Hamtaro Card-e

Hamtaro Card-e
Developer:	Nintendo
Publisher:	Nintendo
Platform:	Nintendo e-Reader
Release Dates:	JP: January 31, 2003

Hamtaro Card-e ( ハム太郎カードｅ) is a series of cards released for the Nintendo e-Reader in Japan. These cards were never released outside of Japan, due to the e-Reader's declining popularity in other regions.

General Information

Harmony e-Reader card.

Not much is known about these cards due to their obscurity and the fact that they were never released outside of Japan. Each card has a character's name and picture, as well as 2 dot codes that can be scanned into the e-Reader. The cards contain solo pictures of Ham-Hams, with a few specialty ones featuring group pictures or non-hamster characters (such as Laura). The e-Reader content varies from card to card.

Types of Cards

There are 3 different types of cards in the Hamtaro series.

The first kind of cards are minigame cards. Several of these cards are grouped together, and when all the required dot codes are scanned, a minigame will begin. Each minigame from this card type is described in the "List of Cards" section below.

The second type of cards are Information cards. Each of these cards are independent, and do not require any other cards to operate. After scanning the dot codes on the card, a screen will display a picture of that character as well as a text window at the bottom of the screen. Each card contains questions for you to answer. Sometimes, answering all of the questions correctly is required to view the information page. Other times, the information page will be available from the beginning. The questions may not always be about that particular character, however, and may quiz you on Ham-Chat as well as other things.

The third type of cards are "Theater Limited Version" set. From the limited knowledge known about this e-Reader series, these cards may have been distributed at a screening of Hamtaro: The Captive Princess. The set contains cards of various characters from the film, most prominently the Minihamuzu and the Mo Hams. These cards are all part of a visual novel game with a main minigame. The game starts with Go Ham's card. The goal is to help Go Ham to find all the members of the Mini Hams and the Mo Hams to perform a concert at the end. Each card will have choices to do, which lead to meet a different member in another card. At some time, completing a minigame will be required to continue the story. The game can be restarted with Go Ham's card.

Technical Information

Although the Game Boy Advance is region free, the e-Reader and its cards are not. While the e-Reader itself can be used in any region's Game Boy Advance, the cards that are scanned into it must be of the same region as the e-Reader. Furthermore, in cases where cards can be linked to GameCube and Game Boy Advance games (Such as Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube and Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire for the Game Boy Advance) the games must also be the same region as the cards and the e-Reader.

It is currently unknown if any of the cards can be linked to any of the Hamtaro games. However, some are rumored to be compatible with Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite!.

List of Cards

Cards that Contain Minigames

Controls for each game will vary. When controls are described, "the button" refers to either the A or B buttons, as both perform the same action. The D-Pad isn't used in all games, but in those that it is used, it is used to move around the screen.

Info	Image	Description
B001 Hamtaro Also requires Bijou and Barrette.
B002 Bijou Also requires Hamtaro and Barrette.		In this game, Hamtaro runs in a wheel. Help Hamtaro speed up by pressing the button in time with the blue text.
B003 Barrette Also requires Hamtaro and Bijou.
B004 Pashmina Also requires Penelope.		File:Pashmina Mini.png
B005 Penelope Also requires Pashmina.		In this game, Pashmina throws Penelope into the air to collect stars. The goal is to collect at least 35 stars in one minute. Press the button to throw Penelope into the air. You can press and hold the button to launch Penelope higher, the longer it is held down, the higher she will go.
B006 Howdy Also requires Spat.		File:Howdy Mini.png
B007 Spat Also requires Howdy.		In this game, the goal is to clear all of the beads on the abacus off the screen. This can only be accomplished in a set numbr of moves. Move Howdy around the screen and use the button to push the beads in the direction he's facing. If the beads being pushed match beads of the same color, that row will be moved automatically, and all beads cleared. The game ends if any beads are left that cannot be matched.
B008 Boss Also requires Harmony.
B009 Harmony Also requires Boss.		Help Boss dig up [something] by following the directions on screen. You will be told how many spaces up, down, left, or right you need to move in order to find the right spot. Press the button to dig! The game ends when you find nothing in a hole.
B010 Cappy Also requires Postie.		File:Cappy Mini.png
B011 Postie Also requires Cappy.		In this game, you help Cappy collect items of various colors on his head. Move underneath the faling objects to catch them. Match 3 of the same color, and they will disappear, awarding you a point. Miss 10 items, and the screen moves up. If at any time, the tower of items on Cappy's head touches the top of the screen, the game ends.
B012 Snoozer Also requires Haibi
B013 Haibi Also requires Snoozer.		Push Snoozer to avoid the falling spike balls. Pressing the button causes Hamtaro to jump. Push Snoozer in the direction Hamtaro is facing, if he's up against a wall, jump to push him to the other side!
B014 Oxnard Also requires Shuppatsu.
B015 Shuppatsu Also requires Oxnard.		Repeatedly press the button to eat sunflower seeds! Alternating between the A and B buttons makes it slightly easier. A counter on screen will show how many bites are left until Oxnard has completely eaten the seed. After eating 8 seeds, the time limit will be extended.

Cards that contain Information

B016 Sandy		B017 Stan		B018 Dexter
B019 Panda		B020 Maxwell		B021 Jingle
B022 Elder Ham		B023 Auntie Viv		B024 Omar
B025 Stucky		B026 Sparkle		B027 Chef-Ham
B028 Pepper		B029 Hannah		B030 Nin-Ham
B031 Sabu		B032 Seamore		B033 Flora
B034 Laura Haruna

"Theater Limited Version" cards

(Note: The exact functions and IDs of these cards are currently unknown.)

• Mo Hams (group of 9; Go Ham is not present)
• Minihamuzu (main group of 4)
• Hamtaro (sitting pose)
• Hamtaro the Movie (poster artwork of Hamtaro: The Captive Princess)
• Hamja Kingdom (group of King Hamja, Princess Cye-Ra, and Prince Hamja)
• Sabuku-Nya
• Go Ham
• Meshi Ham
• Ishi Ham
• Yasu Ham
• Yoshi Ham
• A Ham
• Nii Ham
• Kon Ham
• Taka Ham (Aiko)
• O Ham
• Merica-chan
• Ai~n-chan
• Nonno-chan
• Good-chan (Guu)

Trivia

• Seamore's card depicts him as having orange fur, like Hamtaro. However, in all of his other appearances, his fur is brown.
• Hamtaro's mini-game is the only one that requires 3 cards (6 dot codes) to be scanned, all the other mini-games require 2.
• Behind the Japanese character name on the top of each card, an English name can be seen faded beneath. With the one exception of Flora being named "Nurse", these are all the proper English names, as opposed to romanizations of the Japanese ones; notably, this also reveals that the English name of Japan-only hamster "Shuppatsu" is Captain Choo.