As I rounded the corner from where Sega World used to be, I saw a crowd of people standing around a big, sterile, white tent facing out over the harbour. As I saw Meowth walking around out the front, I knew I had found the right place.
First Impressions
I must confess; I’m not really a pokémon fan. I’ve played some of the early games, and watched a fair bit of the series a few years ago (I am an anime fan), so I wasn’t really hoping for much when I turned up. Unbelievably, my first impression of the event was even worse than my already meagre expectations. There were 70 people sitting there facing the “crowd” outside the tent. They did have two television screens facing the audience, but these were only displaying a picture saying Pokémon GBA-SP play-off on them. Even if they had been displaying anything, the sun’s glare would have conveniently made watching it virtually impossible. After 10 minutes of watching 70 people sit there doing nothing but moving their fingers a few centimetres, I was about ready to go home. There was a slight increase in the crowd density around the tent, but it looked like the street performers were attracting more people.
The event worked by having several rounds of play with a half hour break in between. At the end of each round the score of each player was counted and several were eliminated. The final two competitors played a battle on the big TV screens with the winner of the battle winning the competition and a trip to Singapore. Both finalists received a year’s supply of games.
Long shot & close up
As my patience quickly diminished, I went over to check out the gaming area.
Gaming Impressions
I’m sure you’ve all read enough Zelda and Metroid Prime impressions, so I’ll keep mine short. Yes they are both good
Metroid is much more fun to play for the 5 minutes that you get on the demo units, but Zelda was also a good experience, although I feel that it would need a good hour to get a decent impression. There were four demo units with where you could choose either Zelda or Metroid on all. These are the same demo discs that you should find in your Nintendo demo unit at your local store. The line was quite short (or non-existent) most of the time, so there was plenty of chances to play.
Demo Units
Giveaways
As the day wore on things did get better. Every 20 mins or so they would have a competition or simply throw Nintendo gear out into the crowd. They must have given away literally thousands of dollars worth of items. They had GC & GBA games along with wavebirds and pokémon minis. Unfortunately for me I refused to demean myself to screaming like a girl (no offence girls) to get pokémon minis and ended walking away with nothing despite spending quite a few hours hanging around. I also cursed my size. I saw one tall guy with 3 WaveBirds, a couple of GBA games and one GC game in a bag!
The police got called in to deal with some of the rowdy 6-year-olds
The event was hosted by Ryan Lappin and Jade Gatt from Cheez TV. I’m sure some people will know them, but having commitments which prevent me from watching TV 24 hours a day, Cheez TV is not on my must watch list. Thus I was severely underwhelmed by Ryan & Jade’s presence. However, I must say they did handle it pretty well, and the occasional comment such as “Now the moment you’ve been waiting for… well you’re probably just waiting to get home” went down for me.
These mini competitions made the event worth watching. I haven't included much commentary on the main competition, because it was really very boring. The idea sounds cool, but that’s as far as it goes. When they had the mini competitions the size of the crowd grew significantly.
Pokémon Characters
Of course, what Nintendo event could be complete without people dressed up as pokémon wondering around? There was Meowth, Odduck, Charmander and Pikachu. Ok, I’ll fess up. The only reason I put this section here was because I had a few good pictures of them:
Be alert, but not alarmed; Pikachu checks the bin for hidden explosives.
Meowth & Odduck feel hot and sweaty, so go out the back together…
Final Impressions
My main criticism that clouded my early opinion, is that they needed to have more action on the tv screens of the contestants playing pokémon. They had GBA player on a GC and had attached a WaveBird to the GC. This allowed one player to play using an SP and another using a WaveBird. I would have had more matches on the big screen. They only had the final battle using this system.
What they did have, was a couple of mini competitions of GBA Mario Cart on the TVs with one person on the WaveBird, while the other was on an SP. This was seriously awesome. The races were always close and great to watch. Even I got excited a few times and cheered for one of the players. It was the ultimate SP multiplayer spectator experience.
My favourite event was the rapping competition. They had 10 people come up and do a rap about pokémon. I could not stop laughing the whole time. Picture this. Ryan standing there doing a beat on the mike, while one of the constants raps to the tune of Eminem’s Lose Yourself changing the words to make it about pokémon. This is blasting out on the loud speaker across Darling Harbour. Some of the raps were actually very good. It was the best part of the day for me.
At the end of the day, I guess the best word to describe the experience is fun. The mini competitions were good to watch, and I’m sure more than a few people walked away happy with plenty of brand new Nintendo gear. I’m sure it will sell numerous SP units, if nothing else.
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