I still have my e-Reader somewhere when I bought it way back when. I'm fairly sure I don't have a single card that would work with 4. I support your 1% statistic.

Sup Hamza.
I have an E-reader and most of the cards for Super Mario Advance 4.
There were some really crazy levels on it.

I don't even remember that thing existing. To be fair though, I didn't use my GBA as much as I should have anyway. I was distracted by my gigantic X-Box (which, using my 15 year old logic, I had convinced myself was superior to all other consoles because of how unwieldy and huge everything about it was). My point is this: I always preferred the fire flower power-up.

"Also, the feather cape from Super Mario World is the best Mario power-up ever. Discuss."

Discuss what? What you just said was undeniable truth and FACT (Yeah, that's right!). There is no discussion in this matter. Cape > All Other Powerups.

Except the Ice Flower...

I have an e-Reader, and a few solid games for it. Never got Advance 4, though that's something I hope to change by the end of the summer. I'm almost ashamed to call myself a Nintendo fanboy and say that I've never played Super Mario Bros. 3.

There is a Wal-Mart Exclusive version of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 that included 4 cards that you couldn't get anywhere else. I fucking nerd raged when I found out about it. E-Bay had that version for $50!

Hamza, I proudly have my eReader. And all the eReader games. Seriously, I hunted them down because I knew most people didn't care for them. And I love them.

Of course the best Mario power up ever is the cape from Super Mario World. How could it not be the best when it's the best power up in the best game ever released?

E-Reader is awesome, despite so many people missing out on stuff like this. I remember talking my mom into buying me one for the full $40 (and I still have it!) when it came out. I didn't have too many games for it until they started getting marked down to a quarter at Toys 'R' Us, but meh, it was still cool.

Also, the Air Hockey promo card was fun as hell. I remember visiting Toys 'R' Us specifically for that when it came out and when I asked the lady about it, she was like "Oh, these things?" and pulled out a giant box of them. I got like 5 copies because she didn't think enough people would actually ask for them to need the whole box.

Gah, I wish I could play those!

any particular reason why the Porcupo enemy at 7:41 is blue?

Tanooki suit + Kuribo's Shoe owns your superhero-wannabe cape. /thread

I had an e-Reader. I'd load my self up with P wings and just fly over every level :P
but that was years ago.

I was saddened when there were more card sets to release for this game and they never came.

Hmm Looking at this video really makes me want to play some super mario games. :3

I have a fuck ton of cards I got back in the day from fast food kiddie meals. Never had an E-Reader, the cards got tossed in a bin of random shit.

Of course the cape feather is the best power-up from any Mario game. Much of the fun from Mario games--and, frankly, from platforming-related video games in general--is rooted in the player's enjoyment of locomotion and combat actions. Running and jumping is simple, but getting the physics of that running and jumping *just right* is what separates Mario games from its pale imitators.

The cape feather gives Mario not one, but *two* new unique mechanics, both of which are impeccably tuned. The flight mechanic, easy to perform but with a reasonable amount of depth and instantaneous feedback on performance, is as well-balanced and enjoyable as the base running and jumping. The combat mechanic, the cape twirl, is a powerful maneuver with a very entertaining risk/reward dynamic. Plus, both actions have a genuinely satisfying sound to them.

The cape feather is Mario's best power-up because it adds two gameplay mechanics that, were they used in any other franchise, would not just be enough to build a game around, but an entire series around.

For comparison, while they may both be cool-looking, the Tanooki Suit freezes you in place (not fun) and prevents you from interacting with enemies (also kinda not fun), and Kuribo's Shoe lets you walk on a tile that normally kills you (which is one step removed from finding the blue key to open the blue door). The cape wins.

I nearly cried... =`( Vegetable plucking?! Poison mushrooms?! Boomerangs?! More Kuribo's Shoe?! Is this a fucking dream?!
The infusion of Super Mario Bros. 2 elements and enemies is phenomenal(I've always wanted that in a newer Mario game). Hamza, that was the coolest shit I've never seen! That video made me feel like an anxiously excited kid again... =)

I don't know if I'd call it "bullshit" and the worst peripheral ever, then list it's pros, and complain that no one bought it. But I definitely remember these things.

If I had known the e-reader was this awesome I would have done more than just play excitebike on mine. I imagine that all these mods require like a billion swipes each time you fire it up.

The e-Reader is shite. I hope big N doesn't pull another whoopsie! and use the 3DS camera for reading more of those shit cards... THAT NO AMERICAN IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD BUY.

Goddamn:
Cards.
Waste of electronics.
Japanese understanding of American culture and vice versa.

Earthbound is the worst game ever because no one bought it.

I actually have a tone of eReader cards. All of the NES classics line, aome of the Animal Crossing ones and some of the pokemon trading cards.

I just picked up a GBA SP again today for my little Metroid marathon, so thanks for reminding me about the e-Reader, now I have several more games to play on it.

@branflakesinmilk Interesting counterpoint, but I think Hamza is trying to say that the e-reader was terrible because of how badly it was marketed.

There's a part of me that REALLY wants to start up an E-Reader Card collection... but I abandoned it after realizing how hard it would be.

I'll just concentrate on collecting HuCards instead.

Well, this looks awesome! I had no idea a World-e existed, mind blown!

The most bullshit part about the SMA4 cards was that you had to have two GBAs and a link cable to use them. I have SMA4. I have multiple GBAs (arctic white original, NES anniversary SP, black Micro, GB Player). I have a handful of the cards. I still don't have a link cable.

I literally raged whenever I found out there were more Kuriboh's Shoe levels. :|

I have an eReader, but only have a few game cards and a shitton of Animal Crossing cards. FREE FURNITURE EVERYWHERE

I was going to point out that Earthbound wasn't marketed well either, but then I remembered that the only reason I rented it as a kid was because it came in a box much larger than the other SNES games.

E-reader was cool until nintendo realized that digital distribution was coming around the corner, so they dropped their support for it.

See, this is just another reason why DSiWare/3DSWare ("3-D swear"?) needs a Virtual Handheld.

I still have my e-Reader also, but I had a problem with it.

None of the stores near me stocked any of the cards I needed/wanted. I only ever found Donkey Kong and other cards for arcade games, like the original Mario Bros.

SMB3 remains my favorite Mario game to date, and I wish I could play through it with all of this stuff. I wish the marketing would have been handled better. The idea was nice, but the execution wasn't.

I remember buying Pokemon cards with e-Reader bars on them too. I don't remember what they were for, but I believe there was some kind of minigame for some of them or something.

How about you shut your whore mouth Luco?

I do remember the e-reader, but only through the internet not through marketing. Still it would have been nice to add this stuff in without the cards, but whatcha gonna do.

@Bastard Spawn

Second.

I had the e-reader and all the cards that were released in the US, but there were quite a few that never made it out of Japan. That means there are still tons of Mario Advance 4 levels that I've never played.

I don't hate the e-reader for that. I hate Nintendo.

I hate you sometimes, Nintendo.

I just downloaded a savestate online with everything unlocked to play on my PC or Slot 2 device. ;-)

See http://www.zophar.net/savestates/gba/super-mario-advance-4-super-mario-bros-3.html

finally getting mario to fly with that cape was one of the great gaming moments of my life.

@ Bastard Spawn

thirded.

Wow, that's actually really sad. I mean, I had an E-Reader when it first came out, and remember it sucking since Nintendo never really advertised any other cards besides the Pinball one that came with it and the Pokemon ones, so I had no clue about these. I do hope somebody hacks the game to make the extra levels playable for the 99% of us who missed out on them.

--correction: save*game*

Tanooki suit> Feather cape. Fact.

How is the e-Reader bullshit because no one owned it? Doesn't that mean that people are bullshit?

Cloud Mario>all.

Even the feather cape! I never thought I'd say that!

I had the e-reader. The most annoying thing about it was that you needed TWO GBAs, or luckily in my case, a GBA & GBA Player for the GCN. But man, was it worth it to get the feather in Super Mario World in Super Mario Bros. 3 & to play World-e (sadly, I never played all the levels). It's still in my desk. Now if I could only find a copy of SMB3 for GBA again...Or Nintendo could be AWESOME & re-release World-e as downloadable on WiiWare/DSi......

C'mon, everyone knows that the 32X was the worst peripheral ever. It was hard to set up, didn't improve the Genesis experience much, and cost a crapload of money. Compared to that, the e-reader was only a MINOR disaster.

I had one, though, and I was disappointed that nobody was interested in supporting it. I was hoping for a ton of cards from third party developers, and that just never came to pass. Also, it was ugly and it took a zillion card swipes to start playing games, but back when it was released it was the only way to play NES games on the go. Flash cartridges were INSANELY expensive back in those days and it wasn't easy to order them.

I have half of the Animal Crossing e-Reader cards somewhere. I don't think they're in any condition to trade or sell anymore, though.

I would love to find a rom of smba4 with all the e-reader parts in it.

This website may be useful for you guys who want the E-Reader levels not released outside of Japan and some other neat little tools.

http://www.caitsith2.net/ereader/sma4.htm

Of course, this assumes you've the capacity to use the e-reader, one way or another.

I'd never even heard of an e-reader until this article, but I sure as hell want one after seeing this.
Does anyone know if it is compatible with a DS lite with the GBA port on it?

I loved my e-Reader. Fuck you.