Pokemon Trading Card Game

"An addiction that's legal!"

Introduction to: Pokemon Trading Card Game

The concept behind Pokemon Trading Card Game on Gameboy Color was the rising popular TCG, in your hand, no challengers necessary. Well, it came about to be just that, and more. The game blends the TCG that Poke-freaks were coming to love with great RGP elements to create one monster of a Gameboy game. Although the island it is based on is small, and although the main character has no name, the game draws you in with both its sheer Pokemon relation, and its Pokemon Red/Blue feel.

But, what if you don't know the TCG, don't want to waste your time buying all the starter packs, or are just uninterested, it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy this game. In fact, this game can work as a great teaching guide to pull you through the TCG itself, and may even attract you to the real life TCG. Either way, this game will draw you in immediately, and you will be hooked until the last champion.

This game was released in 1998 in Japan, but didn't appear in the States until early 2000. Late 2000 the game finally landed in Europe. The game was designed by Nintendo and supports only one player. Let's take a closer look at how the game works.

Graphics

If you are trying to picture the graphics with nothing to look at, try to imagine Pokemon Yellow, only cleaned up twice as good. The world is simply designed, but is colorful and vibrant. The gyms on the inside are all different, the electric gym showing flashing lights and different shades of darkness, not to mention vibrant yellows. The characters are little sprites (similar again, to Pokemon Red/Blue, etc.), each are a little different. In battle, backgrounds become more basic, and the few battle animations are simple and not very interesting for the most part. However, smaller details such as on the cards are noticeable, and the effort put into them makes them look more life-like. This is important, since things we see in games that we have in real-life tend to look inaccurate. The line between real cards and Gameboy cards is inched towards, not totally erased, mind you, but just say that the graphics are smooth enough that they will not disappoint you.

Gameplay

You control the main character around the little world, and you must attempt to defeat the different leaders of the gyms, and eventually prove yourself worthy to face the legendary duelists. Control over your character is easy, and you can hold down the run button to move at a quick speed. This is important as some games like Red or Blue version require you to walk slowly everywhere. In this game, you can run anytime you want. Anyways, at the beginning of the game you are pulled through the basics and given a deck with which you will build on along the way.

With the basic rules and strategy in mind, you're off to prove to those little AI opponents that you can kick their butt! Unfortunately, you will find that some of the first battles are difficult, and you may need to re-duel them several times until you can beat them. By them, I'm referring to the little chumps in the gyms that aren't the leaders. They can be tricky to defeat for gamers new to the TCG, so be diligent. Always remember to try all the gyms, if you don't have luck in the science gym, perhaps you should try the fire gym, etc.

But why all this fuss about beating every single duelist in each gym? Well, beating them gets you booster packs of cards. Each pack offers the possibility of rare or powerful new cards for your deck, and the stronger the duelist you defeat, the more powerful and rare cards you will receive in return. Not to mention the little side-stories that are invented to force you to defeat all the people in the gym before facing the leader. Once you defeat all the leaders though, you will be allowed into the mysterious champion's hall, but let's not worry about that now.

One of the larger annoyances that will get in your way on the your journey is your rival, Ronald. He'll pop up here and there and force you to duel him. Then, you will see, his deck is ridiculously good, and he will more than likely blow you out of the water. What is the point of this? I'm not sure, but he's pretty impossible to beat early in the game. But remember, losing a duel doesn't actually lose you anything, you just feel sad for a minute and then try and figure out how to beat that jerk.

Anyway, the gameplay in this game is simply addictive. I couldn't stop playing it until I beat all the leaders and made my way to the Grand Masters. Although some sections of the game may get you stuck, and you might get a little frustrated, don't blow the rest of the game off. Take a break, mull through some strategies, and dive back in. This is a game you'll want to complete.

Sound

The music in this game is basically what you'd expect, which is a good thing. The tunes aren't mind blowing, but they are catchy, and set a good dueling mood. Obviously, the more important duels will have different music than regular duels. Sound effects are few, and overall uninteresting. Basically the game met expectations in this category, but didn't exceed expectations as it did in other aspects. Not bad though, like I said, some tunes are good, just not amazing.

Replay Value

Well, there's a lot of cards out there, and if you are really hooked onto this game like I was when I first got it, you'll want to get all the cards. This means quite a bit of dueling, but not without a cause. Seeing your sets all full is cool, plus then you can make just about any kind of deck you want. Experimenting with the many different possibilities is exciting, and can lead to many hours of replay time.

Beating the Grand Masters is difficult, but beating them wins you special cards. REALLY GOOD special cards. If you want to make the ultimate deck, you'll probably want more of them, and that means beating the Grand Masters again. Basically what I'm getting at is the replay value is high due to the simple addictive RPG elements of the game.

Buy or Ignore?

If you own a Gameboy, you should definitely have this game. I know you're probably thinking, eww, I hate Pokemon, or Pokemon is too immature. If you work up the courage to try this game I doubt you'll be disappointed however, since it's addictive gameplay is great entertainment. I found this game especially useful on long car or plane rides, since you have a lot of time to waste, you can use this game to keep your brain entertained. Overall, this game is a must-have for gamers.

Final Score: 10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/30/06