|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
POKÉMON —by Maria M. Rider
|
|
Now US Fans of POKÉMON have the chance to "catch 'em all." With POKÉMON hitting number one in ratings in 90% of its markets, the game that started the Pokémon craze in Japan was released in the U.S. on September 27, 1998. Pokémon may seem a simple RPG game, but it is much more. The player starts
out by traveling through the long grass to the next town until Dr. Oak, an
expert on Pokémon, stops him. "Hey! Don't go in
the grass! There are wild Pokémon living in there. They can be very
dangerous. If you possess trained Pokémon you can let them fight
against wild ones." Dr. Oak exclaims before the player can travel any
further. The player is taken to Dr. Oak's house where he is given the
choice of three starter Pokémon, a Bulbasaur, a Squirtle, and a
Charmander. The Pokémon picked determines the game's difficulty, with
Bulbasaur being the easy setting and Squirtle being the hardest.With the player's first Pokémon, the player goes traveling from city to
city in search of more Pokémon to catch, train, and battle. The goal of
the game is simple: collect as many Pokémon as you can, train them to be
great fighters by fighting other Wild Pokémon, Pokémon Trainers, and Pokémon
Gym Leaders to become a Pokémon Master. There are eight
gyms; each has a Leader whom is adept at certain types of Pokémon. The
player must gain experience with his Pokémon and put together a good
team to battle the Gym Leaders to obtain Pokémon League Badges. To do
this, the player buys Pokeballs in which to catch Pokémon. To use them
correctly, the player must weaken the wild Pokémon with their own
Pokémon and then catch them with the Pokeballs. Unfortunately, the
player cannot catch other Pokémon Trainers' Pokémon during battles.The player trains the Pokémon which may evolve into larger and more
powerful forms. There are three types of evolution: Natural Evolution
evolving by getting the Pokémon to a certain level of experience, Forced
Evolution, evolving by special stones that work on certain types of
Pokémon, and Non-Evolution, which is basically what you see is what you
get. There are different types of Pokémon: Normal, Fire, Water, Grass,
Poison, Flying, Ghost, Psychic, Dragon, Ground, Rock, Electric, Ice,
Fighting, and Bug. Some Pokémon can be combinations of two of any of
the above Pokémon types such as a Bulbasaur, which is a Grass/Poison
Pokémon.In order to be a true Pokémon Master, the player must determine which
Pokémon are stronger against other types of Pokémon and vice-versa. For
example, a Fire type like Charmander is strong against Grass or Water
Pokémon. Basically, the game works as nature works, the trick is
knowing what Pokémon to use against enemies in order to win battles.
There are different items that can help a Pokémon Trainer through this
difficult endeavor, such as Hidden Machines (HMs) which have certain
Techniques to teach Pokémon to do things like Fly, Cut, Surf, Flash, and
Dig. There are also Technique Machines (TMs) which are a one-time only
teaching tool to teach Pokémon certain attacks.As like other RPGs, there are many Items to be found and bought in the
game. There are Mystery Items (Stones and Fossils), Recovery Items
(Healing Potions), Pokémon Power-Ups, Field Moving (Travel Helpers),
Special Items, and Miscellaneous Items. Unlike other RPGs, the player
can play against other players via a link cable. Also unlike other
RPGs, the player can trade their Pokémon with other players much like a
trading card game. It is what makes this game so unique, the player can
only catch a maximum of 139 Pokémon in either the Red or the Blue
version. The Red and the Blue version have the same exact story, but
just have different Pokémon in each one. The Red version may have some
monsters that the Blue version does not, so the player must trade with
other players to collect all 150 Pokémon.This author enjoys playing this game, as there are lot of mini-games
to keep it interesting. If a player gets stuck in the game, there is a
possibility of putting the game down and
not finishing it, which she has seen happen to some of this
author's friends who also have the game. The author enjoys not only the RPG
aspects of this game, but also the trading option that bring Pokémon
Trainers together. The author also likes the cuteness of
some of the Pokémon, but beware: as Pokémon evolve they not only
get larger, but uglier. Fortunately, Pikachu, the author's favorite,
does not evolve unless forced to by a Thunder Stone. Even in its'
evolved form, Raichu, it is still very cute. It is no wonder Pikachu is
the most popular Pokémon.This is one of the more unique type Game Boy games currently available.
Already a hit in Japan, POKÉMON is sure to be a big hit in the U.S. and with
the release of the anime in the U.S., the
POKÉMON craze is poised to take the country by storm. Definitely pick
either the Red or Blue or both versions of the game if you enjoy RPGs.
 Rating: **** out of 4 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
