E-Reader

The e-Reader (Japanese: カードｅリーダー Card e Reader) is a peripheral for the Game Boy Advance that is used to scan special cards in order to unlock new features in existing games, add new features to games that have e-Reader functionality, or to play minigames on the e-Reader itself.

Developed jointly by Creatures, Inc., HAL Laboratory, Inc., and, the original Japanese Card e Reader lacked the Game Link Cable functionality when it was released in December 2001. A re-release, the Card e Reader+, added a Game Link Cable port, allowing it to connect to a second Game Boy Advance or a Nintendo GameCube using the same Game Link Cables that the Game Boy Advance system alone would use. This version of the e-Reader was the one that was later released in the West as the e-Reader in September 2002.

Though it was popular in Japan, with e-Cards released until the end of the Game Boy Advance's lifespan, the e-Reader proved to be unpopular in North America, leading to its discontinuation in 2004. e-Reader functionality, included in the Japanese versions of, was removed from the English and other translations, as the compatible cards were never planned to be released. Due to this early discontinuation, the e-Reader was only released in North America and Australia, though e-Cards were released in Europe as well.