Pokemon
Reviewed by Scott McCall
OK, so I normally only review Nintendo 64 games. But I had
to make an exception with Pokemon for Game Boy; I had to
make sure no one missed this one. A game that sold nearly
10 million copies in Japan (between multiple versions) and
spawned hundreds of licensed merchandise must be special,
right? Yes, Pokemon is special. So if you aren't already
one of the half a million U.S. game players (as of this
review) who picked up the game yet, making it the
fastest-selling Game Boy game in history, then this review
should change your mind. Pokemon just rocks.
Pokemon is an old-school RPG that is cute on the surface but
has a much more deep, strategic, and addicting inner side than
you can possibly imagine. The game centers around the quest to
become the World's Greatest Pokemon Trainer. You're Ash (or
whatever you name him), a young teen from Pallet Town.
Professor Oak, also of Pallet Town, is an elderly Pokemon
collector who wants someone to finish his work of collecting
every Pokemon in the world. Unfortunately, since he is old,
only three of his Pokemon still obey him. He decides that both
you and Gary, who is your neighborhood rival, will get one to
start your collection. So both you and your rival embark on a
surprisingly long adventure to become the World's Greatest
Pokemon Trainer. But as you'll find out, there are literally
hundreds of other trainers throughout the world who will
challenge you.
So what are "Pokemon," anyway? Well, they're found throughout
the world and come in many different types, shapes, sizes, and
colors. They are wild creatures until you capture them. Once they're
captured, they become your property until a) they get too strong
for you to control (you need badges to prevent this), b) they
get traded, or c) they are dropped by you. You can only
capture wild Pokemon; you cannot capture other trainers' Pokemon.
As you probably know, Pokemon comes in two different
versions: red and blue. The gameplay and story are exactly
the same in both versions. What's different is that there are
some monsters only available in one version and not in the other.
For instance, Ekans cannot be caught in the blue version. A person
with the blue version will have to get Ekans from someone who has the
red version. Another difference is that some Pokemon are much
easier (or harder) to find in one version over the other. For
example, you'll encounter Weedle in the red version much more than
in the blue version. You can capture multiple versions of each
Pokemon, so don't forget to get one for your friend, too!
Now that the general background information is out of the way,
let's go into detail about the gameplay of Pokemon. First off,
I just want to mention that you can save anywhere, anytime
(except in battles) in Pokemon, which is very cool. You must
go to a PokŽ Center in towns to restore energy, though. Anyway,
there are approximately 25 "routes" in the game. A route is
basically just a linear path you'll follow throughout the game.
It took me about 10 hours to get through about 9 of the so-called
routes in the game. However, I only captured about 20 Pokemon
in that time. And, of course, you have to remember that I spent
time exploring every inch of the routes, catching Pokemon,
building up experience levels, and fighting two-player duels.
Actually, Pokemon might be a little on the easy side. The
linear progression is set up so you will be challenged, but
there's a good chance you'll never lose all your Pokemon in
battle. Where the real challenge lies, though, is collecting
all the Pokemon and building up their experience levels. I
don't ever recall a game in which it was so entertaining to
build up experience.
For the most part, collecting Pokemon requires you to reduce
a Pokemon's energy to low levels, and then use a PokeBall
(purchased in towns) to capture it. If it loses all of its energy,
it will "faint." (That's Nintendo's nice way of making sure
nothing dies.) As stated before, Pokemon can only be captured
in the wild. In a great change of pace, random battles only
occur in grassy areas of the overworld. A lot of the time you
can avoid fights by staying on the path. Caves, on the other
hand, have random battles everywhere. There are varying
numbers of each Pokemon specimen in the game. Some early
Pokemon you'll encounter are very common and appear throughout
both versions. So you can capture a Rattata, but you'll fight
other Rattata the rest of the game, which will have different
experience levels, of course. And as I said, some Pokemon are
harder to find. You might have to concentrate in one small
area and fight random battles for 5 to 15 minutes before a
more rare one appears! Furthermore, there are a few Pokemon
in each version that you have only one chance to catch. If you
miss that chance, you cannot capture that Pokemon again. So
you'll find that as you get further into the game, you'll need
to use stronger Balls to capture stronger and heavier
Pokemon -- Great Balls or Ultra Balls, for instance. There's
also only one Master Ball in the game, which you might be
wise to save for the extremely rare Pokemon. Finally, some
Pokemon are only obtained through evolution. What's evolution,
you ask? When certain Pokemon reach certain experience
levels, it will evolve into a different, more powerful creature.
For example, Zubat evolves into Golbat at level 22. You can
prevent Pokemon from evolving, but you should let them
99% of the time, especially since you still get credit for
the original PokŽmon.
Battles in Pokemon are fought in the traditional turn-based
RPG style. Enemies that are faster generally get to attack
first, or several times, before slower ones. But your opponents
will wait until you input your commands before they attack.
So you can take your time. You can carry up to six Pokemon
with you at one time. (The others are stored in a computer
you can access from any town.) After you collect a dozen
Pokemon or so, you'll start to find out who are your favorites
and most powerful ones. You'll get experience points for each
Pokemon you defeat, but you only get money for winning trainer
battles. While you can have six Pokemon in your party, a Pokemon
will only receive experience points if it actually appears in the
battle. But what's very nifty is that you can have a weak Pokemon
quickly appear and then change it before its harmed. That's an easy
way to build up experience for the weaker ones. Also, traded
PokŽmon get extra experience points, which means they will
evolve faster. So that's another bonus of trading.
The actual battles consist of one-on-one Pokemon conflicts.
The screen will show a picture of the two Pokemon currently
battling and their experience levels, along with a life bar for
each Pokemon. There's also a numerical representation of
how much health is left for your Pokemon, but not for your
opponent's. Four menu options will appear: Fight, Item, PkMn,
and Run. If you pick "Fight," you'll have anywhere from one to
four attacks to pick. Some attacks physically hit the opponent,
while others reduce an opponent's defense, attack, speed,
etc. "Item" lets you give a Pokemon some energy (Potion),
cure a disease like poison (Antidote), capture a Pokemon
(PokeBall), and more. "PkMn" is the option to pick when
you want to switch to a different Pokemon during the middle
of the battle. "Run" is what to choose when you don't want to
fight. The ability to run is determined by the speed of your
Pokemon currently fighting. You cannot run from trainer
battles, however.
Just as a side note, another interesting part of Pokemon is
how you have a certain number of "Power Points," or "PPs,"
for each attack under the Fight command. You may be able to
use one attack 35 times before needing a rest, while another
creature's attack may only be used 5 times. On average, you'll
have 20 to 25 PPs for each attack. If an attack runs out, the
Pokemon cannot use it again until it gets rest. This can
become critical if you try to push it too long in between rests
or during long trainer battles.
Tied into Pokemon battles is the different types of Pokemon.
The 150 Pokemon in the game can be classified into 15 types:
normal, fire, water, electric, grass, ice, fighting, poison,
ground, flying, psychic, bug, rock, ghost, and dragon. This is
where part of Pokemon's incredible strategic depth comes from.
For instance, if you have an Electric-type creature, like Pikachu,
then you can easily defeat Water- and Flying-type Pokemon.
But Pikachu has little hope of defeating a Ground-type Pokemon -- that
is, unless Pikachu is much, much more experienced. Figuring
out which Pokemon would be at an advantage or disadvantage
is pretty much common sense. Fire won't work on water. A heavy
ground creature would have trouble against a flying one. And so on.
In the traditional RPG sense, Pokemon also contains tons of
items and hidden abilities to find. I can't even begin to list
them all here, but you'll be able to find various health potions,
various curing substances, various ways to increase your
offense and defense, various items that are critical to the
story, and much more. A little tidbit is that potions and such
are sometimes hidden in the overworld or in towns. There are
also hidden abilities to find, which are called TMs (Technical
Machine) and HMs (Hidden Machine). Some are found and others
are won in battle. A TM can only be used once, only on one
Pokemon. An HM can be used on all Pokemon who can learn it.
These "Machines" will teach your Pokemon new abilities for
battle, whether they're attacking or defensive.
Let's talk about the two-player link-up options. Although the
one-player adventure is tremendous fun in itself, much of the
fun of Pokemon comes from finding and trading creatures with
your friend. The way the trading (and duel feature) works is that
you need a Game Link cable to connect the systems. There are
third-party cables available now so you can connect different
kinds of Game Boy systems together -- whether it's the original,
Pocket, or Color. Then each player turns on the game (it doesn't
have to be at the same time) and goes to a Poke Center in some
town. What's nice is that you don't have to be in the same town
to link-up. If you talk to the Cable Club person, then it will make
sure both players are talking at the same time and will save
your game.
If you pick the Trade Center option, you will go into a
special room where you can talk to your opponent. Unfortunately,
only the six Pokemon in your party are listed. So you should
discuss about which Pokemon you want to trade before going
to the Cable Club. Trading in Pokemon can only be done on
a one-for-one basis. So you can't give your friend a Pokemon
for free, nor can you muscle them into giving you three
Pokemon for your one. You also must each give consent before
the trade is made. If either you or your friend decided to give
the PokŽmon some weird name you don't like, there is one
place in the game where you can change the name of the Pokemon.
A neat little tidbit is that the game keeps track of who was
the original trainer.
If you pick the Colosseum option, that's where you and your
friend fight it out. You don't get any experience or money for
winning, but you aren't punished if you lose, either. Although
the feature is somewhat limited in that respect, it still serves
as a fun way to see who has the strongest Pokemon and who
is the best trainer. So once again you each can take up to six
PokŽmon into battle. Fights are then fought in the same manner
as in the regular adventure.
Since this is a Game Boy title, it's hard to be objective when
it comes to graphics and sound of Pokemon. Basically, the
graphics are very good. There are 150 distinctly different
Pokemon in the game, and each has its own simple animation.
There is a sufficient amount of detail throughout, and the
surroundings don't get too repetitive for a Game Boy game.
However, there is some slight blurring in the overworld,
but the graphics are large enough that it's not a problem.
Also, there is full support for the Super Game Boy (if you're
lucky enough to already have one, since it's impossible to
find right now). On the sound end, Pokemon can be annoying,
as expected. All 150 Pokemon do have their own "cry" sound
effect, though, which is impressive. And there are many other
useful "alert" sound effects throughout the game. The music
will probably get on your nerves, though.
After providing all this information and giving PokŽmon lots
of praise, there must be some negatives, right? Well, I think
most of these items are moot points, but I'll mention them in
fairness. As with almost any game that comes from Nintendo,
the childish nature of the story and character design could be a
turn-off for die-hard fans of violent games. Another potential
turn-off is the mostly cute and sometimes weird-looking
PokŽmon. Some of the names of the Pokemon could have been
better, too. A slight problem in the gameplay is that it can get
repetitive. You basically go from one town to the next, fighting
battles and catching new Pokemon along the way. Then you
must defeat what's called the "Gym Leader" in each town.
Now you'll fight through a stint of battles against other
trainers, then will head on to the next town, doing the same
thing again. A final area of improvement is needed in the
link-up feature. There's no kind of cooperative adventure, you
get no reward other than bragging rights for the two-player
duels, and it just takes too long to trade monsters.
For all I've explained and said about Pokemon, there's still
more to learn. Take it from me, though: Pokemon is an absolute
must-have for the Game Boy. Yes, the game will appeal to
children under the age of 13 the most. But if you're a true
gamer, you'll enjoy Pokemon no matter your age. The challenge
of finding and collecting all the Pokemon is more complex than
many modern-day RPGs. So if you don't own a Game Boy but one
of your friends does, then you should go out and get one for
Pokemon. Yes, Pokemon is a so-called "killer app" of the new
generation. The fun and rewarding one-player collecting
adventure, along with the ability to trade monsters and fight
with friends, makes Pokemon a timeless classic. Red or blue,
does it matter? Not really. Just make sure you get one and
your friend gets the other. Pokemon once again proves the
old adage that graphics and sound do not make a game.
Overall: 9.5 out of 10