Launch day frenzy

The shelves in the store that used to display other manufacturers' cassette tapes had all been cleared out, and neatly stacked light blue packaging boxes, each taller than a person, were now in use.

The GP2 logo is printed in the center of the box.

Next to it were stacks of paper cartridge cases for Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire, their thick cardboard covers gleaming faintly under the fluorescent light.

Behind the counter stood two college students who had been temporarily hired as part-time workers, tearing open packing tape according to the order numbers.

Kenta was in fourteenth place. He took two steps into the store and slammed the blue cardboard receipt in his hand onto the table.

Two GP2 machines! One Ruby disc, one Sapphire disc!

Yamada checked the stub, grabbed a marker and circled the document, then turned around and pulled two large boxes and two cassette tapes from the shelf, stuffing them directly into a thick white plastic tote bag.

The final payment is 24,000 Japanese yen.

Kenta pushed over a thick stack of ten thousand yuan banknotes that he had already counted out, and took the bag from him.

It felt quite heavy when I received it, and the outer packaging had a fresh ink smell from just opening the box.

After the fat man paid the bill, the two of them squatted on the curb outside the Yamada Game Shop and began to unpack the items by hand.

Kenta ripped off the transparent sealing sticker.

The blue and white handheld console lay in a shock-absorbing foam tray.

The custom-designed reflective color LCD screen by Sharp glows with a dark purple halo in the morning light. The key travel of the D-pad and buttons is deeper than that of the original Game Pocket. The matte-textured engineering plastic shell fits perfectly in the palm of your hand.

Kenta pushed the Ruby cartridge into the slot on the back.

With a soft "click," the clips snapped shut.

Pushing the power switch on the side, the screen lights up, a crisp start-up sound is heard, followed by two flashing red lights.

"Pokéwalker! Quick, get the Pokéwalker!" The fat man was so anxious that he kept slapping his thigh. His sapphire cartridge was already inserted into the new machine.

Kenta pulled the teardrop-shaped Mudkip Pokéwalker that was hanging on his keychain from his pocket.

He removed the dust plug from the top of the cassette, revealing a row of precision communication metal contacts.

Align the dedicated interface at the bottom of the Pokéwalker with the card slot and push it firmly.

The screen paused slightly.

The pixelated fish that had been bouncing around on the Pokéwalker's LCD screen suddenly transformed into a stream of white light, flowing along the connecting cable into...

The handheld console has a large color screen.

A bolded message box popped up on the game screen:

[External access detected! Mudkip successfully relocated!]

[Individual values inherited! Trait: Dampness, activated!]

On the screen, a pixelated creature, entirely light blue with orange cheeks, shook its head on the grass and let out a short, electronic cry.

"It's done!" Kenta gripped the edge of the handheld console tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"My Torchic got transferred in too!" The fat guy excitedly shoved the screen in front of Kenta, "Accelerate ability! That's a battle powerhouse!"

The other players who had just received their machines immediately swarmed around them.

"Can it really be transferred?"

"Are the features really incorporated?"

"Let me see it! I'm number eighty in line, and I have to wait another half hour!"

A young man in a suit squeezed to the side, wearing an employee badge around his neck, clearly having skipped work on his way to the office.

He stared intently at the Mudkip on Kenta's screen, then rushed into the store. "Boss! Do you still have rubies in stock? I don't want the sapphire anymore, give me a ruby instead!"

"Can't exchange them! They're all sold out!" Yamada shouted from inside. "If you want in-stock items, wait for the second shipment this afternoon!"

The entire Central Avenue in Akihabara was set ablaze that morning.

The steps in front of every convenience store were filled with young people engrossed in fiddling with their blue and white handheld game consoles.

Four-way connector cables were strung everywhere along the roadside.

Some people were playing the endless mode of Plants vs. Zombies, while four of them lined up in the first level of Metal Slug GP2, fighting over a heavy machine gun ammo box. The comical shouts and curses of the characters after their weapons were taken away echoed throughout the game.

The train carriages on the Chūō-Sōbu Line swayed and rocked.

Kenta hugged the blue and white GP2 to his chest, his two thumbs tapping loudly on the buttons.

On the screen, Mudkip is spraying water at a wild Zigzagoon.

The fat guy sitting next to me craned his neck, chewing on a rice ball, and mumbled indistinctly, "Don't just train this one. Catch Taillow later, otherwise the first gym will be tough!"

"I'd love to." Kenta didn't even look up. "Mudkip was specially inherited for its hidden ability, who else would I train?"

The two middle school students sitting on the opposite bench had been staring at them for quite some time.

The boy on the left in the stand-up collar uniform finally couldn't hold back any longer. He leaned forward and whispered, "Senior, what are those... the GP2 that just came out today?"

Upon hearing this, the fat man immediately flipped his machine over, deliberately showing off the Torchic Pokéwalker that was still hanging on the lanyard hole of his GP2: "How could it be fake? Boss Yamada has the first batch in stock; you have to queue up at five in the morning."

"Can even special features be transferred online?" The boy opposite me asked, his eyes shining as he fumbled for his change in his pocket. "Isn't the screen glare bad? Can you see clearly in the carriage?"

"Sharp's latest reflective screen, you can see it clearly even under the bright sunlight." Kenta casually pressed pause and handed the machine forward. "Take a look for yourself."

Several passengers who had been reading paperbacks in the carriage also turned around, their eyes all falling on the cold-glowing color screen.

"My brother even lied to me, saying it would be the same if we bought it next week." The boy across from me slapped his thigh, turned to his companion, and shouted, "Get off! Take the Yamanote Line to Akihabara!"

Before the tram had even come to a complete stop, or even before they could stand properly, the two junior high school students grabbed their schoolbags and squeezed to the door.

A large chain coffee shop in Shibuya.

Salesman Takahashi, who was still working overtime on the weekend, placed his briefcase at his feet, loosened his tie, and gulped down an iced coffee.

My colleague sitting across from me was flipping through client files. "I just went to Kanda to deliver some documents, and the traffic was terrible! The traffic cops were even putting up yellow strips at the intersections."

"Didn't you see Akihabara?" Takahashi wiped the sweat from his forehead. "The Kanda River is packed with people. Sega has hung three giant Pokémon on the roof of Building No. 1 and the Radio Kaikan: Kyogre, Groudon, and a green Rayquaza."

It was tens of meters long, stretching directly across the road. The scene looked just like the set of a tokusatsu (special effects) film with a life-size model.

"Balloon?" The colleague was taken aback.

"A real balloon! They say it's a huge one from Bandai's model department." Takahashi gestured with his hands. "Everyone passing by stopped to take pictures; cars couldn't move at all. I finally managed to squeeze out of the subway exit, and the roadside was full of high school students squatting and playing their new handheld consoles. Four of them were playing Metal Slug together, yelling and fighting over an ammo box on the side of the road."

My colleague twirled the ballpoint pen in his hand and said, "That's outrageous! My brother was just saying he wanted one as a birthday present the other day, and I was planning to buy it for him when the price drops."

"Price reduction?" Takahashi scoffed. "The line in front of Yamada Game Shop stretches all the way to the bottom of the bridge. I heard that scalpers are offering gift certificates for several thousand Japanese yen more, and people are scrambling for them. If you don't go and queue up today, your brother's birthday present next month will only be a game cartridge case."

My colleague stopped writing and looked down at his watch.

"When the team leader returns, please let me know that I had many questions from clients during my morning visit, which caused me some delays."

"We've decided to postpone the afternoon client visit to Monday," my colleague said, tidying up the folders on his desk. "I'll go to Akihabara first."

Noon sharp, TV Tokyo studio.

The red recording indicator light is on.

The news anchor had just finished reading a briefing on the cabinet's approval ratings when the camera immediately switched to a live Wired from a field reporter.

On the big screen, Akihabara's Central Avenue was bustling with people.

The camera quickly zooms out, giving a panoramic view from a low angle.

Groudon lay atop the Sega Building, its massive claws gripping the eaves; opposite, a deep blue whale, Kyogre, its tail fin blotting out the sky; and higher still, Rayquaza hovered in the blue sky, its imposing presence overwhelming.

Sato, a senior high school student from Chiba Prefecture, was holding a bowl of ramen in front of the television when the noodles in his mouth almost slipped back into the bowl.

"Mom! Come watch TV!" Little Sato shouted at the top of his lungs.

The mother poked her head out of the kitchen, still clutching a dishcloth. "What are you yelling about? Just eat your food."

On the television, a female reporter on location, microphone in hand, pushed her way forward against the flow of people. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am currently located on Akihabara's Central Avenue. Today is not only the global launch day of Sega's brand new handheld console, the GP2, but also the Pokémon..."

On the day of the sale, you can see the three giant mythical beast balloons above my head. Tens of thousands of players and citizens have gathered at the scene.

The reporter stopped a commuter pushing a bicycle.

The man wore glasses, his suit was wrinkled, but he was carrying two plastic bags with the GP2 logo on them.

"Sir, did you come here specifically to buy a new handheld console?" the reporter asked, handing him the microphone.

The man wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled somewhat sheepishly at the camera, "I was supposed to be on duty on Saturday, but a colleague told me the launch event here was huge, so I took two hours off and took the tram over. I bought the original ten years ago when I was in high school, and after seeing the trailer on TV today, I couldn't resist. I bought the Ruby and Sapphire, planning to play them online with my son at home, one on each."

How was your actual experience?

"Just for those three balloons on the rooftop, this tram ticket is worth it." The man pointed to the sky. "Back then, they released over a hundred small ones on the streets, and now they've put a mythical beast in the Sega. Sega, you guys are something else."

The camera cuts back to the studio, where the female anchor smiles and continues, "According to Sega's Channel Department, as of 11:00 AM today, over 80% of the initial allocations for major directly operated stores and partner merchants in Tokyo Metropolis have been used up. Sega stated that they are urgently allocating subsequent batches—"

With a "snap".

Sato slammed his chopsticks on the table and grabbed his wallet from the entryway cabinet.

"You haven't finished your meal yet!" the mother called from behind.

"If we don't go now, we won't be able to buy even a single hair!" Sato yelled as he put on his sneakers. "Watanabe and the others are probably already on the train; I have to go grab a seat!"

The security door slammed shut, and hurried footsteps echoed down the stairs.

One o'clock in the afternoon, on the steps outside the Akihabara Broadcasting Radio Kaikan.

A dozen or so young people sat directly on the cold stone steps, each with a different Pokémon Electronic Pokéwalker hanging around their necks.

"Don't grab it! That Wall-nut is for me to use as a stepping stone!" a boy wearing a baseball cap shouted at his companion.

"Who told you not to produce enough sunlight? The zombies are already in the third row!" His companion frantically pounded on the buttons.

A crowd of onlookers had gathered three layers deep at the bottom of the steps.

An elderly man carrying a briefcase stopped and watched for a while, then nudged Sega employee maintaining order nearby, "Young man, is that the Plants vs. Zombies that was in the park a few days ago?"

"Yes, sir, this is the GP2." The staff member smiled and handed over a color-printed promotional brochure. "It has Sharp's latest color screen, supports online play, and can even connect to Pokéwalker to transfer data to the handheld."

The old man took the brochure, adjusted his reading glasses, looked at the comical zombie images on it, and his lips twitched. "My grandson has been talking about Mudkip every day at home these past few days, so this is what it is."

"Go to the Yamada store in the back and queue up now. If you're lucky, you might catch the second batch of restock at 3 PM," the staff member pointed to the street corner.

The old man glanced at the giant green dragon balloon hovering in the sky, then at the price listed on the brochure.

"Alright then." The old man folded the brochure, stuffed it into his pocket, and started walking into the alley. "If I don't buy it for him today, he won't have a peaceful weekend."

Sunnyvale, California.

6:30 AM Pacific Ocean Time, April 25th.

The parking lot in front of Best Buy was brightly lit by car headlights.

The yellow barrier outside the entrance meandered and stretched out, and the sixty-odd people at the front of the line were wearing thick hoodies and holding paper cups of coffee.

Midway through the line, David, a sophomore in the computer science department at Stanford University, zipped his jacket up to his chin and stamped his frozen feet.

His roommate Mike, standing in front of him, was yawning with his head buried in the collar of his down jacket.

"They've already started selling them in Tokyo." Mike pulled out his flip phone and glanced at the time. "I got up at four this morning to check the Japan forum on Silicon Valley Online. Those guys in Akihabara hung three giant Pokémon balloons, each several tens of meters long, on the rooftops. A lot of people stopped in the Electric Town to look up at them; the whole street was blocked."

"That's Tokyo." David put his hands in his pockets. "Sega of America didn't go for those fancy models this time, but you'll be hard-pressed not to see them for the next couple of months."

"It's everywhere." Mike rubbed his cheek. "Starting in February, Cartoon Network has been inserting 30-second trailers for Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire every afternoon during the cartoons that air after school. I see them every time I go home for lunch. As soon as the computers in the school computer lab are turned on, there's a countdown to the release of GP2 on the right side of Silicon Valley Online's portal homepage. Last week, when I was playing StarCraft with my classmates, a release notification even scrolled across the top of the Battle.net public chat."

"The key point is that they've crammed all the ads where students can see them." David pulled out his right hand and tapped the plastic bag hanging from his waist. "Even the comic book store and convenience store checkout near the school gate have rows of Pokéwalker. If I hadn't been browsing the forums every day and seeing everyone discussing trait inheritance, I would definitely be holed up in my dorm sleeping tonight instead of coming here to get some cold air."

Hanging from his belt was a red Torchic Electronic Pet.