FORGOTTEN RELICS – Pokemon Colosseum Bonus Disc (GC)

Nintendo Makes One Wish Come True –

As an incentive to earn additional sales and hype, Nintendo offered the Pokemon Colosseum Bonus Disc as a free pre-order bonus when reserving Pokemon Colsseum on Gamecube back in early 2004.  This disc is highly sought after by game collectors and hardcore Pokemon fans as it is one of the few ways to legitimately obtain Jirachi for use in Pokemon Ruby or Sapphire.

The Bonus Disc is used like any other Gamecube game; just insert it into the GC and hit the power button.  After the initial loading, the disc is broken into three simply segments all reachable via the main menu: a movie preview of the Jirachi: Wish Maker movie, a video preview of the Pokemon Colosseum GC game, and the Jirachi Gameboy Advance link option. One feature to highlight is the surprisingly high quality upbeat musical track that plays on this splash screen.

There isn’t too much to say about the Jirachi: Wish Maker or Pokemon Colosseum preview videos.  It will only take a few minutes to watch both trailers but at least the viewer can understand Jirachi’s special wish granting powers and the gameplay in Colosseum after watching these videos.

Overall, the packaging is light but functional.  Besides the Bonus Disc, this DVD case also comes bundled with a simple Pokemon Colsseum paper insert and the usual black and white safety manual.  The front box art depicts the Pokemon Colosseum GC game with the “Special Gift Jirachi” message as the highlight on the lower right side.  Uniquely, the back of the case looks like any other GC game, spelling out the details of the disc.  However, the “NOT FOR RESALE” message is the stand-out message here, indicating that this disc was not sold at retail.

The back of the packaging generates excitement around Jirachi. Here is the boxart’s quote:  “Even more elusive than Mew and Celebi? Jirachi is the secret superstar of the sixth Pokemon movie – Jirachi Wish Maker! This Pokemon wakes up only once each 1,000 years to grant wishes, and Ash must stop a mysterious magician from exploiting it… Now, for the first time, you can find out for yourself how powerful this Steel-and-Psychic-type Pokemon really is.  Add Jirachi to your Pokemon Ruby or Pokemon Sapphire Game Pak, then use Jirachi’s exclusive Doom Desire move and Serene Grace ability to your advantage.”

Back in the days of the original Pokemon Blue and Red, Nintendo held exclusive events in which players could bring their corresponding Pokemon game and link cable to download Mew into their repertoire.  Now, players can transfer this special Pokemon at home without the extra travel and hassle.

Clearly, the main bullet point of this disc is obtaining a playable Jirachi.  To do this, players will need a GC-to-GBA link cable and an open slot in either Pokemon Ruby or Sapphire.  The easy to follow on-screen instructions will then download Jirachi to your Game Pak.

Showing a sign of the times, the Gameboy Advance image during the walk-through is the original horizontal model, not the redesigned GBA SP version.  Users should also know that if no GBA is connected during this transfer process, the Bonus Disc will essentially hit a kill screen; resetting or turning the power off is the only way to return to the main menu screen.

Perhaps the coolest part about this downloadable Jirachi feature is that there is no limit on its use.  Meaning, one disc could be shared among friends just as long as the receiving GBA Game Pak is a different copy of the game – one Jirachi per Game Pak.  Or, you can always trade Jirachi with a buddy the old fashion way using a link cable between two games after a Jirachi has been installed.   Using this Bonus Disc to obtain Jirachi will also patch the potential Berry Glitch – a glitch that results when the internal time keeping battery has run out of juice which can yield unwanted results.

As a side note, Japan also received their version of the Pokemon Colleseum Bonus Disc.  However, instead of Jirachi, the disc contained a Celebi and could only be acquired once all the Shadow Pokemon have been purified.  Only the most dedicated players took advantage of this unique feature.

This disc is actually a rare feat for Nintendo as they are not known for developing, packaging, and releasing bonus or demo discs. Back in the era when Sony was releasing demo discs every month, Nintendo relied solely on special events or pre-ordering gimmicks like this to release special additional content.  Hooking up your GBA to your GC might not be the most efficient gameplay technique but fans dedicated enough were treated to a special character that instantly made other Pokemon gamers jealous.

 

Also Check Out: The Legend of Zelda: Collector’s Disc (GC)

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Download: Pokemon Snap (N64) on Wii Virtual Console

By: Zachary Gasiorowski