NDS Pokemon Black - New Import

NCS Product Synopsis
«©NCSX» The Pokemon universe expands by fits and starts this week with Nintendo's releases of Pokemon Black and Pokemon White for the DS. The new adventure takes place in a new territory called Isshu which includes a bustling urban area called Hiun City, a Poke-Black exclusive area called "Black City," and the Poke-White only "White Forest." The new Pokemon located in Isshu may be found in the new Isshu-Dex and Professor Araragi greets the protagonist upon his or her arrival. New monsters inducted into the Poke-fold include the following:

Gochiruzeru (exclusive to Pokemon Black) - Black and white color scheme
Rankurusu (exclusive to Pokemon White) - Appears to be inside gelatin
Reshiram - White dragon Pokemon with a flowing mane
Zekrom - Bipedal black dragon Pokemon with gnarly claws
Wargle - Magnificent eagle with red and purple color scheme
Mamepato - Corpulent baby pigeon who's blessed with loads of luck
Meguroko - Desert crocodile with raccoon eyes and broad stripes
Minezumi - A rodent with red piercing eyes who serves as a lookout

... and more. The battle screen hews to the same presentation standard as earlier games in the series but up to three Pokemon on each side may now battle in turn-based confrontations. When a 3-vs-3 bout is in progress, the positioning of the Pokemon will affect their attacks and defenses.

   Early preorders include a bonus Pokemon Sound Drop keychain toy - Pokemon Black buyers get a Sound Drop that plays Reshiram's roar whilst Pokemon White owners listen to the sound of Zekrom. Please note Pokemon Black is region-protected for DSi and DSi LL but earlier generation DS owners may play the game freely on the original DS and DSLite. Early preorders are shipping today but the remainder will ship on Monday.

NDS Pokemon White - New Import

NCS Product Synopsis
«©NCSX» The Pokemon universe expands by fits and starts this week with Nintendo's releases of Pokemon Black and Pokemon White for the DS. The new adventure takes place in a new territory called Isshu which includes a bustling urban area called Hiun City, a Poke-Black exclusive area called "Black City," and the Poke-White only "White Forest." The new Pokemon located in Isshu may be found in the new Isshu-Dex and Professor Araragi greets the protagonist upon his or her arrival. New monsters inducted into the Poke-fold include the following:

Gochiruzeru (exclusive to Pokemon Black) - Black and white color scheme
Rankurusu (exclusive to Pokemon White) - Appears to be inside gelatin
Reshiram - White dragon Pokemon with a flowing mane
Zekrom - Bipedal black dragon Pokemon with gnarly claws
Wargle - Magnificent eagle with red and purple color scheme
Mamepato - Corpulent baby pigeon who's blessed with loads of luck
Meguroko - Desert crocodile with raccoon eyes and broad stripes
Minezumi - A rodent with red piercing eyes who serves as a lookout

... and more. The battle screen hews to the same presentation standard as earlier games in the series but up to three Pokemon on each side may now battle in turn-based confrontations. When a 3-vs-3 bout is in progress, the positioning of the Pokemon will affect their attacks and defenses.

   Early preorders include a bonus Pokemon Sound Drop keychain toy - Pokemon Black buyers get a Sound Drop that plays Reshiram's roar whilst Pokemon White owners listen to the sound of Zekrom. Please note Pokemon Black is region-protected for DSi and DSi LL but earlier generation DS owners may play the game freely on the original DS and DSLite. Early preorders are shipping today but the remainder will ship on Monday.

NEWS General Updates

Konami Sale - TGS 2010 «©NCSX» Konami of Japan sent out a console software sale listing last night to mark the start of the Tokyo Game Show 2010. The discount percentage is at standard wholesale but the surprise was that Konamii is still holding inventory from as early as 1999. For example, they still have the original Playstation DDR dancing controller (SKU: RU039) from March 14, 1999. We thought we were the only ones who sat on inventory for decades.    We've uploaded the Excel file to our server if anyone's interested in looking over what's available and to peruse the kind of sales and offers we go through every morning. Please note the text is mostly in Japanese. If you look at line item #24, you'll notice that Konami's still holding inventory of beatmania DX16 EMPRESS + PREMIUM BEST and if you scroll down to line item #83, that's Gradius Gaiden for the PS1 from November 19, 1999.

Pokemon Shenanigans    Nintendo's distribution arrangement limited the amount of Pokemon Black and Pokemon White that was available to third party distributors this week. This inventory arrangement basically gives priority to the large retailers in Japan such as Sofmap and Lawson so that they garner the bulk of this weekend's Pokemon sales. The sales are expected to be immense. If you're a mom n' pop shop in Japan competing against the big boys, you're screwed by these types of arrangements.    The Pokemon distribution limitation only lasts for a few days but the damage is severe to small shops in Japan. Why would a customer go to Ma & Pa Gameshop who are only getting a few copies this week when Softmap will have enough Pokemon for everyone on Saturday? If you're privy to the inventory numbers in the distribution channel, you'll see that there's about 3,000 copies of Pokemon being offered for sale but they're only for delivery next week. This weekend is for the big shops in Japan to sell Pokemon before the mom 'n pop shops get their full order quantities of the games. What's the lesson for this week? Don't be a mom 'n pop shop in Japan.