Pokemon: Soul Silver Version

I've had this since it was released back in March and though I haven't played it in while and haven't finished the true final battle as of now (hey, my team has to be at least at level 80 for that), I've done enough to form an opinion of it. Soul Silver is a remake of the Gold and Silver games released on the Game Boy Color about a decade ago. They're exactly the same as any other Pokemon game: catch some pokemon, battle some pokemon, battle an evil organization, defeat the gym leaders, and take on the league champion. The only thing Soul Silver (and it's original versions) did that no other entry in the series has yet to do was allow you to revisit the location from previous game: in this case Kanto from Pokemon Red and Blue. It's a cool feature that I wish the other games would have utilized. Visiting and battling characters from the previous games and seeing how that world has changed since then added a level of nostalgia and continuity that the newer games sorely lack. Other than that, the only other new things added to this game was some poke'walker toy that I never bothered to use. This is pretty much the strongest game in the series. It managed to take what made the series addictive and squeeze it for all it was worth. There's no doubt that the series had run it course as this is still the same damn game we've been playing for roughly 12 years. There's already a new game on the way that promises to reinvent the series, but we'll just have to wait and see if they can deliver on that statement.

Pokemon: Mewtwo Returns

Mewtwo Returns isn't a movie, its a TV special that was tarted up to direct-to-dvd movie status. As the title suggests, the special is a follow up the events of the first movie. From what I've been told, the English version is a direct translation of the Japanese script and if this is the case then the Japanese version of the series must be pretty boring. OK, the script is refreshingly intelligent so maybe its just the way the story progresses that is fairly dull. I mean, the movie features Ash and the gang having to deal with a large chunk of the Team Rocket organization (always a treat when it happened in the show) in addition to the team's boss Giovanni, but nothing really becomes of it. It's sort of a huge build-up to a big letdown. Mewtwo himself doesn't do much except continue to ponder his existence. Even when he finally does something, he just gives in. There are morals to story like in the first movie, but their now forced in your face or hypocritical and its actually kind of sweet. All-in-all the special is decent is worth at least one look. I know that I didn't have much to say, but there wasn't much to talk about.

Pokemon: The First Movie

Ah yes, lots of memories with this one. The first Pokemon movie was released at the peak of the craze the series commanded in the late 90s. I remember seeing this twice in the theaters and watching it countless times when it was on video. Just recently watched it for the first time in almost a decade and I found it to still be pretty good. I don't really have much to say here that hasn't already been said. This is the story of a human created advanced pokemon called Mewtwo and his quest for a purpose. Mewtwo then goes about attracting all the best pokemon and their trainers for a fight that the TV series main characters get involved with. Essentially, its the typical man creates beast, beast supercedes man, beast learns humanity stuff that movies churn out every couple of years. The movie is a tad darker than what was normally done in the regular anime series but it pulls it of fairly well and succeeds in conveying some form of emotions. On the flip side though, there are some god awful and just plain hypocritical morals that the film crams down our throats. Pokemon is the wrong franchise to try and drive home a "fighting is wrong" message or a racism stance for that matter. I've been told that none of that exists in the original Japanese version of the film which also features a better characterization of Mewtwo as opposed to dub version where he acts like a cold-hearted villain with a generic desire for world domination. I have no interest in going out of my way to see the Japanese version so I'll just take what I can get. The movie isn't as good as when I was a child, but its still a nice diversion.

Pokemon Platinum (Review)

Okay, 2 and half weeks after it's launch and I've finally completed Pokemon Platinum, the special edition of 2007's Diamond and Pearl. The game really isn't that different from D & P, which is the only negative thing I can really say about the game. Nintendo often gets a lot of criticism with their franchises for not changing the formula enough between games. While Mario and Zelda add just enough new concepts to warrant another game, Pokemon is probably the most guilty of the "never change" complaint. If you want to include all the different versions of a single pokemon game, then you could say that Nintendo has released the same game 15 times in about 10 years.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy Platinum, it's just as enjoyable now as was when started. The game adds a new area: The Distortion World, a Battle Frontier, and rearranges the order of some of the gym leaders. They also changed a lot of the opponents pokemon line-ups and their move sets. This actually makes the game a tad harder than before. Most of the pokemon fought in the game now use moves that seem to cover their weaknesses (The weak to electric type Gyarados regularly uses the move earthquake, which electric types are weak against).

Pokemon Platinum is easily the best DS Pokemon game. It doesn't have enough new material to warrant a purchase for people who played through Diamond and Pearl, but newcomers and hardcore fans will eat it up.

I've Got Pokemon Fever

It's back and in full force. I hate to say it but I decided to pick up Pokemon Platinum when it releases on the 22nd of this month and I'm pretty excited. I don't know how it happened but I suddenly got an urge to catch and battle some pokemon. I haven't had this urge since since Pokemon Diamond was released 2 years ago and before that I hadn't played a pokemon game in 5 years.

Pokemon Platinum is the basically the special edition of Pokemon Diamond with some new pokemon and brand new locations to explore and course some little tweaks here and there in the gameplay to make it work. From what I've heard and seen one of the new locations is the distortion world. It has floor-like sections floating at angles from each other. On top of that odd things like surfing down a waterfall going up is possible. This is also the place where Giratina, the game's big legendary pokemon, will be in its Origin Forme (I have no idea what that is...)

To pass the time I've been playing Pokemon Fire Red and I'm about half done with it. I'm actually glad to be getting through with this game as one of about 30 uncompleted games that I need to get to work on. If I feel the need I may post a review on Pokemon Platinum in the future.