The 10th Hour 03.06.09: The Top 10 Pokemon Games

Posted by Derek Robbins on 03.06.2009

This week on the 10th hour, the top 10 Pokemon games are revealed. Which of the franchise's games top the list? There's only one way to find out!

Hello and welcome to the 10th hour. As always, there are a couple of tangents that I would like to hit on before we get started today.

-I recently watched Clone High for the first time ever and am now fairly upset that I didn't catch it during its original run. I doubt my one extra viewer would have saved the series, but still…It's an ingenious parody that I don't think really got a fair shake. Plus, you've got the hilarity of a "crazy" Ghandi. Nothing can top that!

-I have a friend of mine sending me a little Dreamcast care package. You see, mine only came with cable plug ins and for whatever reason, it really screws with my signal. It's not that the games are unplayable it's just that they look weird. Along with the a/v cables I'm expecting some games, including Jet Set Radio. I had Skies of Arcadia sent to me the other day, but it was the Gamecube version. Now that I own that, no reason to leap on the DC version eh? Such a shame. I just have too many games to play right now.

-Speaking of things I've received in the mail, I got Deadly Creatures for the Wii in. The game is pretty fun and I like it, but THQ really needs to change the cover art. It's a T-rated game that would in no-way appeal to the demographic. Honestly, the first thing I thought when I saw the cover was "shovelware". That's not good, especially if the game isn't shovelware! So, it's not too late guys! You can sell a couple of extra copies! Just…change the cover art already!

Reader Feedback

Last week I rated the top-10 worst video game movies. I guess I didn't mention it as well as I should, but I actually enjoyed several of the movies on the list, but that doesn't mean they aren't bad movies. Like, look, when I was younger I liked the Wizard and I could definitely watch it today and love every second of it, but the thing is: it's not a good movie. You're allowed to like things that aren't of high quality, ya' know?

Brad offers a reason as to the influx of Ken users.


Also the reason for the overuse of Ken is that damn Diago video, fuck I was a Ken user when every fanboy tool used Ryu and spammed Hadoukens. Hence the switch to Blanka and M Bison for myself.

Well, to be fair, that Daigo video was awesome. I really don't think that would translate to SF IV Ken usage though. You can't parry in this game and it was the main focus of the Daigo thing. I think it's because Ken is a very easy character to play at a high level. In my opinion, he's probably the easiest to master the nuances of.

Heel Heat defends the pocket monsters:

I actually still like Mewtwo Strikes Back. I think where you went wrong on the description is that it was insinuated that the Pokémon were fighting to the death in the climactic scene, whereas most Pokémon battles are until someone gets KOed. Also, those scientists treated Mewtwo as a lab animal, whereas Ash actually cared enough to sacrifice himself for his Pokies, teaching Mewtwo a valuable lesson that not every human is a self-serving scumbag who will do anything to anyone to get what they want.

So yeah, it's not as much a huge confusing clusterfuck as it is a children's movie. :p

And like, Mewtwo had a pretty sweet voice for being an English dub, unlike every other dubbed anime character ever. x)

That's a fair point. Pokémon battles are glorified cock fights as is, but in those battles the Pokémon don't die, they just get knocked out for a while. In the movie, they were going all out and if they lost, they died. I suppose that is the whole point, but I still think the message that "Fighting is okay unless it's to the death then it's bad" is kind of dumb.

As for the Ash thing, yeah, he did teach Mewtwo a lesson and it was important to the plot. If Mewtwo had used some sort of crazy un-paralysis power (soft?) to un-freeze Ash, I would buy it a lot more than the Pokémons' tears coming together and reviving the young Pokémon master. It's silly.

Mewtwo's voice is pretty good, but I totally disagree that all anime dubs have bad voices. Honestly, today the voice work in anime is significantly better than what it was in the mid-90's. Shows like Gurren Lagann and Death Note have absolutely superb casts that I would put head-to-head with their Japanese counter parts. Perhaps you think I'm wrong, but if you kick reason to the curb and surpass the impossible you might understand what I'm talking about.

HBK puts me in my place.

'The Wizard' is a fucking great movie and I am highly offended that you have it ranked as a worse video game movie than 'House of the Dead.' This, and all of your lists for that matter, are 100% SHIT.

Shawn Michaels, that is not very Christian of you! Makin' me sad, bro. The order of this list was kind of random. I honestly think that outside of the last two, the entire list could have been flipped any way. If it makes you feel any better, I can enjoy watching The Wizard. A great movie? I don't think so. I don't think anyone thinks so. It's entertaining though. I didn't really enjoy The House of the Dead as much. It probably wasn't a worse movie, but really, the order for the last list was kind of irrelevant.

JP attempts to convince me that the Mario Bros. movie wasn't bad.

The thing about the Mario Brothers movie is that technically its not a BAD movie. The whole downfall of it was that it was a "Super Mario Brothers" movie so instead of being some weird sci-fi mind trip it kept trying to shoehorn more and more Mario mythos into it.

Honestly think about it - if this movie just went by a different name and was nothing more than some crazy sci fi film about a weird alternate universe where some dinosaur is trying to deevolve all of humanity, I really think it would have a lot more charm.

Ehhh, I don't know. It probably would have grossed even less in the box office and none of us would have heard of it. The thing is, yeah, it's a lovably bad movie…but the thing is it still has a lot of problems. Yeah, the Mario mythos is definitely one of those problems because, seriously, how are you going to make a movie out of that? That said, I really don't think taking Mario out of the movie would have made it any better. A good movie should be a good movie.

James brings up the new SF movie.

I can no longer hate Van Damme SF. Just because it's so bad it's funny (aka "narm"). And it reminds me of the USA cartoon. This is delicious, indeed.

And yes, I think it will still be better than Legend of Chun-Li, which has the double crime of not being that good AND trying to be serious.

I actually remember LIKING MK1. I haven't watched it since, so don't know if it holds up. And my dad TOOK ME OUT OF SCHOOL EARLY so we could go see The Wizard :-S

I think the original SF2 Anime is the only really good VG movie.

Well, I've seen the Legend of Chun-Li and I have to tell you, it was awesomely bad. I laughed like the whole way through the movie. I figured it wasn't their intention, but dear lord was that movie funny. I need to see the SF movie again just to compare and contrast. I know the original was certainly goofier at least. OF COURSE it should remind you of the US cartoon. That one was also lovably horrible.

MK 1 is still an enjoyable movie. No, it's not going to win any awards for outstanding achievement in the field of excellence, but if you've got nothing to do for a couple of hours, it's far from bad. It certainly is nowhere near "Top-10 worst" bad, at least. The Wizard, again, is a fun movie but in the end is nothing more than a 90 minute Nintendo commercial. Not a good movie. A fun movie.

I think I might be inclined to agree with you on the Street Fighter anime. It was really well done. Some would say Advent Children was good, but really…it wasn't. It sort of ruined the plot of FF VII for me and introduced a lot of ridiculous things. To be honest, I had it on my first draft of this list but decided to take it off because, well, it probably isn't THAT bad. I just know that I loathe the film. Yes, I like Spirits Within better. I know that makes me legally insane.

Lucas!!!

I love the Power Glove. It's so bad.

Chicka, Chicka.

RavenTazECW brings a list idea to the table::

I liked the first Mortal Kombat movie, but the second one was atrocious. I didn't like nearly everyone being recast, and the movie itself was remarkably corny. I've seen the Final Fantasy movie twice and I still can't remember anything about it. It was just so dreadfully dull, but I can't even remember if it was bad or not, hahaha.

Have you done a list for the games that COULD make for great movies? I think I read one of those elsewhere, possibly IGN. I'd think certain game franchises could make for interesting movies, such as the Legacy of Kain, Diablo, Fallout, the Legend of Zelda, and just for the outfits and size of women's breasts: SoulCalibur. Of course, depending on the director and actors, each of those movies could end of horrible as well.

The Final Fantasy movie wasn't bad, it just wasn't very good. It had a very bland plot. I remember hearing an interview on Extended Play way back when where someone who worked on the movie said that the plot for the film was originally supposed to be the plot for Final Fantasy X. If this is in fact true, I'm very happy they went with X's plot because, you know, it was actually interesting. Then again, the guy being interviewed called Tidus "Tie-dus" which is not the proper pronunciation, so maybe he didn't really know his stuff.

Jerry brings more SF IV talk!

I've actually ran into a slew more of Akuma than anybody online. Ryu and Ken pretty often too and seeing as how I'm a RYu player...though I'm not that great with him I've been using Sagat a lot more often. TIGER KNEE!

As for the street fighter movie. I'm sorry, I classify this along with Batman and Robin: It's so fucking terrible that it's actually entertaining to watch: Now Who wants to go...and who wants to come with me!

Oh, and the Pokémon are awesome. Totally don't deserve to be here.

There are some really annoying Sagat players online. I hope you're not one of them! What I've noticed is that the Sagat player really, really sucks or they are just a pain in the ass to beat. Bah. I've noticed a sight more Akuma than I have Gouken at least. I figure maybe they're just showing off their fancy new character? The only problem with Akuma is that his super/ultra move is so easy to see coming. I'm undefeated against online Akumas, so maybe they need to work on that.

I agree with you on the Street Fighter movie. It's terrible but it's awesome. I appreciate that. I also notice you wish the Pokémon movie wasn't listed. A lot of other people were in on this but I have to tell you, I totally disagree. Of the Pokémon movies, I think the first is easily the worst of what I've seen. I thought Pokémon 2000 and the third Pokémon movie with Entei were both pretty entertaining. To each his own though.

Jordan Williams makes a rare 10th Hour appearance:

I don't comment much. But you have offended my honor by putting SMB and SFII on this list. Meet me by the Oak Tree for a dance battle.

I accept your challenge Mr. Ogre. I'll have you know that they don't call me "The Dancing" Derek Robbins for nothing now. Also, will this be a professor oak tree? I will feel quite awkward if he tries to school me on the art of catching Pokémon as we dance the night away.

Andy finishes up the comments this week:

Derek,

Bless you for not playing Ken. As a gift for switching mains I present you with this lovely photo:

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1470/kenflow.png

Sagat is a good choice, as is Akuma or even Ryu if you want to main a shoto. Ken is sadly worse than all of them, and also like a swarm or roaches online right now.

I'd seen that chart somewhere before, but I'm happy to see it again. Totally saved it. It's also fairly accurate. I was talking to Drew the other day and he said he felt bad because he was looking at the chart and felt he played kind of like that! Pooor guy. I like to imagine I learned my lessons after failing to win in a round 1, but there are times when I just get whupped. So who knows. I'm enjoying my fancy 100 wins gold trophy though.

As for my new main. I tooled around with Sakura the other day and got my shit handed to me by a Sagat user. It was actually a pretty big beatdown, to the point it about made me decide not to use her. I'm practicing intently as her though and hope to be able to hold my own. I'm also considering Cammy because she's not only easy to use, but also quite fun.



Top-10 Pokémon Games

It's about time I busted out a Pokémon list, eh? With so many of you guys defending the first Pokémon movie, I figure a fair share of you must wax nostalgically on the series. With Platinum coming out soon, I've decided to launch a two-week series on the franchise. I'm launching it this week because I don't know the status of next week's 10th hour – I may be on vacation – so I gotta get part 1 out the door. Basically, in order to make this list, it needs to be a Pokémon game that saw release in America. I also felt the need to disqualify Pokémon puzzle league because it is simply Tetris Attack with Pokémon characters. You know, to sell more copies.

Well, with that said, let's get this show on the road.

10-) Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness - First of all, what the heck is up with this title. Did Nintendo start asking kids on Youtube what they thought about Pokémon and got the response: "omg I REALLY love Pokémon XD!" I assume once they heard those words, a trigger went off in their collective brains and the name for their new Pokémon game was born. I honestly can't take this game seriously anymore because I just picture Nintendo messaging Satoshi Tajiri asking him what he's working on and him replying: "Pokémon XD". Oy.

As for what the game was about, it was the sequel to Pokémon Colosseum. It took place five years after that game. The evil company Cipher has returned after being beaten in the first game. Cipher is artificially closing the hearts of Pokémon and turning them into shadow Pokémon. Obviously, since you're a goody-two-shoes, you must open their hearts (IT'LL BE OKAAAAAAY) and turn them into nice Pokémon. Once you unlock a Pokémon's heart, it is yours. Yippee.

The story is honestly fairly generic. It's not going to win any awards, but it's the second honest-to-goodness Pokémon RPG to appear on a home console, and it's really hard to complain about that. It's a far cry from being as deep as the portably titles, but if you owned a Gamecube and wanted your Pokémon fix, it was by far your best option. It had its problems – it ported over a LOT of the stuff that was done in the original Pokémon Colosseum, to the point that it could probably be called a rehash – but in the end it's actually a pretty good game.

It also does a couple of interesting, noteworthy things. It's the only time that Pokémon from the next generation has appeared in a game that's in the current generation. This marked the video game debuts of Munchlax and Bonsly. These Pokémon, as you know, evolve into Snorlax and Sudowoodo. You couldn't port these Pokémon to your gameboy carts obviously, but they were in the game and offered sort of a sneak peak as to what we could expect from the Pokémon of generation 4.

This game also offers the only way to catch Lugia legitimately since generation II. Yeah, you could always go to an event and catch one that way, but the Lugia that appears in this game is the only one that us normal, non-event going people can get. Unfortunately, the game's predecessor offers more for Pokémon players by offering legit ways to catch Entei, Suicune, Raikou and Ho-oh. The legendary tigers could be caught in the remakes of Pokémon Red and Blue, but you could only get one at a time. Colosseum made it much easier for people.

While not being a fantastic game by any means, Pokémon XD is a decent play if you love Pokémon and need something to play on your Gamecube. You also will be able to get a creature with massive trade value, so give it a try will you?



9-) Pokémon Pinball - Unlike most of Nintendo's big series, Pokémon's spin-offs tend to be pretty good. They're not preferable to the originals by any sense of the imagination, but they are still very competent titles. Pokémon Pinball is one of those games. On the surface, it can be forgiven for thinking that this is just another grab for money, but the thing is: This game was just darn fun and offered a lot of reasons to come back to play it.

You see, Nintendo loves to test gimmicks and stuff on the Pokémon franchise and Pokémon Pinball is no exception to this. It's a game that has a rumble pack built in. You put one battery into it and you can feel the ball bouncing around the table and what not. As a guy who really digs rumble, I thought this was a cool addition, but for those of you who don't like it? No worries, just don't put the battery in. Luckily enough, the game works without a battery. This is good because that kind of fumble could really have cost the title.

There are two different boards you can play on. You have the red board and the blue board. On each board is a variety of locations and in each different location you can encounter Pokémon that you will eventually have the ability to catch. Once you catch these Pokémon you will be able to evolve them if you so choose to. I don't know why you wouldn't, really. Not only does evolving give you a bunch of points – which is technically the main reason you're playing – but it also adds to your pokedex.

Yes, the pokedex returns in this game and that's part of what makes it so interesting in my opinion. I'm not a guy who typically enjoys pinball games, but going back to catch them all seemed really addictive to me. It added an extra challenge and offers more replayability to an already highly replayable genre. They also find a way to incorporate pokeballs into the title. You see, as your points get higher your ball changes and you have the ability to catch at a faster rate. I may be wrong, but I think this would be the first time that images of the Great ball through the Ultra ball were displayed.

This game would be higher on the list if it wasn't for the fact that the sequel was even better than this one. That's pretty impressive. Pokémon Pinball was one of the best games for the Gameboy Color, and given how crowded that system was with quality content…that's really quite the compliment.



8-) Pokémon Stadium - If Pokémon Battle Revolution had been more like this title, there's no way it would have been left off the list. You see, PBR was a very bare-bones game that pretty much fixes the one glaring problem of Pokémon D/P – No random online encounters. Pokémon Stadium on the other hand was practically bursting at the seams with stuff for the player to do. PBR can probably be completed in one lazy afternoon, but Pokémon Stadium would require several of these afternoons.

In the North American version of the game, I'm really not sure about the Japanese one, you had the ability to transfer Pokémon from your copies of Pokémon Red, Yellow or Blue and play them on Pokémon Stadium. This was very cool because you could personalize your beloved monsters instead of using the rental ones. It also gives your creatures a new challenge after you toppled the Elite 4. This already gives you more single-player replayability than PBR does.

Your main goal through this game is to battle through the gym-leader castle. In this area, you fight various gym leaders as well as their followers. The leaders don't necessarily use the same Pokémon as they did in Pokémon Red and Blue, but they use teams very similar. The levels of the opposing party also always match your highest level. So, you don't have to worry about your level 100 monsters over-powering pathetic level 14 geodudes.

You also have to battle through several tournaments, referred to as cups. You had four different cups with different restrictions – usually based on level, though the petit cup forces you to be a certain height and weight – and once you beat them all a new option unfolds before you. Now, Mewtwo challenges your party and once you take him down – he's surprisingly hard if you use that lovely rare candy cheat – you unlock ROUND 2 which is an even harder version of the game. Beat all of the round 2 stuff and you'll get the honor of unlocking a surfing Pikachu for use in your copy of Pokémon Yellow. Yay!

Another good feature of this game though would be the Kids Club. They offer you a variety of minigames to play and although they weren't always the most complex things, at least they were there for the taking. You could also play through the Gameboy game on your TV as well as the ability to capture multiple versions of Pokémon that weren't necessarily easy to have multiple versions of. Back in the Red/Blue days, multiple Eevees was a rarity but thanks to Stadium it could happen.

Pokémon Stadium was a great little game and its sequel was equally as good. If you still have your copies of Red/Blue or Yellow around the house, hook it up to Pokémon Stadium sometime and try to have a little fun with it. I guarantee that you will. It's not too late Nintendo, make the next PBR Pokémon Stadium 3!



7-) Pokémon Emerald - When the third generation of Pokémon came out, I was in that period we all go through at one point. I was "too cool" for the creatures and kind of laughed at the idea of anyone liking them. It wasn't until I was older that I realized this period was just me trying to be cool. I later embraced Pokémon again and haven't looked back since. Lucky me a lot of people my age wax nostalgically over the franchise, eh? Anyhow, look, I really dislike Ruby and Sapphire. As a whole, they're a step backwards from the amazing second generation of games. Until Pokémon Emerald came out, I really thought the third generation was a huge black mark on the Pokémon legacy.

Emerald though offers a punch to Gen III's face and makes it passable. Emerald is still worse than the other main Pokémon games, but it's a step-up from Ruby and Sapphire and that's all that really matters. The first main difference you will notice in the game is primarily plot related. Team Aqua and Team Magma team up and steal the two legendary Pokémon Kyogre and Groudon. Obviously, you're not going to have anything to do with that, so you take Rayquaza – hopefully shiny – and beat the crap out of them. Winner, winner chicken dinner.

The real changes don't really take place until after you beat the game though. Once you tackle the elite 4, you get to do something kind of like what you got to do in the second generation of Pokémon. You see, in Gen II you could go back to the main area of Gen I and battle those gym leaders for a grand total of 16 badges. In Pokémon Emerald, you can re-battle the current gym leaders in double battles. You don't get any new badges but you are fighting leaders again. This is also good because the new feature, the double battle, came off as gimmicky and an afterthought in Ruby/Sapphire. It's nice that they want you to double battle in this one.

One of the major scale-backs to Gen III was for, whatever reason, making the battle sprites not animated like they were in Pokémon Crystal. For Emerald, they went right back to it. Good for them. Unfortunately, Gen II's defining feature – the night and day system – didn't quite make the transition to any of Gen III's games. The reason for this had something to do with the game's internal batteries but, you know, whatever. I still would have liked to have that.

Luckily, Emerald did something else that's totally awesome and didn't even need to borrow it from another Pokémon game. Emerald introduced the battle frontier which gave you the option to play various battles in various ways. This was a nice alteration from the battle tower that you got to fight your way through in Ruby/Sapphire. It was pretty addictive and added on more replay value to the game than what was there initially. The Battle Frontier alone may have planted Emerald on this list. The Frontier was absent from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl but luckily returns for Platinum.

While it's in the worst generation of every Pokémon game released, Pokémon Emerald is still a pretty good game and one of the finest available on the Gameboy Advance. If you have a DS though, feel free to skip this. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl are better in most every way imaginable.

- Gen III did introduce some crappy Pokemon.

6-) Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire - The second Pokémon pinball game is an improvement over the original one. Given how much I thought of the original one, that's actually quite the compliment. This game is very similar to the original Pokémon Pinball with a couple of exceptions. First, instead of a Red and Blue table you get a Ruby and Sapphire table. Obviously, that's not much of a difference but this clearly makes the board layouts different. You know, now you have different Pokémon obstacles adorning the arena. You know, you can now send your balls into Sharpedo! Err..uhh…maybe you should hold off on that.

You also have the ability to hatch Pokémon babies this go around, but this is mostly just a glorified version of catching a Pokémon. The main use for this is to catch baby Pokémon that can't normally be found in the wild. Other than that though, it's practically the game game with just different Pokémon available to your perusal. It's not a bad thing though: you still have the ability to collect everything and add it to your pokedex. That's good! A bigger and better game is all it is in the end though.

Before I close discussion on this, I feel I should mention something on this game that I kind of left out of the original synopsis on Pokémon Pinball. Whenever you catch three Pokémon you are given the option to play a bonus stage. There are five of these bonus stages in total. They aren't used for buffering your Pokedex at all though, so if you're just playing this game to catch ‘em all, well, you'll be disappointed. It's used for racking up points which is technically the main goal of this game.

If you played the original Pokémon Pinball, you'll love this one as well. It does everything the original does, only bigger and better. It's pretty ideal for long road trips or waiting for the bus.



5-) Pokémon Trading Card Game - When I was growing up with the Pokémon, I really couldn't stay away from the cards. I remember once I was given forty dollars for doing some task. What did I do with that money? I had my parents take me right to Babbages and buy $40 worth of the new Team Rocket expansion. Hey, I really wanted a Dark Charizard, fuck you! Naturally, with me feeling so nostalgic about Pokémon cards, it's a pretty easy assumption that this game would be on here.

The TCG mirrors the way a typical Pokémon game goes. At the start, you talk to a professor and he gives you a starter pack. You get a deck built around fire, water or grass. Of course, as a kid this upset me because it was SO easy for this character to get a Charizard card, but for me? Oh God, I had to buy a billion packs before I got one. I ended up trading it away for a Japanese Blain's Charizard I believe. Anyhow, once you have this deck, battle various trainers around the world and you'll be given expansion packs as a reward. With the expansions, you can feel free to build your own unique deck!

The TCG is noticeably less linear than the standard Pokémon games though. You see, in this one, you're allowed to tackle the gym leaders – called club leaders – in any order you so choose. So really, unlike the games, there is no disadvantage to taking the fire deck right away. It helped me burn my dread away. This is a kind of feature I would like to see implemented in the main Pokémon series, but it would be so tough to pull off, I'm not exactly sure how they would go about doing it.

Your main goal, by beating these leaders, is to challenge the Pokémon Card champion and claim some legendary Pokémon cards. These are apparently super rare and only one print of each exists in the world. They go to the champion. Why hasn't a champion auctioned them off yet? As you can probably guess, your rival throughout the main game becomes champion and you must battle him for the right to be Pokémon card master. A simple system that has worked wonders over the years.

This game knows that running around a world map would be impractical, so it pretty much cuts the middle man out. From the get-go, you are able to select any of the gyms you so choose and battle inside of them. You don't need to wonder around routes or try to find Bill. It' simple, straight-up easy action. A world map would have severely hurt the game, but a hub system works perfectly. I have to give kudos for this.

I also have to give props for bringing back the collect aspect. Obviously in a card game collecting is going to be important, but in POKÉMON cards, I mean, come on. You gotta catch ‘em all! There are over 200 cards for you to collect ranging the first three packs (basic, jungle and fossil) as well as introducing some original cards made exclusively for the game. It was neat trying to get them all, but could I really expect any less from these virual crack dealers?

A sequel to the game was released in Japan that focused around the Team Rocket expansion. We never got that here in North America, which is a shame. I honestly think we're over-due for another Pokémon card game. I haven't played the real card game in years (ever since they started making cards for Silver/Gold to be honest), but I would be totally game for another videogame based on it. It would bring back such great memories…like about how I lost a tournament because I had practically no trainer cards in my deck and thought it would be pretty badass to just go in with Pokémon and energy early. DAMN YOU GAME FOR NOT BEING AROUND TO SHOW ME OTHERWISE.



4-) Pokémon Gen I (Red, Blue and Yellow) - These are the games that started it all. I assume if these games weren't released, I would be a much more productive individual to this day. Honestly, I blame the first Pokémon generation for making me flounder in Middle school. It had a total grasp on my life and wouldn't let go for anything. My life revolved around catching new Pokémon, collecting Pokémon cards and dear sweet lord, seeing the Pokémon movie. I caught that shit on opening night.

You start the game off as Red (or Ash, depending on who you ask) and are tasked, very simply, with one goal: catch them all. You need to find them, you need to fight with them, you need to collect them. That's really all there was to it and to be quite honest, it was addicting as hell. There was something charming about roaming through a fictional world and finding new monsters in every corner. It was cool seeing the bosses use the same enemies as you did. It was awesome being able to totally customize your party with your favorites. If you wanted to, you could have six Magikarp as your party. It wasn't recommended but damn, you could if you wanted to.

It was this sort of power that made Pokémon so appealing. It launched the standard "eight gym leaders, elite 4" format that proved so successful that it lasts to this day. The games encouraged kids to use their imaginations by having relatively simplistic graphics that didn't show much, but a variety of moves in which you could imagine it. Pokémon was pure gameplay and we loved every minute of it. I gotta wax nostalgically here. If you owned all 151 Pokémon, you were fucking GOOD.

Perhaps my favorite thing about Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow in retrospect would have to be all the crazy rumors that came from it. I got into these games when I was in the sixth grade, which might be a little old I guess, but I know most people I knew played the game. I just remember hearing kids on the playground talking about the Pokegods, I remember browsing the internet and looking at all these fake cheats. I can't tell you how many hours I spent scavenging for Bill's Secret Garden or trying to find my very own Pikablu. I can tell ya', it was a whole damn lot though. Don't even get me started on that FUCKING truck that supposedly had Mew under it.

I seriously had convinced my friends that I had caught a Togepi once. You see, Togepi was a pokegod that was proven legit by appearing on the show. So I had made up some sort of crazy story about how I found the owner to the keys in the Game zone. She was so thankful she took me to her house and gave me a Togepi as a reward. The Togepi doesn't evolve but has 999 in all stats and could learn every move in the game. I really could care less if I was a nerd back then, I was amazingly happy.

You really don't see that anymore though. Games today don't capture the kind of mystery that the first Pokémon titles had. I wanted to see if kids had crazy D/P rumors so I did a quick search on it and to my dismay I couldn't really find anything. I guess kids are better at the internet these days. I doubt the kind of wonder and amazement can be replicated. It was just one of those games.

Damn you to hell for ruining my middle school years, Pokémon. I may have kicked the habit by the time I reached High School (well, I played it secretly during my Freshman year but I was "too cool" for it at that point. I know a lot of other people who played it in the closet at that point too, so I don't feel as bad about it), but there was a time that you absolutely OWNED my life. These games launched the multi-million dollar franchise and should be recognized for their greatness.



3-) Pokémon Snap - Everybody needs a game that allows you to just kick back and enjoy life for a little while. Pokémon Snap was that kind of game. You weren't in any high stakes battles, there wasn't any pressure of your Pokémon being beaten to smithereens, there was no grinding…it was just you and a camera on a course trying to take the best pictures that you can. Heck, you could even take your cart from your N64 and go to Blockbuster to print off stickers of your impressive photo taking skills. That was awesome!

The game features a total of seven levels for you to go through. You're not in control of your movement in the game, you're only in charge of the camera. In this regard, it's kind of like a safari. As you progress through the levels, you need to take various photographs of Pokémon. Usually these Pokémon would be out in the open but sometimes you would need to do special things in order to make them show themselves. This could range from making an Electrode Explode or coaxing some Jynxs into singing a song to make Articuno appear. It was a game where you had to play through several times in order to get the most out of it.

On top of making new Pokémon appear, the items that you got – apples, pester balls and a pokeflute – allowed you to get Pokémon to go into new poses allowing for better pictures. You could make Pikachu perform an electric attack (or get ground down by a Marowak!), you could make Slowpoke evolve into Slowbro, you could even get a Meowth stuck in a tornado. It's all about experimentation and that's what made the game so excellent. It made you really interact with these creatures, perhaps for the first time.

Sadly, the game wasn't perfect. Even though it rewarded experimentation, there were only seven levels to experiment through and these levels weren't horribly long. If you weren't gunning for the best shots, odds are you could beat Pokémon Snap in about two hours. That's even taking into account the several times that you will replay Mew's level in order to get a decent shot of it. The length can be upped to about six hours if you experiment with every level and attempt to get as many poses as you can but still, that's pretty damn short.

Another issue would have to be that only 63 of the first 151 Pokémon were actually in the game. That is not even half of the total number of Pokémon which is pretty sad. The game was originally unveiled as a 64DD game which didn't ever come to fruition. It makes me wonder if the decision to place it back on the regular 64 caused it to be a shorter game? Honestly, 14 levels would have upped the game to about 4 hours normal play and a lot longer extended play trying to get all sorts of poses out. It doesn't make sense but…I don't care a whole lot. Why? Because the game is still fun and damn unique.

They really could use another one of these. The wii mote would lend itself quite well to photography and now that they have close to 500 different creatures, they could make quite the expansive game. It really has potential to be quite the safari. Obviously, I'm not brash enough to assume that they'd include every Pokémon under the sun in this game, but it could certainly be very interesting and significantly better than any Pokémon spin-off in recent memory. Especially that Pokémon Ranger bullshit.

Pokémon Snap is a short yet relaxing game that is fun to play when you don't want anything too serious. It's the closest you can get to actually interacting with the pocket monsters. So if you want a game that doesn't require a lot out of you and is a break from your standard gaming fair, well, go with this virtual safari. It could be better, sure, but it's an amazing little game none-the-less.



2-) Pokémon Gen. II (Silver, Gold, Crystal) - Many fans of the series claim that the second generation of Pokémon is the absolute apex of the franchise. While I don't quite agree with that claim, the second generation is absolutely phenomenal and still holds up well even to this day. A lot of the innovations that this game made stuck with the series for a long, long time.

First, the most impressive thing about Gen. II was the introduction of day/night. It added a whole ‘nother aspect to the game. In order to catch certain Pokémon you needed to not only be in a certain area but also be in a certain area at a certain time of day. It used to kind of annoy me because playing through the game I was almost never able to play during the day time so I would miss out on certain creatures. There were also night-time evolutions. For instance, Eevee would evolve into Umbreon during the night if it was friendly enough with you. Eevee would evolve into Espeon during the day under the same conditions. This feature was lost entirely in the transition to the third gen due to battery concerns. A shame.

The game's clock made Gen. II feel like an actual Pokémon world instead of one that is just statically day time. To compliment this "actual world" feel, you were given a radio and a telephone. Occasionally someone would call you and ask for a rematch or sometimes people would just call to see what was going on, but it made me feel like the character was actually part of something. He (or she if you're playing Crystal) wasn't just trying to become a personality-less Pokémon master.

Hold items were also introduced in this game. Hold items, if you haven't fought in a battle in recent times, can hold a major impact on fights. They can alter the attributes of your Pokémon and how they work as a whole. I don't remember if hold items were all that useful in Gen. II, but at the very least you were able to get Scizor, Slowking and Steelix from this little process which is just swell.

On top of shiny Pokémon, which is a Pokémon with a color variation, Pokémon were now able to breed. Obviously rare Pokémon such as legendaries could not mate, but certain rare ones – such as Eevee – could making it easier to own more Pokémon evolutions without trading. Obviously, one of the big draws of Pokémon mating was the new baby Pokémon such as Pichu and Magby. I'm not sure if it was introduced in this generation or not (it may have been Gen III), but breeding Pokémon could lead to great things such as new moves that they normally wouldn't know or improved stats.

Probably the single thing that sticks out the most in our minds in regards to the second generation of Pokémon is definitely the ability to go back to Red and Blue's area and fight the original gym leaders. They had done some training since the last time you fought them, but they weren't exactly that hard to beat. It was a neat little feature, but if I had to be honest, the whole R/B area is pretty neutered compared to the original game. I prefer Emerald's Battle Frontier to the old areas in this game. Though, I have to be honest, challenging Red to a battle is just DAMN cool.

The previously mentioned "animated" Pokémon also debut in Pokémon Crystal. To tell you what I mean, picture a Cyndaquil coming into battle. At the start of the fight, the flames on its back will flicker. It doesn't do that the whole battle, but it's a neat little introduction. I have no idea as to why it was missing from Gen. III at the beginning but whatever eh? The battle tower was introduced in this game too but it just wasn't that great. It would get better later on, obviously, but hey. Everything needs its starts.

For as innovative as the original two games were, Pokémon Silver and Gold probably brought the most change to the series. A lot of the features introduced in these games are in the series to this day and are pretty much mainstays. A lot of people think Pokémon only went downhill from this point, and I can see how they might think that. Gen. II was incredible.

- Gen II, unlike Gen III, introduced us to the best Pokemon in the universe.

1-) Pokémon Gen IV (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum) - The most recent games in the main Pokémon franchise also just happen to be the very best ones. It's mostly because I believe that the series has only improved since its initial release. Obviously, it skipped a step with Gen. III, but Gen IV brings it all back around and shows the once loyal fans of the series why they loved it so much.

The most obvious new feature of Pokémon Diamond is now the ability to play online with other people. Sadly, the game forgot to include random online battles with people. Still though, the ability to battle friends even when they are not right next to you is pretty cool. Remember how you used to hop around forums and talk about how you were so good at Pokémon and how forum user x couldn't beat you? Well, now you can actually accept those challenges to amusing results!

Unlike Gen III, the day and night features of Gen II were brought back. This is because the DS keeps time on its own, so Diamond and Pearl don't actually need to keep track of time on their own battery. Hoorah! This brings back the lovely ability to catch Pokémon at night or during the day. They even have a Pokémon that requires you to get on at a very specific time in Rotom.

Gen IV makes some changes to the combat though. Previously, all attacks were either deemed physical or special. This game expands on that by making attacks that involve the Pokémon physically attacking another physical attacks while other more "beam" based attacks – such as hyper beam – are described as special. Any attack under the "other" label do not cause damage but instead boost stats or detract stats in some way. This can help when filling out a moveset as moves that weren't effective against certain Pokémon may work better in this game. You know, against certain Pokémon with ridiculous defenses in one category such as Blissey.

Gen IV also allows you to catch every Pokémon in existence in some way. Yeah, you'll likely have to have a GBA cart in order to catch as many as possible, but you can still catch them all. This was not possible in Gen IV, so being able to actually catch everything was pretty cool. Some people may not be as keen on this as I am because this means that a Gen. II remake is less likely, but who cares? For the first time since Gen II it is actually possible to catch every Pokémon relatively easily. Yay!

The soon to be released Platinum gets lumped in with the rest because, really, it only improves on the formula that Diamond and Pearl already have in place. It adds new forms to Pokémon already in existence – Rotom, Shaymin and Giratina – and also brings back the Battle Frontier from Pokémon Emerald. Plus, I do believe that random online battling is now in place as well as Pokémon themed mini-games. The game is also, interestingly enough, taking place a couple of seasons after the events of Diamond and Pearl. I like that.

For those who were wondering, the already in place system of EV and IV training remains in this game. So if you spent a lot of time EV training a Pokémon in Ruby or Sapphire, you don't need to worry because it remains at the same ridiculous strength! I forget what the advanced training method was in Gens I and II, I just know that I quite enjoy the EV and IV training. It makes for very interesting post-game gameplay. I know my file in D/P is pretty embarrassing as far as time played. It's not the worst though. I know people who have their clocks maxed out on the game. Insanity!

The fourth generation of Pokémon is simply the best. It offers the most things to do and also is the most competent playing of the lot. It's hard to go back to the past once you experience the present. I respect some people for having Silver and Gold as their favorites, but to me? Gen. IV does it all perfectly. I hope that the fifth generation can hold its own too.



Well, that's it for this week. As always, you can leave a comment here or send me an e-mail at [e-mail]. I enjoy every bit of feedback that you give me, good or bad, as I feel it makes me better at what I do which is totally cool. You can also feel free to add me on PSN at Croix22. Thank you very much, guys.

Before I go though, let's see what's going on around our gaming section, shall we?

Jordan Williams writes The Working Title. He launches a new series this week looking at franchises that could make a leap into other genres and still be successful.

Theo Fraser writes The Nintendophiles.

I write B3yond the Report

Drew "Luigi" Robbins hosts a Three-Player Co-Op against Mark "Salmonella", James "Travis" McGee and himself.

Tommy Coloma writes The Release List

Todd Vote polls our game staff on the Top-5 games that need the Holiday Treatment.

Ramon Aranda hosts Fact or Fiction between Ty "From Digimon" Huston and Justin "credible" Engelmann.

Trace Aber writes Living Live

Joe Roche writes The Full-Circle 360 News Report

That's it. I'm out.

'til the crossroads

Screenshots
All 9 The 10th Hour Screenshots