This past weekend was NYC Comic Con.  I didn’t have tickets to attend the actual convention (*sob*) but I was able to participate in something awesome anyway!  And that something awesome was the Pokémon Gaming Lounge held at the nearby SIR Stage 37.  This event was completely free, and was showcasing the new upcoming Pokémon game for the 3DS – “Pokémon Rumble Blast.”

The super mega awesome Nintendo World Store was offering a free shuttle from their store to the Javits Center area, so JDubs and I decided to stop by at their store before heading to the Pokémon event.  (We picked up 9 Streetpasses at the store alone, before we even went to the Comic Con area – score!)

Where they had the Star Fox cut-out photo op last week (I posted my picture from that small display in my previous blog entry) there was a cute Pokémon Rumble Blast Display.  Obviously I had to strike a pose.  I accidentally blocked the toy Zekrom cut-out… sorry Zekrom!

We patiently waited for our free shuttle to the Javits Center.  Imagine our excitement when this red van pulled up, complete with a driver wearing a Mario hat!  When we got inside, we noticed that the stereo was playing soundtrack selections from Super Mario games new and old.  It was awesome!

We arrived at the event and had to sign photo release forms.  Maybe I’ll be in some photos that were from the event?  I’ll have to keep an eye out for that.  They gave us free Pokémon swag bags and we headed into the magical world of Pokémon Rumble Blast.  There was a stage set up with a guy who was explaining all of the cool features we’ll find in this new 3D game.  In addition, they had dozens of 3DS consoles set up with demos of the game.  By the way, the game looks AMAZING in 3D and I can’t wait to get my game a day early at the Nintendo World release event this Sunday!  (Don’t worry, I’ll have full coverage of that event for you too.  Hehehe.)

In addition to that, there were tables set up for people [kids] to color in pictures of Snivy, Oshawott and Tepig which were being pinned up and made into a mural of pictures.  (Yes, we participated – everyone who colored in a picture got a free Pokémon Black & White Art Folio!)  They were giving out t-shirts with a toy Pikachu on them, which were so cute!  Not only that, but there were giant Pokémon AR Markers to use with Pokédex 3D.  Check it out!

The lighting was a little iffy so it was kinda hard to get multiple Pokémon in one shot but it was still really fun!  (I took way more Pokémon AR photos than just this – visit my Flickr photostream to see all of my pics.)

Much to my surprise, I found my friends Ana and Matt from the Pokémon DS Meetup Group NYC at the event too!  I was able to get a few needed Pokémon for my Pokédex 3D game, and they gave me some awesome Stunfisk AR marker stickers!  Thanks guys!  Can’t wait to see you next week at the pre-release event!

My favorite section of the Gaming Lounge was definitely the Photo Op area.  You can see in this photo that there was a set up where people can pose with Pokémon.  The photographer was set up behind a fake 3DS cut-out frame, so that the final image looks like the people in the photo are in a 3DS game.  It was so cute!  (This ‘behind the scenes’ photo looks awesome in 3D btw.  But I have yet to find a suitable website that hosts .mp0 files.  Anyone know a good website to host a 3D photo album?)

Isn’t it such a cute photo?  We are in the game with Pikachu, Tepig, Oshawott, Snivy, Zekrom and Reshiram!  Booya!  Jealous much?  lol 😛

Oh, and of course, what kind of Pokémon event would this have been without someone dressed up in a big Pikachu costume?  So I took a picture of him too.

We got SO MUCH SWAG at this event.  It was freakin sweet.  I can’t wait for the Pokémon event this weekend; there is going to be a scavenger hunt and even MORE swag for everyone.  I had intended to show off all the swag we got in this post, but I didn’t get a chance to take pics of everything I got yet.  So later this week I’ll try to write up a post detailing all the awesome swag we got.  It’s better off to save the swag overview for another entry – there was so much stuff that I want to do it right.  OMG bet you can’t wait!  lol

Stay tuned!  XD