Takara released the Advanced PET II on June 2004 and it was a complete improvement over the original Advanced PET; introducing elements such as Cross Fusion and Double Soul, and a faster time shaking to find those darn battles. But most important of all, being to role play as Lan from Mega Man NT Warrior Axess‘s later episodes.
Much like the other Advanced P.E.T.s, the English version of the Advanced PET II was expected to come out under the hands of Mattel. A listing on Mattel‘s site had shown up calling it the DoubleSoul Personal Terminal and even set it for a 2005 release, but it never hit store shelves. Fans assumed it to be a totally cancelled product… Until 12 years later, a user named ubergeek77 stumbled upon it completely by accident! Was it stolen from a Mattel warehouse? Did it come out in a far off country without a peep? We don’t know and neither does he, but it’s good knowing this little collector’s item existed at all!
Ubergeek has posted this video giving a side-by-side comparison with the Japanese version. More close-up photos can be viewed after the skip.
We reached out to Mattel regarding this toy, but they declined to comment.
Special thanks to ubergeek77 for sharing us the photos, and MegaMasterX for additional information.
*Some photos’ colors have been modified for screen visibility. Note the Navi symbol is one from the original Advanced PET and was like that when ubergeek received it.
The Advanced P.E.T. II debuted in Mega Man NT Warrior Axess as a replacement for Lan’s original Advanced P.E.T.. It also appeared as the main PET for the Japanese-only Rockman EXE 4.5 Real Operation. At the time of this post, the Japanese version is one of the most sought Personal Terminal model in the after-market.