Stand witness as four three boys embark on their quest to penetrate the delicate balance between the real world... and the world our fans want us in. Ugh. Featured MIDI: Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

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Pokémon

Wait, this is a GAME BOY game?

Developer: Game Freak, Creatures Publisher: Nintendo Genre: Roleplaying Players: 1 System: Game Boy Super GameBoy Compatible: Yes Color: No ESRB: Kids to Adults Difficulty: Hard

This has got to be the greatest RPG for the Game Boy, ever. Everyone who owns a Game Boy at my school has Pokémon. Now, when you say to someone you have a Game Boy, they say something like, "Cool! How many Pokémon do you have?" With a good plot, ENORMOUS line of characters (there are over 150, if you know what I mean (and if you don't, you will)), good graphics for a Game Boy game, and an all-around addictive, challenging theme, Pokémon is a winner.

Gameplay--Pokémon has very good gameplay. It's got all the components of an RPG, like fighting moves, healing centers, shops, very diverse characters (called Pokémon), and bosses. One cool thing about it is that you can never die! There's no dying in the game. But what I mean, is, you don't even fight. You send out Pokémon to fight for you. Well, what I mean by never dying is, if all your Pokémon faint, (you can carry up to six at a time) you somehow black out and end up at a Pokémon healing center. Since the real objective is to catch all the Pokémon you can find, there are many different ways. You can buy them, gamble for them, catch them as wild ones, fish for them, and even go into games where the objective is to catch them! You can evolve them with practice, and they turn into different Pokémon! Also, you can save the game whenever you want, outside of battle! The downers: each Pokémon can only learn 4 moves, and when you want to teach it a new one, it has to forget an old one. You have to trade Pokémon with someone else who has a Game Boy with a Link Cable to actually beat the game. Without that, it's impossible to beat, (you have to catch all 150) and even with that, it's almost impossible to beat.

Graphics--If this were a PlayStation game, you would gag all over the place if you saw the graphics on this game. But this isn't a PlayStation game, now is it? In other words, the graphics are really good. There are three pictures for every Pokémon: as an icon, from the back view, and front view. Hey, it could be better, but the cartrige only holds 2 MB, so I fully accept it. (Anyway, there are around 10 or more hidden characters.)

Music--Excellent. There is different music for each town you go to, different music for shops and houses, and different music for battles, depending on how important they are.

Storyline--Very good, very big. 10-year-old Ash Catch'em (or whoever you want to call him) finally gets his liscence to become a Pokémon trainer, and heads out on his quest. Professor Oak tells him, and his rival Gary, to go and catch every Pokémon there is, and record them on something he gives them, called a Pokédex. Ash sets out to become the greatest Pokémon trainer in the world. Along the way, he battles Pokémon Gym leaders, who give him a badge to show he has beaten them. During the game, Ash finds that a group called Team Rocket is taking whole businesses and towns captive. At the end, Ash defeats Team Rocket, and all eight Gym leaders, and the Elite Four, the most experienced and powerful Pokémon trainers in the world. All he has left to do is defeat his long-time rival, Gary, who is always one step ahead of him, and Ash becomes the most powerful Pokémon trainer in the world. All he has to do now is catch all 150 Pokémon. This is all great, but you can only become one Pokémon master at a time, because there is only one save slot.

Fun Factor--One word: addictive. It's hard to stop. It's like reading a good book, you want to find out what happens next. Even after you beat the Elite Four and Gary, it's fun to play, because you want to show off you 150 Pokémon to your obsessed friends at school, and the trading thing is kind of exciting. There has never been an RPG like this where you catch animals (unless you think about Chocobos, which aren't as fun to catch).

Overall Satisfaction--This is certainly a worthwhile game to play (a little stating of the obvious). With a great plot, good gameplay, good graphics and music, I said it once and I'll say it again... Pokémon is a winner.

Highs: Creative for a Game Boy game, good plot, good graphics and music.
Lows: VERY difficult to beat.
Score: 9