks each. Then a couple summers ago
I bought one of the games. Sure it was $35, but games can be enjoyed for a long
time, so that’s no big deal either. I mean, it’s not like I’d spend more than
that on any of the
merchandise.
Right?
That’s
what I’d always believed until I saw mention of a Limited Edition Pikachu
Gameboy Advance SP. But I’ve got an SP, bought during the launch weekend during
a trip to Japan two years ago. It still works great, and I don’t use it that
much, especially since the DS plays GBA games. The only drawback to the DS’s GBA
support is that there’s no link port, so you can’t hook it up to a Gamecube. But
since I’ve never hooked my SP up to my Cube, that’s a non-issue. And I sure
don’t need to hook two of them up, since I don’t have any multiplayer games that
use the link cables. So why would I buy another
SP?
This is
why:
Come
on! Tell me that’s not funny looking!
^.^
And that’s just the box!
Take a look at the actual
SP:
And
when it’s opened
up:
And
here’s a closeup of the
buttons:
The
silhouette’s a nice touch, and one that’s been used on all the other limited
edition Gameboys. I really like how they made the buttons brown to complement
the yellow color. The shoulder buttons are still black (as you can see on the
top of the box), which makes them look like the tips of Pikachu’s ears. Again, a
nice
touch.
Did
I need this thing? Absolutely not! But make something I find (dare I say it?)
cute and
label it “Limited Edition” and I’ll be there to buy it on the first day it’s out
(which yesterday was) just to make sure I get
one.
Well done, Nintendo!
That’s
more
of my money you’ve gotten.
^.^