On Sunday, the summer Pokemon Battle Tour 98 kicked off at Pacifco Yokohama, a convention hall in Kanagawa, Japan.

　　The event is actually a nationwide official contest tour for two Pokemon battles - one is for the video game, and the other is for the card game. This is the second time such an event has taken place. Only 10,000 people are allowed in per day, and those who wish to attend need to register in advance.

　　For the video game Pokemon, the battle is being held on Pokemon Stadium for the N64 (unlike the last tournament).

　　A total of 256 contestants for the video game and 120 contestants for the card game fought in a ladder tournament from 9:00am to 4:00pm. At the end of the day, two winners for both battle tournaments had been decided.

　　The winner for the Pokemon video game battle was seven-year-old Tomoyuki Hori, who wore a costume just like Ash (Pokemon's main character). According to him, the costume was created from scratch by his mom.

　　This event was a qualifying game for the next event, to be held in the Kanto area. The Pokemon Battle Tour will be held seven times at five different locations during this summer. All the qualified contestants will be gathered later to fight to decide who's the best of the best. The date and location for the final battle will be announced later.

　　Aside from the tournament, there were several attractions for non-contestant attendees. At the main stage, there was a trailer for the upcoming Pokemon movie as well as Pokemon dance lessons for the Pokemon Bon Festival Dance. But the most amazing attraction was a demo-playing area for Pokemon Stadium. Over 150 N64s were hooked up to TV sets so anxious gamers could get some hands-on playtime with Nintendo's upcoming N64 cart, Pokemon Stadium. An endless line of eager kids and parents was there, and all of them had their own Game Boy Pokemon carts so they could check out their favorite monsters on the N64 in 3D. Could this be an early sign of the future of the N64 in Japan? We'll find out soon. Pokemon Stadium is due for release on August 1, at a price of 6800 yen.