Nintendo is vigorously promoting their eminently pocketable wonder on the city streets of Japan...

Over the weekend Nintendo of Japan hosted a number of more intimate mini-events bent on giving ordinary folks more feel-good hands-on time with the company's new GBA Micro. The events, staged in front of the street entrances to large department stores, broadcast their presence to casual passerby via speakers blaring classic 8-bit tunes. Nintendo reps, dressed in red and white outfits that evoked shades of the original Famicom system, allowed pedestrians to sample shiny new GBA Micro units that were strapped to their persons. Besides games, Micros also were seen playing video clips by way of Nintendo's recently updated multimedia adapter, the Play-Yan Micro.

Curious city-goers did not leave the event empty handed either: commemorative notepads fashioned after the approximate dimensions (down to the weight) of the Micro were handed out, emblazoned with the unit's upcoming Japanese release date. Whereas GBA fans and converts in Japan (and the US for that matter) will need wait little more than a week, European fans still have till November to decide which Micro face-plates they will want to rock out with. It will be interesting to see what promotions NOE are planning for the portable's eventual rollout in this territory.