Pokemon Goes Full Tilt Celebrating Fifth Year in North America; Nintendo Delivers New Spin On Pokemon And Returns To The Place Where It All Began

Business Wire, August 29, 2003

Entertainment Editors/Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 2003

This year Nintendo of America Inc. celebrates the fifth anniversary of the Pokemon franchise by bouncing off the bumpers in Pokemon(R) Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire for Game Boy(R) Advance, the sequel to the million-selling Pokemon Pinball for Game Boy(R) Color.

Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire is the newest installment in the video game franchise that already has sold a staggering 38 million games in North America and 110 million games worldwide.

To further commemorate the greatest kids' entertainment phenomenon of the last decade, Nintendo has partnered with Toys "R" Us to return to Topeka, Kansas on September 1 for the close of the EON Ticket Summer Tour, which has already visited more than 125 Toys "R" Us stores in 25 major markets. Better known as ToPikachu, Kansas to the locals and millions of Pokemon fans nationwide, the town hosted the introduction of Pokemon to the United States nearly five years ago.

"The return to Topeka celebrates the wildly popular games that started it all: Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue," says George Harrison, senior vice president, marketing and corporate communications, Nintendo of America Inc. "Five years later, those precious gems have evolved into Ruby and Sapphire. The release of Pokemon Pinball kicks off a line of great new Pokemon adventures that will be introduced in the coming months."

Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire features more than 200 Pokemon, most of which appear in Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire for Game Boy Advance. Released last March, those games have sold nearly 2.5 million copies combined nationwide. In Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire, players capture wild Pokemon while playing a classic pinball game with authentic ball physics. Rounding out the game with special Pokemon power-ups and bonus areas, the franchise jumps to life in entirely new ways. Launched in North America on Aug. 25, Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire is available now at a suggested price of $34.99.

Pokemon USA, Inc., the New York-based subsidiary of The Pokemon Company in Japan, manages and oversees the Pokemon franchise in North and Latin America, which includes licensing, merchandising, TV animation, theatrical releases, home video entertainment, the official Pokemon Web site, the Pokemon Center NY in Rockefeller Center and www.pokemoncenter.com, an e-commerce site.

Pokemon first launched for the world's best-selling Game Boy(R) video game system in Japan in 1996 and has since evolved into a global cultural phenomenon. Since bringing the franchise to North America in September 1998, Nintendo has sold more than 110 million Pokemon games worldwide. Pokemon merchandise has generated over $15 billion in worldwide retail sales since 1998. The trading card game, fueled by organized play programs in 47 countries, has spurred global sales of more than 10 billion cards to date. For more information on Pokemon games, go to www.pokemon-games.com or www.pokemon.com.