Pokemon's European release dated
Kids and retailers prepare for July 27th bonanza
With over five million games sold in Japan since September 2006 and over two million sold in the US since April, you just know the July 27th is going to be one busy day for game shops as Nintendo finally unleashes Pokemons Diamond and Pearl throughout Europe.
GAME has already kickstarted its pre-order campaign, naming June 2nd as Manaphy Day (Manaphy, as pictured, being one of the new batch of critters).
If you turn up on that date at any GAME shop with a copy of Pokemon Ranger, you'll receive a limited edition chocolate PokeBall, containing a unique code that lets you unlock Manaphy's Egg in Pokemon Ranger. You'll be able to transfer this into Pokemon Diamond/Pearl in order to let the watery blighter out. Less convolutedly, you'll also get a free A3 Pokemon poster.
Of course, the actual reason for all this tomfoolery is to persuade you to pre-order either Pokemon Diamond or Pearl (or maybe both if you're feeling flush). Your reward for doing this will be the guarantee that you'll be able to get a copy of the game on launch day, as well as receiving a special limited edition Pokemon Diamond/Pearl character stylus.
But if you can't be bothered to take your copy of Pokemon Ranger down to GAME, you can just complete the game's Manaphy Egg mission, which will also enable you to transfer the egg to Diamond or Pearl, without the need for any chocolate PokeBalls. (More generally, pokemon from the Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, LeafGreeni and Emerald games will also be transferable to Pokemon Diamond/Pearl.)
For an alternative to that alternative, just chill out and read our review.