The first week of release for the new Pokèmon titles for the DS: Diamond and Pearl. Before they reach US shelves, the titles have broken world record in Japan. Shattering Pokèmon Gold / Silver's world record from the 21th of November 1999 with over 1,4 million copies, the new DS titles impress with 1,586,360 sold copies.

Ed note ( flipkin ): Ok. Having missed out on the Pokemon craze, WTF? Why are Pokemon titles such movers?

No DS here, so oh well.

flipkin, part of it is the cutesy characters that tend to interest young girls. So, you have a large group of players just from that. Then, you can count all the other people who have decided to try it and ignore the cutesy characters and instead just play it for the gameplay. That boosts sales much higher, yet.

Personally, I don't care for the shows and movies. But I do like the handheld games. There aren't many options for similar gameplay out there. The Demokid games are similar as are some others, but there really aren't that many. And the gameplay is actually quite interesting. Being able to capture your "army" makes for some more interesting gameplay because you don't just start out with all the best units, or all level 1 units out of 3 or 4 levels of units. You start out with one unit and have to find and capture the rest. And, since all the units have very different abilities and attacks and stats, it makes choosing the most appropriate ones more interesting. Add into that the weaknesses and strengths, you can't just use the same units from start to finish... you have to keep at least about twice as many as you can hold leveled up for when you run across different kinds of pokemon.

They aren't my favorite games and they do get boring after awhile, but they still have good gameplay when you look past the cutesy aspect of the games.

They're essentially RPGs for kids. "Collect 'em all!" is psychologically equivalent to "reach level 60 in WoW".

I would argue that WOW and other RPGs, online or not, have also gone the route of "Collect them all". Whether they're called and armor set or unique items or are simply a bunch of unlockable skins and abilities, I think that developers of the past decade have definitely been aware of Pokemon's success and have gone out of their way to cover their product with mini-games and tons of stuff to collect. Even games with multiple endings could be said to be a form of collection, as there are gamers who will want to experience all of them, or at least the "best" (and most time-consuming in gameplay).

Those counters which measure the percentage of the game completed are the bane of my existance and serve to lure people into continually playing in order to "collect it all".

It's not just young girls that this game appeals to - the Pokémon have such a massive variation between the 380+ different species that there's something to appeal to EVERYONE. Whether it's Meowth or Mewtwo, there's a monster for you to pick which suits your personality. The game itself also has a massive amount of variety: there are essentially two different, incredibly deep games in one. The first is the multi-layered strategy of battle itself; but the other (which appeals to me MUCH more than the fighting, which I find a chore) is the collection and evolution of various species of Pokémon, which essentially has you, the player, cataloguing and recording information of EVERY monster in the (game) world.

Unfortunately, the console games, like Stadium and Colosseum, focus on the battling as opposed to the collecting and trading, which sucks for people like me who enjoy the collection aspect of the game much more.

Actually, strike that - there's THREE games in there now; you can choose to enter beauty contests too, and tweak your chosen Pokémon so that it can appeal to the judges. The monster's moves, instead of being used to fight, have different effects on the judges and opponent Pokémon also entering the contest. The mind boggles.

(And for the record, I'd much prefer collecting a billion different creatures instead of repeatedly hitting things until my stats increase. Different strokes for different folks, eh?)

Flipkin, since you have never played Pokemon i will personally tell you that the game is ADDICTING. I mean, for one, its ALL of the reasons Ben just said. Its a lot of combination of strategy and the fun of collecting. Its also the fact that its one of the most immersive car-ride game ever. This comes from the fact that its really small, really addicting, and people who play feel almost complete escapism. Its not often that you can cram a whole entire world/universe into a small handheld and make it seem as though you are still at home playing your console or PC. And also, there is just a shoitload to do in this game. I mean, Ben mentioned the beauty contest, but there's a lot more. There's fishing contests, secret items, secret pokemon, tons of competitions and dozens and dozens of sidequests. Theres a good 50+ hours in the game, and then you have the main game which is also amazing.

I know it seems like Pokemon rides on its name and its cuteness but despite how it seems the games are actaully spectacular. Its an entire universe crammed into a single tiny cartridge that you can bring anywhere in the wolrd with, and i think that's why it sells.

OR

The kids are just too stupid to realize that Nintendo is using cuteness, fun, and adventure as an advertising method. Whatever, cuteness sells to those little kids. But hey, adults can enjoy them too.

It combines mankind's predisposition towards violence, greed, and cruelty towards animals? How could it possibly fail? ;)

Back in the early days of Pokemon, I played through the Blue/Red/Yellow versions with a young friend of mine. We had some great times trading, collecting, and conversing about battle strategy. I eventually lost interest in the series, but it can definitely be addictive.

POKEMON IS TEH SATAN!!!111

*hides*

...linked to a selection of occult games such as Sailor Moon, Star Wars, and others more overtly evil.

mwahAHAHAHA!

How is Star Wars related to the occult?

How is Star Wars related to the occult?

So, about this "dark side of the Force" business...

Uhh...

If the movies were only about the dark side, then ok... but they aren't. That would mean that *many* are connected with the occult. That's like saying that any movie with evil in it is based off the occult even if evil loses. That just doesn't make any sense to me.

Uh, c'mon Riamus, don't ruin the joke... =D

The article was obviously written by soccer moms who think that everything depends on God, and that anything remotely giving the children idea of independence is a sin. Take this for example:

Unless they know God and His warnings, they cannot understand the forces that have captivated children around the world.

Later, during a recent party for Matthew, Barbara heard two of the boys discussing their little pocket monsters. One said, "I'll just use my psychic powers." Already, the world of fantasy had colored his real world.

He told her that during recess on the playground the children would "summon" the forces on the cards they collect by raising sticks into the air and saying, "'Spirits enter me.' They call it 'being possessed.'"

Strange as it may sound to American ears, demonic possession is no longer confined to distant lands. Today, government schools from coast to coast are teaching students the skills once reserved for the tribal witchdoctor or shaman in distant lands. Children everywhere are learning the pagan formulas for invoking "angelic" or demonic spirits through multicultural education, popular books, movies, and television. It's not surprising that deadly explosions of untamed violence suddenly erupt from "normal" teens across our land.

Don't these people remember that when they said as a kid "Man, I'm going to kill you!" didn't actually mean that they were going to actually murder another person?

Man, since when was it a sin against God to have an imagination? When was it a sin against God to be allowed to have your own opinions or your own values separate from your church?

Just a request, but can we please keep the talk centered on Pokemon and gaming? We don't need religious arguments starting. :(

>.< Oh yea, sorry about that. I always forget about how one post can create another million.



Okay, so who knows who generation of Pokemon games they are on now. I stopped after the second generation (Gold/Silver/Crystal) but how many do they have now?

The new games for the DS (Pearl/Diamond) makes it the fourth generation of Pokèmon and Pokèmon games. With this game, there are exactly 500 Pokèmon obtainable in the "Universe" of Pokèmon. Do not be confused by the re-release of the first generation (Red-FireRed, Green-LeafGreen), which doesn't count as one generation because it hasn't got any new Pokèmon...

Okay guys, I will let the Pokemon=Devil argument go after this:

Did you notice that the grandma in that article assumed it was the influence of Pokemon that was making her grandkid act up? Maybe she should read over her own letter. Especially the part about (I'm quoting here): his Mum, my daughter Deborah, {who is not saved as yet,} buys him whatever he asks for.

Lady, maybe your grandchild is just a spoiled brat.

That was pretty much the point of my reply.

These people want to blame their problems on demons and such, but they're caused by their own ignorance of their children's habits and games. Nothing more. This has nothing to do with their religious preference. They're just cruddy parents. :P

B/c...they are soooo cute >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

But otherwise...I dunno...they are kinda boring to me...