The franchise and anime suck but the games are a guilty pleasure. Great RPG and time consuming game in it's own right.
The basic premise, story and gameplay is simple. You play as a boy (or girl) who goes around catching cutesy creature and use them to battle other people prized Pokemon. You help people out and go to Gyms to earn badges that show how good you are and eventually reach for the ultimate prize, the title of Pokemon Master. It sounds childish and corny but the adventuring and RPG element make this a real gem for your GameBoy Advance.
As your Pokemon level up, they get stronger and learn new moves. Since you can only have 4 moves you will have to sacrifice old ones, this limitation means your going to do a lot of decision making and I find that only having 4 moves is a really neat idea.Your Pokemon have a special Pokemon Power that can either power up a type of move when in a pinch or paralyze on contact etc. Also, Pokemon have different types and each type has it's weakness, with only four moves for each Pokemon the fact you want a balanced team that can handle all types is one of the great RPG factors of this game. It's pure genius and even though battles are as simple as telling a Pokemon to use an attacking or defensive move and then the other Pokemon does one, there's so much complexity in it and makes this RPG forumla as good as some console RPGs.
Pokemon evolve when they Level up, which can be a good thing or a bad thing, they may not be able to learn a move, evolve into the wrong thing or may lose their really useful Pokemon Power in return for a rubbish one. Breeding is another factor is the game that goes beyond leaving a boy and a girl Pokemon and getting a baby in an egg. There are different classes, a Pokemon that can breed with every Male or Female Pokemon and some that just can't. There are also special breeding methods to get a certain type of baby or a special rare move to be inherited, as well as special types of evolution like love, breeding, item trading or what stats the Pokemon has. It's all really, really deep.
As you go around the land you will bump into wild Pokemon you catch and raise, you find them in grass or by fishing. You can also find shiny Pokemon but these are really rare. There are puzzles in dungeons, buildings, gyms and on the field. Some of these are easy but others might be hard for a 6 year old to grasp.
In the field you can dig, go in trees, swim on your Pokemon, fly, cut down trees and grass and dive underwater. These allow you to go to new places and find rare Pokemon or treasure or return to a place you've visited before. You can link and trade with others, then you can chat and battle with them. There is a battle tower, special swarms of Pokemon and special broadcasts on TV as well.
The music is OK and sometimes catchy, each Pokemon has their own cry which is cool and there are the odd teleporter and boulder moving sound effect for good measure.
The graphics look bright, colourful and cute and there can be a lot going on on the screen. Battle moves look impressive and the text is big and bold enough to see and read. All in all, the graphical and sound presentation is very well done, so kudos to Nintendo there!
Forget the hype and pick up Pokemon FireRed or LeafGreen, there is so much to do, it is so immersive and addictive you'll find it hard to put down. An instant classic. Or is it that classic reborn and vastly improved?