Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Versions

The Short


Pros
- New, improved graphics on the Game Boy Advance
- Adds 135 new pokemon to catch and train
- Introduces pokemon Abilities and Natures, which dramatically changed the game for vets.
- Also added a host of small things, like double battle, tweaks to the IV/EV system, and contests
- Each version now has a different story: In Sapphire Team Aqua wants to flood the world, in Ruby Team Magma wants to cover it with lava
- Same addictive formula
- Has METAGROSS, which is my favorite pokemon

Cons
- When compared to Gold/Silver, this game doesn't add all that much
- Removes the day/night cycle. Why?
- Adventure doesn't seem particularly compelling in this iteration
- Improved graphics are nice but not substantial
- Loses the animations that were in Crystal
- E-Reader compatibility. Woo.
- Pokemon "ribbons" and "events" start what is easily my least favorite part of the Pokemon series
- Music is just ok, instead of the series' usual memorable tunes
- Pokemon in this generation really started to look stupid, like Game Freak was running out of ideas
- Grinding seems especially bad in this generation
- Can't go back to an old region for more post-game gameplay like you can in Gold/Silver/Crystal

Here we go again.

Note: I will not be going over the basic mechanics of the Pokemon games in this review, as I have covered these mechanics extensively in my Pokemon Blue/Red review. Instead, all subsequent reviews will instead focus on the changes made to the formula in any particular iteration. 

The Long

I'll make no attempt at hiding this: Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire was the game that caused me to get off the Pokemon train for a few years. After playing Pokemon Crystal and Pokemon Blue rather religiously, I was super pumped for a new Pokemon game on the super-modern handheld, the Game Boy Advance. Touting better graphics, music, and gameplay, it looked like it might be the best Pokemon game yet. But minimal improvements, the exact same gameplay, and design ideas that seem a step back rather than forward, and I put Pokemon Sapphire away and didn't pick it back up until nearly a decade later. This could also be since 2003 was when I was a junior in High School (I'm age-dating myself here...) and it was no longer "cool" to play Pokemon anymore (vs now, where I'm an adult and just do whatever the crap I want). We may never know, but Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire left enough of a sour taste in my mouth that it took a great deal for me to pick it back up in 2009. 

It does have Mudkip, though. Mudkip is awesome. 

Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire has a slightly different "plot" than the two Pokemon games before it. Rather than being a kid forged by destiny to be a pokemon master, instead you are some kid who moves into a new town, where your dad is a gym leader...in a different town. Huh. So why didn't you move to that town? Are your parents secretly separated? Well, whatever.

Anyway, your "rival" in this game is the other gender character choice (if you picked boy, it's the girl, and vice versa) and he/she is more of a friendly competitor than a douchebag (like in Red/Blue) or outright criminal (like in Gold/Silver). After that, you get to pick your starting pokemon from the usual selection of fire/water/grass, and off you go. 

This generation has tons of pokemon who stand around with their arms in the air

The only one out of this crew worth picking is Mudkip, because he becomes a Water/Ground and has massively fat stats. Torchic is funny because it's a fire bird that turns into a kung-fu fire chicken, but he's somewhat subpar, and Treecho always has his hands in the air like he's Gandalf going "You shall not pass!" to every enemy. Plus he's grass, and nobody picks a grass starter (well, except in Black/White, but that's for another review). 

Can I just say right here that I think 90% of the pokemon of this generation look really stupid? I know most aren't just horridly designed (like the infamous Ice Cream Cone or Goth Girl pokemon from Black/White), but there are really very few this generation that are visually appealing to me. When you no longer think the pocket monsters you catch look cool but instead look really stupid, you've sort of lost a good chunk of why you play Pokemon.

Why is your guy's hair white? I thought he was a kid?

There are a few changes made to this version that continue to increase the complexity of the series. First off you have Pokemon Abilities. These are passive traits that each pokemon has. Some are useless, some are extremely useful (like "grounded," which makes flying pokemon negate their electricity weakness). Each wild pokemon had one of usually two-three options, meaning if you really want to catch them all, you'll have to also get the ones with the unique abilities. These passive abilities really switch up the game, because some of them are pretty wild (like summoning a sandstorm that buffets both foes and allies the duration of the battle, even if the pokemon is swapped out), so picking both the right pokemon and getting the one with the ability you want is important.

Abilities also play a key role in breeding, but I won't get into that. Suffice to say baby pokemon can inherit abilities, which opens a whole new can of worms for those that like getting really deep into the pokemon breeding system.

Double battles are a fun diversion, but there's only a few and they don't radically change anything

The second big stat is Natures. Natures change stats (aside from HPs) by both 10% in the positive for one and 10% in the negative for another. Meaning that, again, the same pokemon you catch in the wild can have radically different stats than another. Following a pokemon's nature, and getting one with the right nature can be a pain (I never cared too much, even though I probably should have), but if you are just playing through the game and don't plan on fighting any actual people you'll be fine not worrying too much about it. Still, a nice new layer of depth.

Third we have double battles, which are like regular battles except...two at a time. These are slightly more tactical but not by much; some abilities now hit multiple enemies and others hit just one, but overall these are never more challenging than a regular trainer (except the secret double-boss battles after you beat the Elite Four). 

Lastly, changes have been made to EVs and IVs, the secret exp stats that you gain over the course of the game on each pokemon that unlocks bonus stats at lv 100. This is really just for the hardcore, so I'm not going to go into it, just know it's been better balanced. If you can balance something as crazy as that.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

These are all decent changes, but hardly as radical as anything in Gold/Silver, which introduced breeding, two new elemental types, held items, and more. But hey, it's still Pokemon, right? Even if the new monsters are dumb and it doesn't add that much, there's something sweet new in here, right?

Well...no. Not really. The game is the same as the past ones, to a fault. While this worked in Gold/Silver because technically it was just the second game, by the third you'll expect something switched up. While Gold/Silver was a solid sequel, this one feels like a meandering one. It just sort of wanders in, offers a few changes, and then stumbles around drunkenly before its friends have to order it a taxi home. 

The worst part is it actually changes things for the worse. The most noticeable difference is the fact that the night/day cycle from Gold/Silver has been removed. What? Why? That added so much, from both an immersion and gameplay perspective, and axing it seems like a huge step back. 

Those bugs just look so...stupid. 

The other new "feature" from Ruby/Sapphire is one I hesitate to talk about, because I believe it was the beginning of the end for a lot of pokemon players. The "Pokemon Contests," which basically consist of just parading your pokemon with other pokemon in a selection of awful minigames (many of which you don't even play) make up a good part of the side-stuff in this game. Each pokemon now has five more stats (Beauty, Cool, Cute, Smart, and Tough) which are all completely useless except in these pokemon beauty contests. Later versions expanded on this stupid mechanic (why?) and it's...it's just stupid. Yeah, I get that this is a kids game, and I get that this is technically supposed to be "immersing" me in the world of pokemon, but parading my killer death machine in some beauty pageant just seems...dumb. Urk.

Oh boy. 

From a presentation standpoint, Ruby/Sapphire is just...ok. Yeah, the graphics look lots better because they are on the GBA, but battle backgrounds, rather than being solid white, are now solid green with some circles where your pokemon are. Nice. The animations from Crystal are gone for some inexplicable reason, meaning the pokemon are just as static and immobile as before. It looks as good as pushing cardboard cutouts around. The art style in this version is also weird (you'll notice if you put it up against any other pokemon game, before or after, it seems inconsistent), and the actual world you tromp around in looks dull. There is a cool town that lives in treehouses, though. So that's cool I guess. I just wish they'd put a little more time in their graphical presentation.

Music is...ok. The songs in Pokemon have always been a staple of the game, and switching over to the improved GBA soundboard meant it should sound better (like an SNES game vs an NES one). But to be honest, I can't think of one song from Ruby/Sapphire that I'd want to listen to again, while from every other generation (even Pearl/Diamond, which I also wasn't that fond of) there is at least one song I'll listen to on youtube from now and again. It just seems like a mediocre effort all around.

The final boss song is still cool though. I guess.

As it stands, I think Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire was a few steps forward, a few back, and it ended up close to around where it left off in Gold/Silver. It added a few decent improvements, changed up a few things that would help shape how Pokemon is played today, and added a bunch more pocket monsters to nab, but there was no denying the formula was going stale. You still caught the same crappy pokemon at the beginning, still got to the place with the bug pokemon after that, the first two pokemon were a rodent of some kind and a bird of some kind, etc. Game Freak and Nintendo were so comfortable in their formula they were terrified to change it, something that (unfortunately) continued into the next generation of Pokemon as well.

As it stands, there's a better Pokemon game on the GBA worth looking into if you really need one (more on that later), but for now I'd honestly suggest picking up Crystal before Ruby/Sapphire. It just doesn't bring enough new to the table, and the stupid-looking new pokemon don't help.

Also: I will not be reviewing Pokemon Emerald. Needless to say it's like Crystal only with less: there are a few more bonus missions at the end, you can catch both legendaries instead of just one, and it mixes up a few of the final bosses. That's it. I guess it's the "definitive" edition, but it wouldn't get any different of a score.

For its extreme lack of innovation, I give Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald a three out of five. 

But hey, at least you have a boatload of pokemon to choose from. 

Pokemon Pinball

The Short

Pros

- Unique combination of Pokemon catching and a pinball game

- Can actually catch all original 150 pokemon in this game

- Lots of unique side tables and games

- Had a built in rumble pack!

- Music is pretty good

- Graphics look vibrant and really colorful on the GBC

Cons

- Only two actual tables, Red and Blue

- Lack of analog controls for the flippers makes precise shots hard

- Tables are simple but the game can be quite difficult, as the controls make aiming rough

It's Pinball, BUT WITH POKEMON!

The Long

Pokemon Pinball might come off as simply a cash-in on the pokemon phenomenon, and you might be right. Coming out between Red/Blue and Yellow, Pokemon Pinball is exactly what it sounds like: it's pinball, but with pokemon. If this sounds stupid to you, than you might be surprised to learn that Pokemon Pinball is actually...a pretty good game? Well, it has a lot of good ideas, but it certainly isn't without its flaws. 

Here's the top half of the Red table. 

Pokemon Pinball's goals are simple: catch all 150 original pokemon using pinball. Which makes perfect sense because the ball is a pokeball. I mean, come on...this game is practically Pokemon canon now!

To catch these little buggers you simply have to play pinball. Both stages have the usual "three lights to turn on" in the upper half of the screen (for some reason the screenshot above doesn't have it, but that area right above the Voltorbs/bumpers normally has three buttons to press). Once you have all three a pokemon appears, and it's your goal to bash it with the pinball - er, pokeball until you "catch" it. Then you are given a boatload of points, a chance at a bonus, and you do it over again.

Catch that Spearow!

You have two tables to blast your way through, and neither of which are particularly complex aside from the Pokemon aesthetic. Red table (the one above) is the most "pinball like," with bumpers and the usual layout. Blue is totally bananas, with the bottom half being normal but something weird going on in the upper half.

What the crap is going on up there?

It's actually a decent game, with the catching element (while a bit silly) actually working with the whole pinball thing. It gives you distinct, simple goals that can be relatively difficult to obtain, and it saves all the pokemon you've captured so you can progress over days or weeks towards the goal of "catching them all." Not bad for a Game Boy Color game!

A big problem, though, is the flippers. In most pinball games you have at least a slight amount of analog control, meaning you can control how hard you hit the ball. The Game Boy Color doesn't have that feature with the buttons, so you basically just hit it and it goes flying. Sometimes the physics can be a little weird, leaving me scratching my head as to why an exact same shot went in a completely different direction, but it isn't bad enough to ruin the experience.

The game also has "boss battle" minigames, which are a nice break from the two tables

Another issue is the tables have a distinct lack of...stuff on them. The best pinball tables combine a mix of bumpers, loops, and buttons/lights to keep you interested, usually having four or five things going on at once that you can work on. These tables really only have one goal to shoot for (light up the three on top, catch the pokemon) with a minimal amount of bumpers or buttons to hit in the meantime. It isn't bad, and considering how small the GBC screen is (and it's low pixel density) I'm guessing they did well enough with their limited screen real estate, but it still makes the game feel a bit shallow as a pinball game. 

Pokemon Pinball also has a built in rumble feature, that is awesome because it requires it's own battery. Yeah, you have to plug an AAA battery into the cart itself, and then it'll rumble while you play it. It makes the cartridge freaking huge but is actually pretty cool, with the vibration going off whenever you hit the flipper or bounce against bumpers or basically do anything remotely cool.

Look at that thing. It's huge!

The bonus stages are pretty fun, if just "keep hitting the guy and don't let the ball fall down." They mix it up by dropping coins or what not, but as it stands most of them are exactly the same: hit the pokemon, win. There are fine bonus tables (including one centered around Mewtwo), which is good considering this game only has two full tables.

Graphically, the game looks great. The shift between screens is actually not as jarring as you'd think, since the game moves a little slower than a normal pinball table to make up for it. Everything is well colored and looks crisp (these screenshots aren't the best at showing that; sorry). The game plays sort of happy, light versions of classic Pokemon songs, and I was surprised by exactly how much music was in the game, and how it was playing almost all the time. I'm sure it would drive somebody insane after a while, but I thought it was cheerful and worked great with the look and feel the game was trying to express. 

There just isn't much to do on the tables. 

Pokemon Pinball is not a bad game. In fact, it's a pretty decent one. Despite it's simplicity it can be quite addicting (much like the main Pokemon games), with the flow of the game moving very well and it never feeling either too difficult or too easy. It's a big underwhelming and the lack of tables (and features on those tables) is a bummer, but considering it was probably made to just tide people over until Pokemon Yellow, it's a good diversion. 

Plus, that rumble. So awesome.

You can get copies for pretty cheap, so if you have a GBC or GBA and love Pokemon, you should check it out! It apparently was good enough to merit a sequel (which I haven't played), so get on that!

Three out of five stars. 

PINBALL.

Pokemon Crystal

The Short


Pros
- Improved version of Pokemon Gold/Silver
- Can finally play as a girl for the first time in a Pokemon game
- Can catch both legendaries from Gold/Silver
- Pokemon now animate when entering battle, which is a nice touch
- Several small aesthetic changes and the phone calls people give you are less stupid
- Has the best batch of available pokemon between the three games of this generation

Cons
- Essentially the exact same game as Gold/Silver

Yep, we're doing this again. 

Note: I will not be going over the basic mechanics of the Pokemon games in this review, as I have covered these mechanics extensively in my Pokemon Blue/Red review. Instead, all subsequent reviews will instead focus on the changes made to the formula in any particular iteration. 

The Long

Pokemon Crystal has a lot of fond memories for me. It actually was my brother's game that I essentially stole (since you can only have one save) since he had Silver anyway and I needed a pokemon game to play. I started playing it when my family went on a trip to London a considerable number of years ago, and I remember setting the internal clock (which changes the in-game night/day cycle) to London time because...I was in London. 

I then came home a week later and couldn't figure out how to change it, so my Pokemon Crystal game was always on London time. I'll just say the main character is a perpetual night owl and call it good, I guess. I certainly killed a lot of Hoothoots. 

Anyway, ever since the start there's been a sort of tradition with the Pokemon games, established by Pokemon Yellow. They'll release a pair of games (Red/Blue, Gold/Silver, Ruby/Sapphire, etc.), and then a year later they'll release the "definitive" version of these games (Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, etc.). These usually offer a few extras (like being able to get both of the legendary or starter pokemon as well as a few bonuses) and perform very minor balance and story changes to keep the games consistent.

This is the only "improved" game that I'll be reviewing (aside from Pokemon Yellow) seeing as most versions aside from Pokemon Yellow don't really offer much new that is worth noting. But I am reviewing Pokemon Crystal simply because of the time I spent with it and how significant it was in my personal history of Pokemon.

You can finally play as a girl!

The improvements between Gold/Silver and Crystal are minimum, but still make Crystal the better version. The biggest change is you can finally play as a girl for the first time in the series (a trend that continued ever since). This doesn't change anything but aesthetics, but it's a nice touch, and the girl doesn't look like a complete fashion failure like she does in all future Pokemon installments.

Not much different, but still cool. 

Another noticeable change is aesthetic: when pokemon enter a battle they have a little animation now rather than just standing there. Again, this was a nice touch, which they promptly axed for almost all future generations (why?). Yeah, they weren't great animations, but they were better than the guys just standing there, which apparently is what Nintendo liked better. 

There were a few balance changes (you can get fire pokemon earlier, which makes the game easier), but what really blew my mind was the fact you could get both legendary pokemon from Gold/Silver (Ho-Oh and Lugia) as well as all three of the legendary dogs in the same game. Much like Pokemon Yellow let you get every starter pokemon, Crystal breaks the rules and gives you all the best. You still can't get all the starters (and haven't been able to since Yellow), but hey...I'll take Ho-Oh over Cyndaquil any day. 

But in truth, this game isn't much different from Gold/Silver

Aside from that, not much is different. The story is changed a little, but since nobody ever cared about a story in a Pokemon game that probably doesn't matter. The phone calls people make to you are a little less stupid, but still have about a 50/50 split between useful/useless. They adjusted a few bosses and maps to make things better paced, but again...it's all simply very minor changes. The fact of the matter is, aside from cosmetic differences, Crystal is essentially a slightly better Gold/Silver, and that's only if you are interested in "catching them all."

Music is still great, though. 

This review might be redundant, but I really liked Pokemon Crystal, and was kind of bummed when they rereleased Gold and Silver as HeartGold and SoulSilver that they totally neglected to rerelease Crystal. I suppose even Nintendo knew it was redundant by that point, and they could only milk so much out of this franchise, but man...I really like Crystal. 

Anyway, it gets the same five out of five stars, yada yada yada. If you are looking to pick these games up and not as the DS re-releases, you should totally go for Pokemon Crystal. It's the best out of the three, and plus the cart is a cool light blue crystally color. 

Speaking of Super Nerds...yeah, I am one. Sigh. 

Pokemon Gold/Silver

Pokemon Gold/Silver Versions

The Short


Pros
- Adds 100 new pokemon to the mix, and an entire new region to explore
- Adds a day/night cycle that advances in real time, and changes which pokemon are available
- You can now breed pokemon. The implications of this are nuts.
- Can re-visit the entire region from the first game, three years later, and battle all the same gym leaders
- Ability to map items (such as the bicycle) to a button greatly speed up the game
- Two new elements, Dark and Steel, further mix up this elemental-based battler
- Finally adds an XP bar to the battle screen. HALLELUJAH.
- Pokemon now have individual "happiness," which can change how they evolve, react, etc.
- Split Special into Special Attack and Special Defense, which changes a lot of things up
- Improved graphics and the best soundtrack in the series
- Probably had the most significant changes out of any Pokemon generation

Cons
- Still has several of the same core gameplay niggles as the previous games
- Pokemon no longer follow you around like in Yellow
- Batteries on these karts usually only last 7 years, meaning if you get one now your odds of being able to save aren't great
- I can't think of anything else. This really might be a perfect game.

Back to Pokeland. And yes, Silver is the better version, you Gold tards. 

Note: I will not be going over the basic mechanics of the Pokemon games in this review, as I have covered these mechanics extensively in my Pokemon Blue/Red review. Instead, all subsequent reviews will instead focus on the changes made to the formula in any particular iteration. 

The Long

Pokemon Gold/Silver is my favorite Pokemon generation. It's the generation where I really started to get into the games, the obsession of "catching them all" hitting full force. I sunk hours and hours into this game on my quest to become a Pokemon Master, and I can honestly say I'd do it again (if I still had a cartridge). Pokemon Silver is nostalgia city for me, so bear with me as I try to not gush too much about how much I freaking love this game. 

Pokemon Gold/Silver is technically the second "generation" of Pokemon games (Pokemon Yellow doesn't count because it was a spinoff of Blue/Red), and Nintendo knew they needed to up the ante. Pokemon was a massive phenomenon by this point, so something had to be done to keep fans intrigued while still keeping things relatively familiar. So what they did was essentially genius: added a ton of new stuff, all of which could both be either really simple or extremely complex based on how seriously you took it. It grabbed that idea from Pokemon Red/Blue that these games could be played by both kids and more serious gamers and blew it out of control. Seriously, pokemon breeding was just...well, I'll tell you.

Totodile. The greatest starter ever.

First off they revamped the entire adventure. Unlike Yellow, which was the same as Red/Blue but with Pikachu, Gold/Silver was a new quest set in a different land of Johto rather than the Kanto from the first games. It starts out relatively similar, with you being tasked to go off on an adventure to "Catch 'Em All!" for a Pokemon Professor, and he lets you pick from a set of three Pokemon of the fire, water, and grass variety (Cyndaquil, Totodile, or Chikorita). You again have a rival, though this time he's more like a punk red-headed thief rather than the professor's grandson. 

As a red-head, I'm offended. 

The adventure plays out pretty much exactly the same. You still have eight Gym leaders to beat up before taking on the Elite Four and finally the Champion, finally proving yourself as the Pokemon king. The crazy part is that after you beat the Champion (which is no easy thing; Drake's a powerhouse) the game actually lets you go back to Kanto from the first game and replay all their Gym leaders, a few of which have been replaced and all their pokemon buffed. You can then re-fight the Elite Four and Champion, who have also upgraded their pokemon, and even go battle Red, your main character from the Red/Blue games. Protip: He's a badass. 

Kid's game? The battle with Red is nuts. 

So you are essentially getting two games for the price of one here, which is awesome. But enough about that; that are the real changes? What is different between this and Red/Blue/Yellow that makes it worth your time?

Well, the first big thing is the Day/Night cycle. Now when you load up the game it asks for the current time, and the game will adjust accordingly. As you travel, as it becomes night in the real world, it'll become night in the game. The crazy part is that some Pokemon only come out at night, and many pokemon have different encounter rates based on whether you are hunting them in morning, evening, afternoon, night, etc. It also knows what day of the week it is, with certain events happening only on certain days. As you battle across the land you'll also add people to your phone book (another new feature), and sometimes trainers you've defeated will call you on certain days for a rematch.

Like having Pikachu following you around in Yellow, this adds a ton of immersion points for me. Yeah, nothing anybody says when they call is particularly interesting (though I thought my mom calling me was funny) and usually it's either straight business or total uselessness (I don't care that you just failed at catching a Caterpie! I have like ten of those already!) but it's still a good touch. The Day/Night thing is also totally awesome, because then I had to plan when I was playing the game. If I wanted a Hoothoot (an Owl pokemon, obviously) I'd have to stay up later and run though the forest at night to grab one. It was a really cool feature and helped make the game feel more "real."

I'm coming for ya, you stupid Hoothoot!

To compliment this new spin on pokemon hunting, they added 100 new pokemon, and two new elemental types: Dark and Steel. Dark and Steel were made for two balancing purposes: to make Psychic less totally invincible, and make Fighting actually useful. They also readjusted elemental weaknesses and strengths from the original fourteen, and it's been the same in every game ever since. The new pokemon were just as well designed as the first 150, if not more so. The 100 in this game are probably my favorites in the series in terms of design and just general awesomeness. As a bonus you could still catch all of the 150 from the first games, assuming you had both versions (Gold and Silver).

Adding these new elements bumped up the complexity even more. This is a lot to memorize!

Strategy in battles was also mixed up. Pokemon could now hold items, such as berries, that they would auto-use in times of danger without costing them a turn. They were all essentially single use if they were consumables, while items like the Exp Share, which helps with leveling up lower-level pokemon, weren't. You could give them items that powered up specific moves, but then you'd have to decide if that was better than having a healing item equipped. It added a ton of strategy, though it also mostly just made me pissed off when I thought I was about to win and my stupid opponent heals half his health back with a berry.

But all these pale in comparison to what is probably the deepest addition to the game, and the one that makes some people go totally nuts about Pokemon: the new breeding system.

Don't fall asleep, I'll be quick. 

I'm going to be brief. On the surface level this meant you could produce more pokemon, simple enough. The perk was that you could essentially get more of the rare ones (such as your starters) by breeding them and then hatching the produced egg (and since Dittos can breed with anything they suddenly became one of the most prized pokemon in the game). Legendaries couldn't breed, but since every pokemon had a gender if you got one of each (or one and a Ditto) you could finally replicate those rare pokemon.

And that isn't even the half of it. 

Pokemon inherit moves and stats based on who their parents are. If you just breed with a Ditto you don't get anything interesting, but many pokemon will breed with different pokemon than themselves, meaning you can mix element types. In a game that so heavily focuses on elemental moves, having an electric type that knows a water move can be game-changing. This is all stupidly complicated and I never got too deep into it, but just know that it's there, and it's nuts. 

Penny Arcade knows. 

Lots of little changes also make the game better. You finally have an XP bar that fills on the right for each pokemon after each battle, so you can follow as they level (yay!). You can map items to a button (like the bicycle) for instant use rather than having to dig through a menu to get to them. Menus are very similar to Red/Blue but seem to be streamlined in ways I can't put my finger on. It's all running in the same engine but looks cleaner overall, which is appreciated. 

Battle backdrops are still just white, but the Pokemon themselves look real good

Pokemon Gold/Silver was the first Pokemon game designed for a color system, and boy...they did a really good job. The first thing you get when you boot the game up is a full-color intro sequence that was totally awesome. In-game the graphics are excellent for a Game Boy Color game, with areas being vibrant and using the limited color pallet of the GBC to a full extent. The stars of the show are certainly the Pokemon, which all look unique and well colored, though the lack of any background in battles is a bit of a downer (though I have no idea how they would have pulled it off). They do well with using the limited real estate space of the GBC screen to pack everything on while still looking good, so there you go.

The music of Gold/Silver is my favorite in the entire series. Yeah, some songs in later versions might be up there, but nearly every song in this game is great. Like the graphics, they do well with using very little to do a whole lot. The battle songs are especially great, but the songs for the towns and routes also shine.

Plus, the final boss song is nuts. 

There's probably more that could be said about the changes in Pokemon Gold/Silver, but I think I've said enough already. The point is: if you like deep, turn-based JRPG battles and you haven't jumped on the Pokemon train, you are missing out in some of the best the business has to offer. Easy to pick up, almost impossible to master, Pokemon Gold/Silver was really where the series took off. I can't think of a better place to start (though the re-releases - SoulSilver and HeartGold on the DS - are very faithful representations with all the improvements that have been made since), and as it stands this is easily the best Game Boy Color game ever released.

If you have a GBA or GBC you are missing out if you don't have one of these games in your collection. Five out of five stars. 

Pokemon Yellow

The Short


Pros 
- Keeps the same, addicting gameplay found in its siblings, Pokemon Blue/Red
- Graphical improvements over its predecessor
- Follows the anime series by giving you a Pikachu to start, unlike any other game in the series
- Is the only game in the series where it is capable of getting all three starters of the generation without trades (Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur)
- Pikachu follows you around and can be talked to, and his mood influences certain aspects of the game
- Improved compatibility with the Game Boy Color
- Starting with an electric Pokemon makes the first portion of the game much harder, which I am totally fine with
- Some very small gameplay tweaks refine certain aspects from Blue/Red

Cons
- At its core, this is still Pokemon Blue/Red, with all the same problems as the first games
- Still no damned XP bar
- You can't catch any Pikachus or evolve the one you have into a Raichu
- Has a Pikachu's Beach minigame which is...just there
- Doesn't add any new pokemon at all
- Might be seen as just a money-maker, cashing in on the popularity of the anime at the time

The face that booted a franchise

Note: I will not be going over the basic mechanics of the Pokemon games in this review, as I have covered these mechanics extensively in my Pokemon Blue/Red review. Instead, all subsequent reviews will instead focus on the changes made to the formula in any particular iteration. 

The Long


It's 1999. Year of The Matrix. Year approaching Y2K. And absolutely the year of the Pokemon. Pokemon Red/Blue are selling like crazy, a start of a blockbuster franchise that can only be compared these days with something like the boom of the Angry Birds games. Nintendo still has a year before the next generation of Pokemon, Gold/Silver, will come out, and it needs to keep its fans happy. The Pokemon anime has taken off big in both the US and Japan, and so Nintendo hatches a plan.

Pokemon: Yellow Version (also known as Pokemon: Special Pikachu Version) is that plan. Taking Pokemon Red/Blue and retooling it so that it better fits with the plot of the anime, Nintendo pushes Pikachu to the forefront of the franchise as its now-easily recognizable mascot, and dedicates an entire game to him. So is this game - which is basically just Red/Blue reskinned - just a cheap cash-in on the anime?

No. In fact, I'd go so far to say it was superior to Red/Blue by a longshot.

Pikachu, catching some sick waves. 

The main difference between Yellow and Red/Blue happens at the very beginning. In Red/Blue, you get to choose which Pokemon you start with, a tradition that carries on into every other Pokemon game to date. You get a fire, water, or grass type pokemon, and your rival (whom you battle throughout the game) will pick whatever your weakness is. In Pokemon Yellow, however, you always start with a Pikachu, and your Rival always starts with an Eevee. It's worth noting that Eevee's are a unique pokemon in that they start with the Normal (aka neutral) type and can evolve into many different types depending on how you go about it (an electric, water, or fire type in Generation I). So your rival pretty much got a way better deal than you, getting a bum Pikachu.

Choices are for tools, anyway. 

This actually makes the game a bit harder, if only because the first gym is a Rock type, which is completely immune to electricity. Sure, electric pokemon and fire pokemon can be hard to find in the wild, but that doesn't mean you have to start with them. The bump in difficulty is actually greatly appreciated; I always thought the Pokemon games were too easy because they start you off with such accessible types. Start me off with something weird, like Psychic or Bug or Ghost or something. But they never do, except this game. So that's unique. 

Suck it, stupid Eevee. 

What is really cool about this version, though, is the fact that (like the anime), your Pikachu won't stay in a pokeball. Instead it'll follow you around so long as its in your available roster, journeying with you to the ends of the earth if necessary. You can also talk to your Pikachu at any time and gauge his happiness, which can be used a specific locations to earn rewards or for specific plot...things.

I'd like to say how I think this is a really good idea for a second. The whole idea about Pokemon is you setting out on a journey of discovery and personal growth in an attempt to be the very best, like no one every was. Having a companion with you (who also fights for you) who has feelings and tags along is really neat. It helps sell the adventure more, because these monsters are no longer just guys that pop up in menus or in battle, they are actually there with you. I felt much more immersed in this game than I did with Red/Blue because it felt more real (if battling tons of Japanese monsters is "real"). It was an aesthetic changes that I totally agreed with.

They brought it back on HeartGold/SoulSilver (the DS remakes of Gold/Silver) and I really liked it there, too. Then they took it out for Black/White because Nintendo hates me.

Sad Pikachu is sad

There are a few other changes to keep the game more in line with the anime, and almost all of them are for the better. Specific gym leaders (Brock and Misty) have been changed to look like their anime counterparts. The regular Team Rocket grunts have been changed to Jessie and James from the show, including their full pokemon roster. But probably the best part is the fact that, like Ash from the series, you can get all three starter pokemon in this game without needing to trade. For those who don't know: another reason why picking your first pokemon is such a big deal is you can never get any of the others without trading; they just don't show up anywhere in the game. Pokemon Yellow has all three from Red/Blue, and most are fairly easy to get. So if you wanted a dream team of Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur, this is the game for you. 

Misty looks a little more like her anime counterpart, sans suspenders

The graphics have seen a slight improvement, and there has been one sound change. Pikachu, instead of making some random noise, instead does a very staticy "PIKA!" sound everytime he goes into battle. I can't decided if this is a good or a bad thing, but it's consistant with the source material, so I'll give it that I guess. The graphics, as stated, are generally the same, though it does look a lot better on a Game Boy Color than Red/Blue. Since it wasn't designed for the color system, the Game Boy Color has to sort of guess which colors go where, and it seems to do better on this game than the others. It still looks pretty bad, but at least Pikachu is consistently yellow. 

There are also a few minor changes made to the gameplay that aren't worth mentioning (like you can finally teach Charizard "Fly"), because as a whole it's still the same game as Red/Blue. No new pokemon have been added (though this one has probably the best mix of optional pokemon out of the trio), which is a bummer, and there has been no UI improvements. Yep, still have to go all the way into the menu to see your XP. How obnoxious.

Here's some more Pikachu surfing because, why not? 

As it stands, Pokemon Yellow is probably the best out of the original Generation I Pokemon games. While  it is obviously pandering to fans of the anime, the changes are all welcome ones, and all improve upon the original's solid formula. I still think having a Pikachu that actually follows you around was the main reason I liked this game so much, because I really felt like I was a Pokemon adventurer, much more than I had with Red/Blue. It might be stupid, I know, but this is one of my favorite versions of Pokemon, and if you are looking to revisit the first Generation on its original hardware, this is probably the one to do it with.

It still has the same issues as Blue/Red, but...come on. It's Pikachu. How could you say no?

Four out of five stars. 

Come, trusty Pikachu! Let us go forth and...wait, is that old guy dead?!

Pokemon Blue/Red

Pokemon Red/Blue Versions

The Short


Pros
- 150 Pokemon to capture and battle (no, not 151. You can't catch Mew without cheating. Trust me.)
- Surprisingly deep JRPG with a heavy emphasis on elemental weaknesses and attacks
- Hella tight music, even for the tinny GB speakers
- Hunting down and trading for every last Pokemon is addicting and fits that obsessive-compulsive need
- Idea of creating your own journey to become a Pokemon master is compelling, enough so that they reuse it for every future game in the franchise
- Creating the "perfect team" with the right combination of types and moves can consume your life

Cons
- Lack of an XP bar means you have to go to the menu to check levels every time
- Catching them all means having a friend with a GB and a link cable to trade, since the monsters are limited based on version
- HM moves can't be deleted except through a rather tedious process
- Lacks the depth of future games since it doesn't have breeding, day/night cycle, etc.
- A few cumbersome UI choices
- Game Boy Color doesn't really color it well
- Game really isn't that difficult until the very end
- Status effects are always stacked against you
- In the original version, Psychic Pokemon were virtually invincible
- Like all the games, Pokemon is a serious test to your level-grinding patience

The intro that started it all

The Long

You know what Pokemon is. Even if you've ever played it, even if you can't tell a Zubat from a Pidgy, and even if these new-fangled "pokemans" are clearly inferior to the original 150 you caught as a kid, everybody knows what Pokemon is. I'm pretty sure most people in this country can recognize a Pikachu on sight, have heard the phrase "Gotta Catch 'Em All," and know that in the Pokeworld a Gym is not a place you go to work out. Yu-Gi-Oh came and went, Digimon had a run and sort of faded, but Pokemon persists. And you can laugh or scoff all you want at this "kid's game," but there is clearly something here that has compelled literal generations of kids to play it. Think of it this way: Pokemon Red/Blue came out in 1998. That's fourteen years ago. That's long enough for someone to grow up, get married, have their own kid, and start teaching them to be a Pokemon master. That's insane. 

As someone who experienced Pokemon from start to finish (I was 12 when the phenomenon came crashing over to U.S. shores), I have no shame in saying I think these are all fantastic games. I never got so deep as to the whole breeding/secret stats thing of the later versions, but I did "Catch 'Em All" with the first two generations (never to happen again), have played every single generation and several spinoff games, and even watched the first two seasons of the anime. Yeah. I can sing the entire first-season Pokemon anime theme song by heart, even now. I'll admit that aspect of all this is a little sad. 

TO CATCH THEM IS MY REAL TEST, TO TRAIN THEM IS MY CAUSE

Anyway, the point is that I love the crap out of Pokemon, even though I'm twenty-six and married and should probably be doing something better with my time. If you've ever been on the fence or just thought they were stupid kids games (the franchising of it and marketing it as such probably didn't help that interpretation much), then guess what. I'm here to convince you otherwise. 

So enough of me rambling and let's get on with this review. 

Let the battle begin

Pokemon starts off simple. You are a young boy living in Pallet Town, and whenever boys (and I assume girls) reach a certain age they are set off on an adventure to become a Pokemon trainer. It's a sort of "rite of passage" thing into adulthood, I'm assuming, because after that they either become a Pokemon master, or just a normal like...shopkeeper. It's actually an interesting analogy about pursuing your dreams, because everybody leaves Pallet Town thinking they'll be champion, while your journey is filled with people who have essentially given up. Since it's an open world, you can technically give up at any time and just wander around normally, but if you want to be the best it's a lot of work and a lot of failure. I'm probably digging to deep into this, since there's really no actual story to speak of, but since the goal of it is to allow a player to write their own Pokemon journey, that's mine.

The essential goal is to beat a set of eight Gym leaders (bosses) along the way, then go kill the Elite Four and the Champion in one final blow. The first eight can poise a slight problem if your team isn't great, but the game gets mad hard once you hit the Elite Four, which adds a chunk of gameplay. That's basically the goal of Pokemon. Simple, but I'm fine with that. 

JRK is well on his way to being a Pokemon Master

You are given a choice between three starters: a fire-elemental type (Charmander), a water-elemental type (Squirtle) and a grass-elemental type (Bulbasaur). They might as well had called them "Hard, Medium, Easy" respectively, since that's essentially how it works, though once you get in the second half of the game it becomes kind of a moot point. 

So you pick your Pokemon, grab your balls (Pokeballs) and your journey begins. There's a bit where you have to overthrow a corrupt Pokemon gang called Team Rocket, but the story is pretty much 1. Get stronger and 2. Beat up everybody who so much as glances in your direction. Simple stuff.

Charmander, bringing 'da heat

How to accomplish both 1 and 2 above requires you to catch more Pokemon. You can have as many as you want total, but you are limited to only having six on your team. Pokemon are also assigned a unique element, which each has their own specific weaknesses. Simple ones are that fire is weak to water (meaning the Charmander above is screwed if the Squirtle knows Water Gun), while others get more complex (Psychic is weak to Bug, Strength is weak to Psychic, etc.). The basic elements of this first version are Normal, Fire, Fighting, Water, Flying, Grass, Poison, Electric, Ground, Psychic, Ice, Bug, Ghost, and Dragon. Knowing and mastering these strengths and weaknesses is probably the biggest key point in the game, and being able to actively attack and defend against any of these types requires you to have a perfect team. Pokemon can also have hybrid types (for example, Charizard is a Fire/Flying), with a main type and a side type. These weaknesses can stack and so can strengths (so since both fire and rock take 2x damage from water, a fire/rock Pokemon would take 4x), meaning you have to be very careful in who you pick and who you send out.

You also aren't limited to just your own elemental powers, since moves themselves are assigned elements as well. Your Pokemon often stay reasonably within their assigned class type when they learn moves via leveling up, but you can acquire special items (TMs) that teach moves that can mix things up. Some of the most valuable Pokemon (the dragons), are awesome because you can teach them from a massive pool of elemental type moves. Unlike the Pokemon, however, moves can't have multiple types. 

Seriously, it's a lot to remember. 

And then the clincher: you can only have four moves at a time, and if you forget a move it's gone forever (except if you fulfil a very specific set of requirements and for just one Pokemon). So when you are making your team of awesome, you have to be careful to not screw it up. This can be a big pain because of the UI; you don't know what moves do or even what element they are (though you can guess what "Fire Blast"'s element is) until after you either actually learn it or look it up online. This can mean you could seriously mess up your Pokemon if you forgot an essential move. You can fix this most of the time by catching another one (if it is a catchable type) and fixing it later, but it still is an annoyance.

You also have to choose whether to evolve your Pokemon (which makes them tougher but they learn moves slower), or leave him where he is (where he stays weaker but can learn better moves at a faster rate)

So how do you form this Poke-team? You gotta go out there and catch them! While the battle mechanics of Pokemon can be extremely complex, the actual system themselves is traditional turn-based JRPG. You wander around in tall grass (or get spotted by another trainer) to start a battle. Once in it, you take turns attacking based on the various Pokemon's speed stat (and there are, of course, moves that buff or debuff). You can also spend a turn to take a Pokemon back and send another one out, earning the newcomer a free hit from the enemy. After you've beat the everloving crap out of the other guy (but not enough to kill him, just barely), you can throw a Pokeball and pray (holding Down+B also helps). If you are lucky, you catch the wild Pokemon and he becomes yours FOREVER. If you fail, you can keep throwing with the hope that you'll get it, while the wild Pokemon gets a free hit on your guy every time you fail. 

Somebody actually figured out the math for this. Freaking insane.  

Which brings me to a big complaint (and one that continue throughout the series): catching Pokemon is both exciting and immensely frustrating. Yes, you can buy better Pokeballs that have a better chance of catching. Yes, there are moves that drop an enemy HP to 1 (though False Swipe wasn't introduced until Generation II, so it isn't in this game) and not 0, which is ideal for catching. But missing ten Pokeballs in a row or accidentally hitting an rare Pokemon down to 0 so the battle ends instead of giving you a chance to catch it is infuriating. Considering it's trying to take regular RPG mechanics of "dealing damage" and applying a requirement of precision from them is really obnoxious. 

If you win the battle, every Pokemon who participated gets an equal cut of the XP (which makes a viable strategy to put your low-level Pokemon first, swap him out at the start of the battle for a good one, and then the two share the final XP). Another pain in the butt for the Red/Blue generation is the lack of an XP bar in battle. It gives you the numbers, sure, but in order to actually see how much XP you need to a next level you have to go through the menu to the specific Pokemon to check. It's an annoyance that was fixed in Gold/Silver, but it still really hurts replaying this game again now, in 2012.

Choose wisely. 

The level grinding also gets pretty insane. Since each Pokemon has to level individually, and Pokemon you catch are usually weaker than your current party of six, every time you get a new Pokemon you are signing up for another 10-20 minute grindfest to get him up to par. Again, this can be done via the swap trick (or the Exp Share item in later versions), but it's still tedious. There are also Pokemon that become completely obsolete by the end of the game (read: all Bug Pokemon), so if you heavily invested in them once they hit level ~30 you'll realize they...kind of suck now. Time to catch a new one, I guess. 

Luckily the Pokemon get stronger as you go along, meaning it isn't that bad, but expect to spend a lot of time running back and forth in tall grass as you level grind your Squirtle up to a Wartortle. 

Pikachu has lost some weight since this first game

Another major annoyance is the HMs. Now, in order to make sure you don't just run out and get mutilated by some Lv 40 Ponyta from the start of the game, Pokemon gates your progress with the Gyms. After you beat the Gyms you are given a move (for example, "Cut"), which you can teach any number of Pokemon an unlimited amount of times, and it lets you interact with it in the real world (in this case, cutting specific trees that block your path). I wish they'd do more with having your Pokemon interact with the real world other than just doing these prescribed things, but that isn't my complaint. 

My complaint is once you learn an HM you are stuck with it forever. You can't delete or replace it from your four-move roster. So if you learn Cut (which is a pretty crappy move later on) with your main guy, you just have a wasted slot for every battle forever. Why couldn't they have gated it with, I dunno, an item? They could have given me an ax and I wouldn't have had to ruin my Pokemon. There are ways around it (getting a junk Pokemon to learn all the HM moves), but that's wasting a whole slot from your party of Six to just get around the damn world. As a bonus, these things come back after you leave the screen, meaning you can't just run to every rock, tree, etc. in the world and blow it up once, you still have to haul your crappy HM Mule/Slave around. It's stupid and extremely annoying, and they still haven't changed it. 

Get spotted by a trainer and you'll be locked into a fight. 

Graphically, Pokemon is a mixed bag. The Pokemon themselves look great, well drawn and their moves also look decent. The world itself is a bit bland, but it's a Game Boy game so I'm willing to cut it some slack. The menus are pretty much just tons of text to navigate, which isn't aesthetically pleasing at all, and they can be extremely cumbersome to navigate (especially since you have to go them to to check your XP GAH).

The music is awesome, even coming out of tinny Game Boy speakers. You'll learn to loathe the battle song, but each city and route sports their own catchy tunes, and they all provide both good background noise and an excellent, memorable tune.

The start of a journey

How does one actually rate the game that started a massive phenomenon that is (more or less) still going fourteen years later? Well, when I started reviewing games I decided to review them based on how I fell now, not on how I felt at the time. At the time this game was freaking incredible, a JRPG introduction for kids that had an insane amount of depth hidden beneath it's simple exterior. Nintendo has improved on (or made slight improvements on, anyway) this formula over the years, and after burning through every Generation I can safely say that this game hasn't aged particularly well. The cumbersome gameplay and UI issues really hold it back, and while those of us with nostalgia will be willing to overlook these flaws, the rose-tinted glasses can only go so far. 

This game was also remade on the GBA with the improvements that had been implemented in the years since its original release, and that version is easily the superior one. Pokemon Blue (my version, screw you Red people) will always hold a special place in my heart for what it is, but considering just how many Pokemon games you have to choose from currently, I can't recommend the original Game Boy game as a jumping off point for this generation of gamers. 

Three out of five stars. Though if we were going off my rose-tinted memories, there wouldn't be enough stars in the world. 

Week in Review for 2/25/2012 - Pokemon Week

Welcome back, dear reader, and hopefully you survived the horror that was "horror week." We got 10 creepy games reviewed, bumping our game total up to 77 overall. Of course I still have more to review, but we'll see if they pop up during later events.

I'm enjoying sticking to a theme every week, and in celebration to the announcement of the direct sequels to Pokemon Black/White coming out on the DS later this year, I'm going to declare this Pokemon week! I'm going to review every Pokemon generation, and even a few of the odd-balls (such as Crystal or Platinum). But that's not all! I'm also planning on doing all the spin-off games I've played (Pokemon Pinball, anyone?) which should provide some quality content. And before you ask: yes, I've played Hey You, Pikachu! So just keep that in mind.

If by some miracle I run out of Pokemon games before the year ends, I have a few more up my sleeve. Mario 2 (NES) has been in the backburner of requests, as well as Saints Row the Third (which I played religiously this last week), so those might pop up.

RPG week after Pokemon week? Maybe. Mass Effect 3 comes out soon, and that's technically an RPG. We'll see.

Here are these weeks' games, with scores!

Alan Wake - 3 / 5 Stars
Saw - 2 / 5 Stars
Clock Tower: The First Fear - 4 / 5 Stars
Dead Space 2 - 5 / 5 Stars
Plants vs Zombies - 5 / 5 Stars
Silent Hill 2 - 5 / 5 Stars
Silent Hill 3 - 5 / 5 Stars
Silent Hill Homecoming - 2 / 5 Stars
Condemned: Criminal Origins - 3 / 5 Stars
The Darkness II - 3 / 5 Stars

Expect some pocket monster mayhem this week! See you there!