15+ Hours of research went into this video. Huge thank you to Alex for the translations and Sendico for making this happen. I REALLY hope you enjoy this video!!! Sendico - bit.ly/2uH5yJk
The Retro Future just to let you know I watched your video and did a quick google in Japanese. Turns out that Imagineer also ran a campaign for 3000 units when they released Medarot for Gameboy around 28th November 1997. This is information from a Rakuten listing for a unit. Link here: www.google.co.uk/amp/s/item.fril.jp/amp/32300bf9151d06ff5a756ea9d9623595
Another reference to it also being distributed as a reward for Medarot is made in this blog: www.nikkansports.com/amusement/anime_game/column/anno/news/f-ag-tp0-20150213-1434095.html EDIT: The chaps below in the comments found the killer image here that proves the above: i.ebayimg.com/images/g/17wAAOSwqfNXovwp/s-l1600.jpg Rapid solving of the mystery and credit to them.
It says on the postcard in the image enjirube1 linked that it's 200 units per month being raffled out over 5 months (Dec '97 to Apr '98), 1000 units total. So together with the 2000 units for MRC, that's a maximum of 3000 units total. Not 3000 for Medarot alone. (Likely less than 3000 if they had spare stock left after MRC.) It also says to look in the magazine "Comic Bon Bon" for a hint on how to find the answer to the contest. Found a photo of that magazine page on twitter here: twitter.com/hiroyanada/status/902538566772826112/photo/1 Medarot btw is a Pokemon clone type of game, and this would be about the very first set of games in the series released on 28 November 1997: i.imgur.com/xlaRorH.jpg What you needed to do for the contest was to find a secret password consisting of 4 hiragana characters, hidden at 4 in-game locations, and fill in the 4 squares on the postcard and mail it in.
The Game Boy Light, the phosphorus front lit Game Boy Pocket variant, was already out in Japan when the known competition started, and all of the first wave Medarot games were also released after the GB Light if there was a competition around them. I'm guessing Imagineer just didn't want to pay extra to make custom, glow-in-the-dark Game Boy Lights.
@@killerfoxraspberryplays8903 I was gonna say that the promotion was earlier than the release of the GB Light but... from the "purchase" date card shown with the serial number, it shows a date of January 12th 1998 (Heisei 10th year), which is JUST SHY OF THE GB LIGHT RELEASE. Like, missed the mark by about 4 months. Of course, it wouldn't be possible (or at least feasible) to get a GB light with the custom packing and shell even on release date, let alone before that.
"Dude, I won a glow-in-the-dark handheld from Nintendo!" "Tubular, homie, let's play it in the dark so we can watch it glow while we play!" "Yeah, about that..."
-Ah yes, we're gonna make this one special! -How special? -You know the Game Boy doesn't glow right? You know people complain they can't see it in the night right? -Oh, you want to commission Game Boys with backlit screens? -What? I mean the Game Boys that glow, not screens that glow! -Oh. Oh...
Is it just me or is second-hand stuff from Japan just generally in better nick than stuff from elsewhere? A lotta American stuff is soooo bashed about that it drives me insane.
that gameboy is so crazy. the lack of uv pigment in it while it was locked away. showed up like crazy when you took it out. it slowly turned from a ugly green to a briliant lime green within seconds taken out the box. super cool!
This is instantly my new favorite official Gameboy colorway. The Pocket is so under-rated, but at the time, it was a huge step up from the DMG in every aspect. People honk a lot about it not having a backlight, but Nintendo tried that with the GB Light and the screen kinda sucked and ate batteries. The backlit handhelds of the time were the same way. It just wasn't possible at the time to be cheap, power efficient, and backlit. The high contrast screen on the pocket made a big difference, and I played many night time hours with just a small worm light attachment. I still look forward to someone figuring out a 1:1 OLED mod for the Pocket with crisp blacks like the Arduboy. The trick will probably be getting 4 shades out of it.
i find it sad how overlooked the pockets are, theyre deffinitelly a big upgrade over the dmg. since i collect gameboys too i obviously have one DMG too. just one, and i havent touched it literally in years, its just sits there as a display piece, really not keen on even playing on it. i dont find DMGs appealing even from modding point of view. pockets on the other hand, i have a bunch of them, even similary rare one as the one in the video, and once a good backlight screen drops for them im more than keen on building one, haha
Maybe it was a golden ticket like thing with the Medarot game, where a select number of copies contained a survey page that you would need to send in to get the Game Boy? I'm not sure, just spitballing here XD Eitherway, really cool video! Never knew this existed!
Elliot, I think this is probably the most exciting video in your channel so far. I hope you can find any information about the origin of this GBC. Also I think it should be interesting to have a video in your channel showing how to preserve a console in good shape, how to storage it. Congratulations from Argentina
You should make a replica of this... But using the GBC's hardware specs, a backlit transflective screen, and using a 3D printed case using LIT glow-in-the-dark pigment.
This is really really cool I thought I saw an ad for one of these before. It reminds me of the famitsu GameBoys. There was a pocket and a light variant. And each was also limited to a very small production run. I have a famitsu gb light and its my favorite gameboy by far.
Dang man, while I am not a huge fan of gameboys, I can appreciate the enthusiasm for one. Especially one as expensive as this. Rare too, that's important.
Medarot was released the same year 1997 but in November, where MRC was in July. So clearly the campaigns can't have happened at the same time, because you clearly stated the first competition would end in September. So it seams fair to reason that after the competition of MRC ended in September it was clear to Genki they had a surplus of these Game Boys and decided to do a campaign with Medarot. However unless something has been lost in translation, the Medarot campaign doesn't have to have been a competition as well, could also have been done with early orders of Medarot. The best chance we have of knowing about this is probably getting somebody fluent in Japanese to look through gaming magazines that contained information on Medarot from October and November of 1997. Maybe both were equally planned but based on information on the first campaign being so much more abundant insinuates to me that the second might have been done briefly to get the rest of the stock out.
In terms of not just speculation I found these two things I posted to another viewer that seemed to be able to translate Japanese. i.ebayimg.com/images/g/17wAAOSwqfNXovwp/s-l1600.jpg (from: www.ebay.com/c/1577032761) obotukasan.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/images/2009/02/26/photo.jpg
I just picked up the transparent Extreme Green with all of the correct stickers on it, but no box. Bought it in USA from a guy in Canada. Pretty cool system that's hard to find.
I don't know about sendico specifically, but a lot of those auction+mail forwarding sites will receive the item and repackage it better before sending it on.
Hey I know a lot of people are joking about it being glow in the dark and yet you cant see the screen, but hey wouldn't it be cool to make a back light mod. It would probably not be worth it considering how expensive these are, but in theory, very interesting idea!
I'd like to have one of these Gameboys in my collection. This is really nice looking Gameboy Pocket. I've got a old Macintosh Mouse in my Apple collection. Those are really cool.
My best find was a Casio QV-10. Got it from my local flea market including the original packaging, all accessories and the printer. Paid 15€, value for the camera: over 1200€, value for the printer: unknown.
You got Genki right the first time. The Spirit Bomb, an attack Goku learned from King Kai in Dragon Ball Z, is actually named Genki Dama in the original Japanese version. Genki can mean energy, health, pep or original spirit, among other things.
You got one of them super secret rates! I imagine that these were intended to be a part of unique giveaway that never happened. It possibly could be because, they produced more than they needed for the first giveaway, and did not have quite enough for the second giveaway. Who knows!
For the best glowy results charge it underneath another light source for a few minutes, it could definitely glow more than what you showed in the B roll!
Hello Elliot!!! Excellent job on the research!I have one of these too, but console only no box and relatively discoloured. Cant wait to see a video about the pri cla atlus edition gameboy pocket one day. Thats probably even rarer that this one and in my opinion the prettiest gameboy pocket ever. Also a famitsu gameboy light please. :D
The system looks amazing, never seen a glow in the dark one. Also your friend is brilliant, you should send him a modded system or something for all the hard work!
Well, this is amazing! Regarding Sendico? My paranoid brain is asking questions ... I've seen some very cheap stuff there. Were those the prices on eBay not too long ago?
15+ Hours of research went into this video. Huge thank you to Alex for the translations and Sendico for making this happen. I REALLY hope you enjoy this video!!! Sendico - bit.ly/2uH5yJk
The Retro Future just to let you know I watched your video and did a quick google in Japanese. Turns out that Imagineer also ran a campaign for 3000 units when they released Medarot for Gameboy around 28th November 1997. This is information from a Rakuten listing for a unit. Link here: www.google.co.uk/amp/s/item.fril.jp/amp/32300bf9151d06ff5a756ea9d9623595
Another reference to it also being distributed as a reward for Medarot is made in this blog: www.nikkansports.com/amusement/anime_game/column/anno/news/f-ag-tp0-20150213-1434095.html
EDIT: The chaps below in the comments found the killer image here that proves the above: i.ebayimg.com/images/g/17wAAOSwqfNXovwp/s-l1600.jpg
Rapid solving of the mystery and credit to them.
gba consolizer video ever?
It says on the postcard in the image enjirube1 linked that it's 200 units per month being raffled out over 5 months (Dec '97 to Apr '98), 1000 units total. So together with the 2000 units for MRC, that's a maximum of 3000 units total. Not 3000 for Medarot alone. (Likely less than 3000 if they had spare stock left after MRC.)
It also says to look in the magazine "Comic Bon Bon" for a hint on how to find the answer to the contest. Found a photo of that magazine page on twitter here:
twitter.com/hiroyanada/status/902538566772826112/photo/1
Medarot btw is a Pokemon clone type of game, and this would be about the very first set of games in the series released on 28 November 1997: i.imgur.com/xlaRorH.jpg
What you needed to do for the contest was to find a secret password consisting of 4 hiragana characters, hidden at 4 in-game locations, and fill in the 4 squares on the postcard and mail it in.
I have a game boy
The ironic thing about it glowing in the dark is that you can't even see the screen in the dark
The Game Boy Light, the phosphorus front lit Game Boy Pocket variant, was already out in Japan when the known competition started, and all of the first wave Medarot games were also released after the GB Light if there was a competition around them. I'm guessing Imagineer just didn't want to pay extra to make custom, glow-in-the-dark Game Boy Lights.
I thought that...
HAHA I didn't even think about that!
DurradonXylles the light is not front lit. It’s back lit by and electroluminescent panel. :)
@@DurradonXylles
The Gameboy Light dosent had frontlight, its a backlight :)
-Glows in the dark
-Still no backlight
Inside out front light I guess 🤔
Kroen Redstone should’ve been a gameboy light
101 thumbs up = AGS 101?
Was a gameboy decades ago called GAME BOY LIGHT actually HAD a backlight I wanted one SOOOOOO BAD!
@@killerfoxraspberryplays8903 I was gonna say that the promotion was earlier than the release of the GB Light but... from the "purchase" date card shown with the serial number, it shows a date of January 12th 1998 (Heisei 10th year), which is JUST SHY OF THE GB LIGHT RELEASE. Like, missed the mark by about 4 months. Of course, it wouldn't be possible (or at least feasible) to get a GB light with the custom packing and shell even on release date, let alone before that.
"Dude, I won a glow-in-the-dark handheld from Nintendo!"
"Tubular, homie, let's play it in the dark so we can watch it glow while we play!"
"Yeah, about that..."
Well it’s a mystery, but at least you have one of the coolest pockets in the world now! Nice video!
Thanks Sean!
I like when you doing unboxing
@@ismaelparamo9118 me too
- What's so special about it?
- It's green.
Yeah except it can glow in the dark.
johneygd yet you still can’t see your screen now a glow in the dark gameboy light word be amazing !
@@killerfoxraspberryplays8903 has spoken.
Ceceli It’s gween
*I'M SO EXCITED* **show no emotion**
Hey I care about the mouse.
cool
cool
Seriously I do too - Do a Video!
Yes please do video of apple mouse
lol same apple maniacs unite
-Ah yes, we're gonna make this one special!
-How special?
-You know the Game Boy doesn't glow right? You know people complain they can't see it in the night right?
-Oh, you want to commission Game Boys with backlit screens?
-What? I mean the Game Boys that glow, not screens that glow!
-Oh. Oh...
I care about the Apple mouse! 🥰
(Also: it’s “genki” like gecko. You shoulda asked Alex! He did a great job. 😉)
That apple mouse is more interesting then that greenish glowing gameboypocket.
" hey siri" 😪 "go away"
OK
He set of my Siri 🤣
Fantastic vid man, thank you so much for going the extra mile and helping re-piece together Game Boy history!
i love all glow in the dark stuff, i wish they'd do something like this with the newer consoles
Hey, I actually have one of these! Thanks for doing all that research. It's awesome to learn more about it!
Fair play the ONLY sponsor I’m actually going to go ahead and use!!! U LEGEND!
Thank you!
That's the same thing i was going to say. This is the first time , like ever, that a sponsor add is quite useful .
Japan really cherish their collectibles and I'm here for it.
Is it just me or is second-hand stuff from Japan just generally in better nick than stuff from elsewhere? A lotta American stuff is soooo bashed about that it drives me insane.
1:42
Ah yes. My favourite emo band
My Remical Chomance
HAHAHHA
that gameboy is so crazy. the lack of uv pigment in it while it was locked away. showed up like crazy when you took it out. it slowly turned from a ugly green to a briliant lime green within seconds taken out the box. super cool!
the shade of green you are using is one of the most beautiful colours i have ever seen and it was a genius idea to use it for your channel.
This is instantly my new favorite official Gameboy colorway. The Pocket is so under-rated, but at the time, it was a huge step up from the DMG in every aspect. People honk a lot about it not having a backlight, but Nintendo tried that with the GB Light and the screen kinda sucked and ate batteries. The backlit handhelds of the time were the same way. It just wasn't possible at the time to be cheap, power efficient, and backlit. The high contrast screen on the pocket made a big difference, and I played many night time hours with just a small worm light attachment. I still look forward to someone figuring out a 1:1 OLED mod for the Pocket with crisp blacks like the Arduboy. The trick will probably be getting 4 shades out of it.
i find it sad how overlooked the pockets are, theyre deffinitelly a big upgrade over the dmg. since i collect gameboys too i obviously have one DMG too. just one, and i havent touched it literally in years, its just sits there as a display piece, really not keen on even playing on it. i dont find DMGs appealing even from modding point of view. pockets on the other hand, i have a bunch of them, even similary rare one as the one in the video, and once a good backlight screen drops for them im more than keen on building one, haha
Within hours of the posting of this video - Nintendo announces the all-new Glow-in-the-Dark Switch Lite!
I love that he is telling people that they shouldn't take everything as fact in a sponsored video, I love this channel.
Maybe it was a golden ticket like thing with the Medarot game, where a select number of copies contained a survey page that you would need to send in to get the Game Boy? I'm not sure, just spitballing here XD
Eitherway, really cool video! Never knew this existed!
I am so jealous. I have wanted one of those for years but they are so out of my price range. Congrats on obtaining one.
Glad you purchased such a cool looking Gameboy! The color and condition is magnificent!
Dammmn, I saw it on eBay few weeks ago... Savage.
It’s cool ey!
I appreciate you thanking my mum at the end of the video 😊
We can really see your excitement :D
Cheers to you Eliot!
Wow, now that is a collection piece!
Only 1,999 to go!
Elliot, I think this is probably the most exciting video in your channel so far. I hope you can find any information about the origin of this GBC. Also I think it should be interesting to have a video in your channel showing how to preserve a console in good shape, how to storage it. Congratulations from Argentina
Thank you!
You legit set off my Siri when you said “Hey Siri” I was like what the hell man 😂
4:45 For a second I though he said “I’m really excited to crap on to this box” 😂🤣
Man, I had a gameboy when I was in the army back in 92, it was great for down time.
Very cool Elliot! Thank you for sharing this with all of us.
If I had a company and were sponsoring a youtuber, after all this cautions, I'd end the contract immediately.
Awesome video, as always.
Stunning piece of history Elliot!
Love the matt finish on this!
I would say you could put in a drop in backlight kit, but I wouldn't want to even think about modifying this beauty.
Another great video dude 🤙🏻
I really love these videos. So informative for a nerdy 90s gamer like me!
If only this wasn't so limited that colour is the nicest I've seen on a GB
Really nice job bro!!! congrats!!
Great job on this one bro! I can't wait to hear the full story later on. You really have something special!
“Hey siri , go away”
My siri boxes at home “ahuh okay”
Me starteld almost to dead 😂
What a beautiful machine😍😍 good on you mate
As if your content already wasn't epic enough, now we get to see this. Amazing job man! 👍
You should make a replica of this... But using the GBC's hardware specs, a backlit transflective screen, and using a 3D printed case using LIT glow-in-the-dark pigment.
This is really really cool I thought I saw an ad for one of these before. It reminds me of the famitsu GameBoys. There was a pocket and a light variant. And each was also limited to a very small production run. I have a famitsu gb light and its my favorite gameboy by far.
The intro song is called 'David Cutter Music - Statement' btw guys
My goodness that is beautiful. This is on my most wanted list. Very cool, man!
Great job on this one dude. The Apple Mouse was pretty cool - perfect condition too! Thanks for all the hard work you put into your content!! 💜👌🏼
Thanks, Natalie!
One idea for a video:
You could show your collection.
Would be very interesting :)
Nice score, awesome video!
Dang man, while I am not a huge fan of gameboys, I can appreciate the enthusiasm for one. Especially one as expensive as this. Rare too, that's important.
Here it is we’ve been waiting for hours yey finally
Really interesting search with a surprise ending!
Is that a crack on the bottom right of the screen lens at 9:58???
Definitely going to need part two if you are able to find more information about this
That's so perfect 💚
Thanks!
Medarot was released the same year 1997 but in November, where MRC was in July.
So clearly the campaigns can't have happened at the same time, because you clearly stated the first competition would end in September.
So it seams fair to reason that after the competition of MRC ended in September it was clear to Genki they had a surplus of these Game Boys and decided to do a campaign with Medarot. However unless something has been lost in translation, the Medarot campaign doesn't have to have been a competition as well, could also have been done with early orders of Medarot.
The best chance we have of knowing about this is probably getting somebody fluent in Japanese to look through gaming magazines that contained information on Medarot from October and November of 1997.
Maybe both were equally planned but based on information on the first campaign being so much more abundant insinuates to me that the second might have been done briefly to get the rest of the stock out.
In terms of not just speculation I found these two things I posted to another viewer that seemed to be able to translate Japanese.
i.ebayimg.com/images/g/17wAAOSwqfNXovwp/s-l1600.jpg (from: www.ebay.com/c/1577032761)
obotukasan.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/images/2009/02/26/photo.jpg
Great video and what a cool Gameboy!
Wow! This is crazy, I've never heard about these gameboy pockets before.
Love the excitement in the video! This is such a cool item
Cool video, cool find.
AND, even though you put a lot of research and it wasn't quite what you had, it was still very interesting to learn.
I just picked up the transparent Extreme Green with all of the correct stickers on it, but no box. Bought it in USA from a guy in Canada. Pretty cool system that's hard to find.
Oooooo.. Loving the radioactivity and eerie glow. Do you know about the exclusive Spanish Orange Drink Gameboy Colour?
That’s a fantastic looking Gameboy Pocket!
These videos are the BEST
Really enjoyed this video, keep it up!
I don't know about sendico specifically, but a lot of those auction+mail forwarding sites will receive the item and repackage it better before sending it on.
Such a cool video. Different but nonetheless familiar. Please let us know if you get more information on the Medarot Imagineer giveaway!!!
Just found out this gameboy exists. You did an awesome job dude!
Knowing its from a medarot competition makes it cooler imo. Would actually like to own one
the medabots rpgs are sooooooooo good, so much fun, the comedy is great, 5/5 italian chefs kiss
Great video as always, this is so amazing, very interesting rare gameboy pocket. I'd love to see more information about the Medarot campaign.
I love getting into a box and finding out the flaps are still strong.
Another Excellent Video ✌️😎👍✨💛
Hey I know a lot of people are joking about it being glow in the dark and yet you cant see the screen, but hey wouldn't it be cool to make a back light mod. It would probably not be worth it considering how expensive these are, but in theory, very interesting idea!
Amazing vids keep it up
Thank you!
This thing is gorgeous. Awesome score Elliot!
I'd like to have one of these Gameboys in my collection. This is really nice looking Gameboy Pocket.
I've got a old Macintosh Mouse in my Apple collection. Those are really cool.
Damn that's amazing
Thank you!
"hey siri, go away" is the most human thing
Another great video. Can i ask how many Gameboys you own now???
My best find was a Casio QV-10. Got it from my local flea market including the original packaging, all accessories and the printer. Paid 15€, value for the camera: over 1200€, value for the printer: unknown.
You got Genki right the first time. The Spirit Bomb, an attack Goku learned from King Kai in Dragon Ball Z, is actually named Genki Dama in the original Japanese version. Genki can mean energy, health, pep or original spirit, among other things.
Another great video. Love the content
Holy crap, with the purchase of this GameBoy, Elliot has ascended. He's now just a sentient ball of energy.
You got one of them super secret rates! I imagine that these were intended to be a part of unique giveaway that never happened. It possibly could be because, they produced more than they needed for the first giveaway, and did not have quite enough for the second giveaway. Who knows!
For the best glowy results charge it underneath another light source for a few minutes, it could definitely glow more than what you showed in the B roll!
Very cool Elliot! You deserve it man :)
Thanks Joe!
4 commercials each with 2 of them + a sponsor in 10 minutes of content ... Marvelous
Can't wait to hear where the story goes with this
this was awesome to watch and now i really want to know what that first item was!
Hello Elliot!!! Excellent job on the research!I have one of these too, but console only no box and relatively discoloured. Cant wait to see a video about the pri cla atlus edition gameboy pocket one day. Thats probably even rarer that this one and in my opinion the prettiest gameboy pocket ever. Also a famitsu gameboy light please. :D
The system looks amazing, never seen a glow in the dark one. Also your friend is brilliant, you should send him a modded system or something for all the hard work!
Literally brand new never been out the box. INSANE
Well, this is amazing!
Regarding Sendico?
My paranoid brain is asking questions ... I've seen some very cheap stuff there.
Were those the prices on eBay not too long ago?
Siri is jealous that their older tech sibling is getting more attention
I used to have a translucent slime green (non-color) gb pocket. I still haven't seen another since