intendo announced today that the first Pokemon episodes will debut on Game Boy Advance Video on June 21 - and no additional hardware will be necessary.  Game Boy Advance Video initially allows up to 45 minutes of animation and fills the screen of the Game Boy Advance SP or Game Boy Advance with full-color video and audio.

At $19.99 per Video pak, the first episodes to be released will be "Playing with Fire!" and "Johto Photo Finish" on one pak and "A Hot Water Bottle" and "For Ho-Oh The Bells Toll!" on another.  In its sixth season, the Pokemon animated television series remains one of the top-three-rated shows for boys ages 6 to 11.

"Even by the remarkable standards of product evolution that have characterized the Game Boy franchise, this is a landmark event," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Pokemon is part of the first step in revolutionizing the nature of portable video entertainment, with eventual reach targeting all demographics."

Pokemon, published by Nintendo, joins previously announced animation titles published by Majesco based on Nickelodeon, 4Kids Entertainment and Cartoon Network original programs. The first offerings will include top-rated shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly Oddparents, Dora the Explorer and Codename: Kids Next Door, as well as franchise favorites like All Grown Up!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Strawberry Shortcake and Sonic X. Typically, two to four full episodes of an animated series will be included on each Video pak.