E-mail me at:
cod@compusmart.ab.ca

I wrote this report on September 5, 1998, the evening following a visit to a Pokemon Patrol site in Cincinnati. I drove from Indianapolis to Cincinnati with my daughter Sarah, who's 8, and who is a real "otakid", having enjoyed anime of many types since she was 5. We were both excited about Pokemon having seen the preview tape that we got in the mail, and we decided it'd be a nice outing amd fun to take part in the promotion. Most of my encouragements to readers to visit the Patrol are moot now, but I still urge you to go see one of these vehicles if they ever go on tour again. Read on, and enjoy! Thank you!
-- Richard E. Rae

Today I acted as "roving reporter" and, as promised, Sarah and I drove the 2.5 hours from Indianapolis to chase the "Pokemon Patrol" and visit one of the famed "Poke-mobiles" at the Biggs store in Mason, Ohio, just northeast of Cincinnati (1 exit shy of Kings Island).

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I checked the times and locations on the www.pokemon.com website which has tracking and schedules for all 10 cities where the Pokemon Patrol has set up shop this week, and we zeroed in on the 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM Cincinnati appearance there today [9-5-98]

The Pokemon Patrol vehicle is a truly impressive customized Volkswagen New Beetle, which has been painted and trimmed to look just like Pikachu, including 3-D ears on the roof and zig-zag bolt tail sticking up from the rear hatch! The US Pokemon logo is of course clearly displayed and smaller Pocket Monsters appear on the hubcaps, too. It's pretty cool.

Each Pokemon Patrol vehicle has a custom-mounted TV and stereo surround set-up in the trunk, hooked up to a Super Game Boy/SNES... and visitors have a chance (and are encouraged) to play the new US Pokemon game (we had the chance to play both the Red and the Blue versions).

The game itself is pretty fun! It's actually a cross between an RPG and a tamagotchi ("virtual pet raising program") . Your goals are to find and capture (not eliminate) wild Pokemon that your character comes across, by dispatching your own collected Pokemon that you train by combat and experience, getting them to a state where they can defeat weaker wild Pokemon you come across. If you take an opposing Pokemon's energy down to 0, it dies (it "faints", to be PC for the US market)- so your goal is to get it weak enough where you can capture it with a Pokeball then make it your own. As a particular Pokemon achieves higher skill levels (accuracy, power, etc), it may evolve into a more powerful form of itself, and gain new attack abilities. Pokemon characters also align with one of 15 particular elemental characteristics- fire, water, electric, ice, normal, fighting, plant, poison, earth, flying, bug, stone, ghost, dragon, and psychic.

One of the goals is to collect all 150 (yes, 150!) Pokemon by acquistion or trading with friends using GameLink cables to other Game Boys. The Trainer (you) must select which of the collected Pokemon in your "stable" you will train and develop. Some monsters' powers won't work on others of different elemental types- for example, "fire" is weaker than "water", but "plant" is stronger than "water". There are also cool places like Pokemon Centers, where you can store your creatures and heal them, and Pokemon Marts, where you buy special combat items.

Ultimately, to become the World's Greatest Pokemon Trainer, you must face off against Gym Leaders, other Elite Trainers at Pokemon Gyms in the game. If you defeat them, you acquire their Pokemon and advance yourself to the next level.

Anyway, we played the game and Sarah and I had a delightful chat with Katy DeRosier, the Pokemon Patrol Driver covering Cincinnati. She told me that the cars had all been delivered to St. Louis and customized there, then the 10 drivers were flown in, and all drove to a big group meet at Topeka, Kansas, on August 27 (the town was rechristened "ToPikachu" ). The 10 drivers then each drove to their assigned cities of Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle and Tampa to run their tours for a week- August 31 to September 7, when the show debuts.

Katy was very pleasant and great to talk with, and she not only showed us the ropes on the Pokemon game and let us play extensively, but gave us some special promotional items, too.

Visitors to the car who played the Pokemon game and tried it out received a choice of a really great printed T-shirt (a bunch of caged Pokemon with the logo and the phrase "Got ya!" ) or an embroidered Pokemon cap (black high quality cap with a Pokeball atop the US "Pokemon" logo). We got one of each.

Because I told Katy I was going to be writing a report on my visit for the Compuserve Anime/Manga forum (and filled out some qualifying info for her to transmit to Nintendo), she also gave me a press kit- a collectors item in itself, as it has the complete run-down on the series characters, a TV station list, lots of COLOR detailed press releases on everything related to the game, toys, and show, and... best of all... a COMPLETE list of all 150 monsters you can collect with numbers and names! We also each received a great set of color printed dogtags- one tag has the US Pokemon logo, and the other has a Pokemon character on it. We also received a free "Power Bouncer", a transparent Superball with a Pokemon character inside- which is also an item which will be sold for $2.99 in November.

And since Sarah is a Pikachu fan (well, me too ) and politely asked if she had anything with Pikachu on it, Katy, in a surprising and totally spontaneous move, freely gave Sarah her last set of Pikachu dogtags (her own), and also her last Pikachu figurine (super-quality!! And an original from Tomy, no less). She also gave us three extra copies of the promotional video I already reviewed (sorry, readers, but they're already earmarked for some special friends if they don't get one themselves).

Katy also was wearing an advance copy of the Pocket Pikachu, which is more than a Tamagotchi in that it actually requires the user to WALK and exercise to develop the bond, keep it happy, and maintain a healthy relationship with it! It was very cool and fun to see demonstrated- and I definitely want one . It was great to see both it and the game in one visit!

Interestingly enough, we weren't the only out-of-city fans to make the trip... while most people who visited while I was there were curious parents with young kids and some staring passers-by, I did speak with three teens who'd come from Louisville just to chase the Pokemon Patrol . They were very excited about the game and series too.

As you can tell, Sarah and I had a blast, and found the trip well worth the time and distance. The Pokemon Patrols are supposed to be around tomorrow and Monday still, so if there's one touring near you - definitely drop by!! You'll be glad you did! And you can certainly get some cool free stuff, too!

Check the cities above and then go to www.pokemon.com to see the scheduled times and locations of visits in the city you are going to. Don't miss out!!

In conclusion, I'll once again say sincere thanks to Katy DiRosier, Pokemon Patrol Driver, for her wonderful assistance, terrific rapport with Sarah and me, and for providing us with some unique free Pokemon materials.

Richard E. Rae 76174.1410@compuserve.com