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[Sapiens]

I really don't know what to think about this. I had purchased SMA4 when it was released but had no desire to get into the whole e-Reader aspect.

For some reason, I had the urge to try out these new levels and use the SMW cape in SM3. I broke down, I purchased the SMA4 e-cards, e-reader and a GBA hookup cable.

Process: Not bad, but what a hassle. The process itself it easy, but all the pieces required to make it work is expensive. I felt like I was going on a scavenger hunt to track down the required parts.

Game result: COOL. The 10 extra levels are awesome. Very creatively designed for the SMB3 vet. The cape is also neat, but feels very different from SMW. Besides the vegetables and fireball=coins, the rest of the powerups are useless.

The demo cards...could have used more of the speed run variety as apposed to the unlocking secret variety.

Overall: Excellent idea, but lack of followthrough with only 2 sets of cards. My SMA3 cart has all of this empty memory waiting for it to be filled with more levels.

So, is there anything else I can do with the e-reader as worthwhile as SMA4??

 

[GDJustin]

Animal Crossing had some good e-rader functionality.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Yeah, AC is good for free-item-hoarding with the ereader. But that's about the end of it, really; the other game to really try to support it (Pokemon) failed miserably in the implementation.

 

[kenta]

The card reader was the definition of gimmick for me, I kicked myself for actually falling for it. Take it back to Wal-Mart while you still can.

 

[jamesinclair]

Buy some cheap NES games. Why pay 15$ for ice climbers on GBA when you can get it for .99 on an e-card?

 

[jgkspsx]

Buy some cheap NES games. Why pay 15$ for ice climbers on GBA when you can get it for .99 on an e-card?

Because
a) it saves high scores
b) it isn't an annoyingly stupid pain in the ass
c) $15? Ha! I paid $7
d) EFAII nuff said

I bought an eReader and almost all of the NES card sets (granted, for about $15), and other than Balloon Fight and Clu Clu Land, they're not worth scanning in.

 

[japtor]

you could uh, get mario party-e. i got it for no reason, it was $2 or $3 at frys so it was within impulse purchase price. i havent actually tried to play a game with it, but the concept seems alright. iirc its basically a board game with action (e-reader game) cards and regular item cards i think.

 

[Rayven]

Buy some cheap NES games. Why pay 15$ for ice climbers on GBA when you can get it for .99 on an e-card?

clu clu land

 

[Jumpman Jr.]

SMB4 eReader boards rock. Definitely worth the eReader.

I think the Donkey Kong eReader cards have the factory conveyor belt board while the GBA NES version doesn't...

Besides Clu Clu Land, DK3 I believe is also eReader exclusive.

 

[Bartman3010]

It doesnt, the e-Reader NES games are virtually worthless, but if you can find them for a dollar, they're worth it, especially since you can take out the e-Reader once the NES game is loaded on the GBA.

Seriously, theres a whole set of SMA4 cards that wernt brought over here, and it pisses me off. They really should try this again, collectable cards with stuff you can get as items or something in a game would've been awesome to have.

 

[Diomedeskun]

Have you seen the cards they released in Japan? They only released 2 sets over there as well, but each set had quite a few more cards. there were about 30 levels, the boomerang was usuable, and there were 6 other switch cards, one of which made all enemies twice as hard.

The idea to make the game expandable was not bad, but I will always lament the fact that Nintendo failed to live up to the potential that was there for the game. Super Mario Bros 3 was my favorite platformer ever, and I expected that the long wait was for some awesome enhancements. The game offered nothing new without having to pay an extra 20-40 dollars. It's a pity that such a miserable experiment happened with such a great game. I would rather have paid another $30 for a cart with all the additional options and 100 new levels as some sort of sequel to SMB3.

Fortunately, I didn't pay much for the e-reader.

 

[Mejilan]

I'm still fucking pissed that NoA cancelled SMA4 e-cards series 3 and 4. Had them preordered forever, kept watching them get delayed, then finally cancelled.

 

[KingV]

Microtransactions!

 

[Lindsay]

I'm still fucking pissed that NoA cancelled SMA4 e-cards series 3 and 4. Had them preordered forever, kept watching them get delayed, then finally cancelled.

Same here! There was supposed to be like 50 or so e-levels which woulda equated to basically a whole new game but noooo they have to screw us. ;_; I wish an E-Reader had been built into the DS. That way no connections would be needed and they could keep releasing cards which I would undoubtedly collect.

 

[Sapiens]

Probably a long shot, but if I got my hands on the Japanese cards, would they work with the US e-reader and US SMB3??

 

[Azure Dream]

Probably a long shot, but if I got my hands on the Japanese cards, would they work with the US e-reader and US SMB3??

As far as I've heard, no. They aren't compatible with eachother.

I was really peeved that Nintendo charged five bucks more for this than SMA2 or 3, but there weren't even preloaded levels. I know they were recouping extra battery costs over what SMA2 and 3 needed, and the extra engine work, but they should've pre-loaded a few example extra levels to say, "See? This is what you can get if you buy an eReader." And it would've at least been some new benefit for people who weren't able to get one or the cards. But no, they relied entirely on the peripheral, and of course, it just bombed.

I ended up playing with some of the Japanese eReader aftereffects and bonuses via savestates (I don't think I have them anymore, pretty sure they were lost in an HD crash), and they were pretty cool, with a lot of elements from other SMB games included, and levels themed around specific concepts. And the boomerang rocks, just wish you didn't have to always catch it or lose it completely.

BUt in both regions, you still couldn't earn enough "Ace" coins to actually unlock the final Toad House properly, so they cut short the releases in both the US and Japan, Japan just got more cards beforehand. Really annoying.

 

[Sapiens]

As far as I've heard, no. They aren't compatible with eachother.

I was really peeved that Nintendo charged five bucks more for this than SMA2 or 3, but there weren't even preloaded levels. I know they were recouping extra battery costs over what SMA2 and 3 needed, and the extra engine work, but they should've pre-loaded a few example extra levels to say, "See? This is what you can get if you buy an eReader." And it would've at least been some new benefit for people who weren't able to get one or the cards. But no, they relied entirely on the peripheral, and of course, it just bombed.

I ended up playing with some of the Japanese eReader aftereffects and bonuses via savestates (I don't think I have them anymore, pretty sure they were lost in an HD crash), and they were pretty cool, with a lot of elements from other SMB games included, and levels themed around specific concepts. And the boomerang rocks, just wish you didn't have to always catch it or lose it completely.

BUt in both regions, you still couldn't earn enough "Ace" coins to actually unlock the final Toad House properly, so they cut short the releases in both the US and Japan, Japan just got more cards beforehand. Really annoying.

FUCK.

This sucks. I'm proof that there was a market for this shit, but it was so poorly executed that we didnt even notice when the purchases would have mattered. I would LOVE to buy more packs of cards at 5 bux a pop.

Nintendo should really reconsider....just release another pack. Please. Im hooked. These new levels RULE.

Now, I guess I have to find that jpn rom. Fuck, i suck at piracy too.

 

[Crazymoogle]

As far as I've heard, no. They aren't compatible with eachother.

I was really peeved that Nintendo charged five bucks more for this than SMA2 or 3, but there weren't even preloaded levels. I know they were recouping extra battery costs over what SMA2 and 3 needed, and the extra engine work, but they should've pre-loaded a few example extra levels to say, "See? This is what you can get if you buy an eReader." And it would've at least been some new benefit for people who weren't able to get one or the cards. But no, they relied entirely on the peripheral, and of course, it just bombed.

Pokemon also took it on the chin:

Concept: Fight tough custom AI trainer battles that normally you wouldn't even find in the GBA series.
Reality: You do get to fight...but there is absolutely no benefit to doing so. No exp, no cash, hell, the entire slate is wiped clean after you fight. If I wanted to pull teeth like this I'd become a dentist.

There were also some berry cards, but their usefulness was pretty lame.

 

[jamesinclair]

It doesnt, the e-Reader NES games are virtually worthless, but if you can find them for a dollar, they're worth it, especially since you can take out the e-Reader once the NES game is loaded on the GBA.

.

I didnt know that....

Im disapointed the game and watch cards were cancelled at the last minute.

Also, I heard that Mario vs DK supports level expansion with e-cards. No cards were released though, just some limited ones in Japan.

 

[DDayton]

There was a guy experimenting with printing out eReader cards and programming them...

In -theory-, it should be possible to create new SMB3 levels using eReader technology, then print and scan the cards. I almost thought I heard about someone finding a way to convert the Japanese levels to the USA format.

Anyone know about this?

 

[Sapiens]

There was a guy experimenting with printing out eReader cards and programming them...

In -theory-, it should be possible to create new SMB3 levels using eReader technology, then print and scan the cards. I almost thought I heard about someone finding a way to convert the Japanese levels to the USA format.

Anyone know about this?

That sounds interesting as hell. Yeah, if anyone is an expert on this, let us know.

Does anyone know of a site that documented all of the SMB3e levels. including th jpn ones??

 

[Apenheul]

(Not an url for SMB3 levels, sorry)

http://users.skynet.be/firefly/gba/e-reader/

 

[donny2112]

I really liked it in Animal Crossing (games + outfits, not regular items through letters, though it was the only legitimate way of unlocking Ice Climbers in the game), Super Mario Advance 4 (I'm with everyone else who tried it: I really like it and wish they'd have finished out the series), Mario Party Advance (good board game, if you can find someone to play with who likes Mario Party), the Air Hockey demo card, and the one Game&Watch card that came with the system. The NES games were too much trouble to be worth it, in my opinion. I still like the idea of the E-Reader (not simple, though, which is probably why Nintendo abandoned it ), and wish they'd have supported it longer.

Also, Pikmin 2 had E-Reader support in Japan, but it was stripped from the game on the U.S. release.

 

[Zeo]

The e-Reader was a cool idea that was ignored and executed horribly.

It was awesome in SMB3 though. Those new stages were cool.

 

[Sapiens]

Gawd, how hard would it be for Nintendo to introduce new SMB3 cards via their website for online order only? It's just super frustrating to me.

It's just paper and some packaging. The code exists. Just send it to a printer! It's not like they can take too much of a bath on trading cards to support the fans.

 

[Apenheul]

I have some NES e-cards but I don't even bother to scan them, takes too much time. But it's nice for collectors anyway

 

[Flynn]

I have a packet of Japanese Pikmin ereader cards. I have absolutely no idea what they do.

 

[jamesinclair]

I have a packet of Japanese Pikmin ereader cards. I have absolutely no idea what they do.

They dont actually connect to the GC game, its like a stand alone puzzle