Memories of Pokétour 1999
Tony Cocking shares his memories of the Pokétour 1999, a special event where Australian fans could receive their very own Mew in Pokémon Red, Blue & Yellow!
Pokémon PokéTour was an event that took place between September 16th and October 9th, 1999 across several locations in Australia, giving fans across the country the opportunity to obtain the mythical Pokémon Mew, and their first look at the Pokémon Trading Card Game. It was divided into two different tours called Red Tour and Blue Tour. The Red Tour visited Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, while the Blue Tour visited Queensland and New South Wales.
Fans who wanted to obtain Mew had to take their Game Boy and a copy of their Pokémon Red, Blue or Yellow cartridges along with them to the event and visit the Download Mew Area, where they could place their cartridge into a specially marked unit which downloaded the 151st Pokémon to their game. Fans who were unable to attend the event could claim a Mew by mailing their cartridge to Nintendo Australia by October 1st, 1999.
Attendees could also obtain a special Tour pack, which contained a copy of a Pokémon Power Comic, Mew and Pikachu temporary tattoos, a Pokémon product sheet, a limited edition Pikachu "PokéTour" trading card, a promotional card specifically designed for the tour, and a Pokémon trading card game playmat. All of these items came inside a special limited edition PokéTour bag.
Tony Cocking was a young Pokémon fan in 1999 who attended the PokéTour and agreed to share his memories with us!
In trying to recollect the events of PokéTour 1999, I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to do some cursory research online to ascertain specific dates and locations. To my amazement, information is in short supply; only a brief mention on Bulbapedia, alongside a scant few Facebook photos of the shirts worn by staff on the day.
With this in mind, I feel an insurmountable amount of pressure to be an accurate historian. I might fudge the details here and there, though three universal truths should remain obvious: 1. This was a Mew distribution event. 2. It took place in 1999. 3. Venusaur is better than Charizard.
Now that we've addressed the basics, let's rattle the memory cage and see what shakes loose.
Based on the evidence provided by the aforementioned staff shirts, PokéTour 1999 was held in Australia from September to October of 1999. How many stops they did in that time is anyone's guess, though Sydney would almost be a certainty, alongside Melbourne (by virtue of the fact that I was there).
The latter event took place at one of the various shopping centres dotting the map; again, the fog of my withered memory has stripped the specific location clean from history, but Brimbank or Watergardens seem like suitable suggestions. As these establishments would only make sense to locals anyway, I won't pontificate too extensively. For all you know, I made those shopping centres up just now, after all.
At the tender age of 11, I was at the height of Pokémania. I gobbled up whatever merchandise I could, and watched the anime with such enthusiasm, I ignored its loose and fast interpretation of the metagame.
But this event was bigger. Different. This was my chance to procure the mythical New Species Pokémon Mew, who was soon to appear on the big screen as part of the franchise's first movie. This was all very exciting, up until the part where all the characters started crying and made me feel awkward. Emotions? Pah! More explosions, please.
Arriving at the location of the event with my dutiful father, the line to receive Mew seemed to stretch on forever. It was clear that this was being treated as a significant occasion, with performers on-hand trying desperately to get kids to join them as they sang the Poké Rap. They had no takers despite their pleas, alongside the costumed staff member dressed as a Pikachu bobbing up and down eagerly.
At one point, I struck up a conversation with a lad standing in front of me in the line, and we discussed our favourite Pokémon. When he said his was Magmar, I thought for sure that I had made a new friend with a mutual fire type affinity, but alas, I just ended up embarrassing myself when I revealed that I liked Vulpix.
It's pretty, okay? That's not a crime, you judgemental child from the late 90s.
All up, we probably waited for an hour before it was time for me to collect my Mew. The closer I got to the front, the more real it felt, with repeated instructions to ensure that we had saved our game in a Pokémon Center before our turn. Of course, this was slowed by the amount of people who had clearly failed to adhere to these simple directions. You could sense it in the exhaustion in the volunteers' faces.
But I was ready. I had obeyed the mandate not once but twice, as I was seeking to land a Mew on my copies of both Blue and Yellow. It's a betrayal of the lore that it is so rare that few have ever seen it, but I'll be damned if I wasn't going to try to scam my way to two of the suckers.
Into the kiosks my cartridges went, for some sort of unspoken magic to occur. I never thought to ask what the actual process was, though I'm sure the answer at that point would have been something akin to, "Shut up, kid, and take your imaginary monsters.”
To commemorate the event, attendees were also gifted with an exclusive Pikachu trading card brandishing the PokéTour 1999 logo. Had I known then what I do now about the increasing value of cards, I wouldn't have dirtied it with my filthy prepubescent hands. A PokéTour 1999 card graded as 10 can go on auction for thousands of dollars, whereas my sweat-ridden version likely has a going rate of $20. Maybe $30 if they're actually fond of sweat.
Afterwards, the staff member returned the games to my custody and I gleefully departed, two mythical beasts richer and my name forever etched into Pokémon history. Although one of those Mew would just end up as an HM slave, don't let that tarnish the sanctity of the moment.
It was perhaps the peak of my fandom, a snapshot in time where this worldwide phenomenon and I were in perfect harmony. Nowadays, I more closely resemble the Cueball enemy character than I do that bright-eyed protagonist, but in my heart, I know I'll forever remain that courageous kid from Pallet Town.
A big thank you to Tony for sharing his memories of PokéTour 1999 with us here at Johto Times. We hope his words will serve as a record to help others understand what it was like for those Australian fans who attended the event.
Special thanks to Mr. Mendelli for the PokéTour logo recreation
Great article! I think it should say "Pokémon PokéTour" at the start; the "Po" was missing. ~~~~