The Pokémon Mini (Japanese: ポケモンミニ, Hepburn: Pokemon Mini, officially stylized as Pokémon mini) is a handheld game console that was designed and manufactured by Nintendo and themed around the Pokémon media franchise. It is the smallest game system with interchangeable cartridges ever produced by Nintendo, weighing just under two and a half ounces (70 grams). It was first released in North America on November 16, 2001, then in Japan on December 14, 2001, and in Europe on March 15, 2002. The systems were released in three colors: Wooper Blue, Chikorita Green, and Smoochum Purple.
Features of the Pokémon mini include an internal real-time clock, an infrared port used to facilitate multiplayer gaming, a reed switch for detecting shakes, and a motor used to implement force feedback. The GameCube game Pokémon Channel features playable demo versions of several Pokémon mini games via console emulation. Also included in the game is Snorlax's Lunch Time, a Pokémon Channel exclusive. Some games were only released in Japan, such as Togepi's Adventure.
Various hackers have reverse engineered the Pokémon mini (with the aid of the aforementioned emulator in Pokémon Channel) in order to enable the creation of homebrew games, and to allow official games to be played on other platforms (such as a PC, Dreamcast and various others).
CPU 8 bit, 4 MHz Timex(now Epson) S1C88
96 x 64 pixel monochrome LCD
Game Pak (512KiB cartridge)
Internal BIOS of 4kB
Internal ram 4kB (shared with video subsystem)
21-bit cartridge bus
256 hardware register; in most cases Open-Bus registers
Dimensions: 74mm x 58mm x 23mm (2.91in x 2.28in x 0.91in)
Weight: 70 grams (2.5 oz) with Game Pak and AAA battery inserted
Power: 1 AAA battery (lasting circa 60 hours)
Pokémon Party mini (ポケモンパーティミニ): A collection of several minigames, included with the Pokémon mini. The minigames include: Hitmonchan's Boxing, where you shake the system to 'punch'; Pikachu's Rocket Start, a game where you have to launch off a starting line before another Pokémon; Bellossom's Dance, a Dance Dance Revolution-like game; Chansey's Dribble, kick the ball to the finish line as quickly as possible; Slowking's Judge, predict if the tennis ball will land in or out of the court; Sneasel's Fakeout, a rock-paper-scissors-like game for two players; Battlefield, where two to six players battle for the highest score; and Celebi's Clock, which is essentially a clock with date, alarm and stopwatch function.
Pokémon Pinball mini (ポケモンピンボールミニ): A pinball game with several levels where a Diglett or a Pikachu acts as the 'bumping' mechanism.
Pokémon Puzzle Collection (ポケモンパズルコレクション): A collection of different puzzle-games such as: Shadow Puzzle, where different shapes are put together to make an image of a Pokémon; Motion Puzzle, a sliding game where an image of a Pokémon has to be unscrambled; Escape, where one has to move blocks to let a Pokémon out of a maze; and a bonus for completing most of your Minidex is the game Power On, a 'Pipe Dream'-like game where one has to connect a Pikachu to a light bulb, creating a circuit).
Pokémon Zany Cards (ポケモンアニメカード大作戦, Pokemon Anime Kādo Daisakusen, lit. "Pokémon Anime Card Great Strategy"): A small collection of four card games featuring Pokémon-oriented cards.
Pokémon Tetris (ポケモンショックテトリス, Pokemon Shokku Tetorisu, lit. "Pokémon Shock Tetris"): Tetris with Pokémon; Released only in Japan and Europe.
Pokémon Puzzle Collection vol. 2 (ポケモンパズルコレクションVol.2): Similar to the first puzzle collection, but some games are different and there are 80 new puzzles. This was only released in Japan.
Pokémon Race mini (ポケモンレースミニ): A platform racing competition where the player controls a Pikachu racing against other Pokémon.
Pichu Bros. mini (ピチューブラザーズミニ): A collection of several mini-games, similar to Pokémon Party mini.
Togepi's Great Adventure (トゲピーのだいぼうけん, Togepī no Daibōken): You have to guide Togepi out of a tower, avoiding traps. Another game only released in Japan.
Pokémon Breeder mini (ポケモンそだてやさんミニ, Pokemon Sodateyasan mini): The player cares for a young Pokémon, such as Mudkip. This was only released in Japan.
Pokémon Party mini, Pokémon Zany Cards and Pichu Bros. mini were developed by Denyusha while the rest of the games except Pokémon Tetris were developed by Jupiter.
Through reverse engineering the Pokémon Mini was hacked, since then it has been possible to program the Pokémon Mini for homebrew purposes. The demo „SHizZLE“ which was released at Breakpoint in 2005 caused some excitement within the demoscene and media.
