20-Year-Old Pokemon Master Heads to Japan as Pokemon Emerald Arrives in Stores; Orlando, Fla. Native Has Loved Collecting and Battling Pokemon Since 1998.

REDMOND, Wash. -- There's a new champion in the Pokemon(R) universe, and he heralds from an unusual realm: Orlando, Fla. Chris Darling, 20, bested more than 36,000 registrants across the United States and Canada in tests of Pokemon knowledge to be crowned Nintendo's Pokemon(R) Emerald Ultimate Frontier Battle Brain. On April 30, Darling sent his Pokemon into battle at the Pokemon Emerald Battle Tower (Seattle's landmark Space Needle) and defeated 12 other finalists to win a trip for two to the new Pokemon The Park 2005 in Nagoya, Japan.

"My heart was beating so hard when I was battling," Darling said. "I expected myself to lose three times." Yet a last-second twist of fate and a move admittedly made in "desperation" helped Darling seal the victory.

Darling has had quite a momentous week. He became a Pokemon champion, took his first-ever plane flight to attend the event and even found time to take his finals at the University of Central Florida, where he is a history major. Darling has been a Pokemon fan since the international phenomenon debuted in the United States in September 1998, with the Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue games. He was surprised to find half of the finalists were 18 or older. "I thought I was going to be the only 20-year-old person here," he said.

Contrary to the stereotype, video games like Pokemon have helped Darling become more outgoing, said his father, David Darling. "Socially it's helped him," David Darling said. "He can walk into one of the game stores and the kids recognize him as an expert. It's helped him mature." For photos and complete details about the competition, log onto emerald.pokemon-games.com.

The Pokemon Battle in Seattle coincided with the May 1 launch of Nintendo's new Pokemon Emerald video game for Game Boy(R) Advance SP. The game, Rated E for Everyone, includes the most challenging Pokemon Battle fields ever, and seven new competitors called Frontier Brains. Players also can link with their Pokemon Ruby, Pokemon Sapphire, Pokemon Colosseum(TM), Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen games as they try to collect a series of symbols. Plus up to four players can link up with a Game Boy(R) Advance Wireless Adapter to battle or trade with their friends.

"Just as our champion, Chris Darling, faced tougher and tougher competitors, so too will the millions of Pokemon fans face greater and greater challenges in this new game," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications.

Nearly 150,000 Pokemon fans pre-registered to buy Pokemon Emerald, demonstrating the continued popularity of the worldwide phenomenon. Pokemon games typically sell more than a million each. Last year's Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen sold more than 2.4 million combined. More than 136 million Pokemon video games have been sold worldwide.

Pokemon USA, Inc., a subsidiary of The Pokemon Company in Japan, manages and oversees the property outside of Asia, which includes licensing activities, brand promotions, publication of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, TV animation, home video entertainment, the official Pokemon.com Web site and pokemoncenter.com, an e-commerce site. Nintendo of America manages marketing and distribution of Pokemon video games and the Pokemon Trading Card Game in North America.

Pokemon was launched in Japan in 1996 for play on Nintendo's Game Boy(R) and has evolved into a global cultural phenomenon. Pokemon was introduced in North America in September 1998 and has since generated more than $15 billion in worldwide retail sales. More than 40 million Pokemon video games have been sold in the United States, including Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire, which were the No. 2 and No. 3 best-selling video games of 2003, according to the NPD Group. The Pokemon Trading Card Game, fueled by organized play programs around the world, has spurred global sales of more than 13 billion cards to date, while the Pokemon animated series on Kids' WB!, now in its seventh season, consistently ranks within the top three shows for boys ages 6 to 11. For more information, visit www.pokemon.com.

The worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home and portable video game systems. Each year, hundreds of all-new titles for the best-selling Game Boy(R) Advance SP, Nintendo DS(TM) and Nintendo GameCube(TM) systems extend Nintendo's vast game library and continue the tradition of delivering a rich, diverse mix of quality video games for players of all ages. Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than 1.9 billion video games and more than 336 million hardware units globally, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario(TM) and Donkey Kong(R) and launching popular culture franchise phenomena such as Metroid(R), Zelda(TM) and Pokemon(R). A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere.

For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site at www.nintendo.com.

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