GameCube

Pokémon Colosseum

Genau wie Pokémon Rubin & Saphir machte mir Pokémon Colosseum einen Heidenspaß. Es vereint Altbewährtes aus Pokémon Stadion 1 und 2 mit Rubin & Saphir und bekam zudem noch einen Touch Final Fantasy verpasst. Und diese Mischung weiß mehr als zu überzeugen. Alle Achtung, Nintendo!

Overall, Pokemon Colosseum was a bit of a surprise, since the expectation was little more than Pokemon Stadium: GameCube. While it is a little rough in the sound department, a few of the visuals are off, and it has slight limitations on how you can obtain your Pokemon, Colosseum is a worthy of a Pokemon fan’s time. This is the full-on console RPG many Pokemon fans have been clamoring for.

Pokemon Colosseum is the first RPG to make it onto a current-gen console, and as such will provide hours of enjoyment to any Pokemon fanatic, but newbies may well want to pick up a copy of Ruby/Sapphire first. Okay, it isn’t quite the definitive Pokemon game to end them all as we may have hoped, but for fans, this really is an essential purchase. Peeeee-ka-chooo! Ahem…

You know how sometimes it's great to be wrong? This is one of those times. Pokemon Colosseum is a true sequel to the Game Boy Advance games. It could be considered a side-story, but the gameplay is a continuation of Ruby and Sapphire. It's got almost everything I wanted 3D Pokemon game to have – classic, addictive gameplay, good graphics, an excellent soundtrack, and decent length. It also has something you can't find in today's RPGs: replay value.

Although it doesn't boast as many activities as its two predecessors (Pokemon Stadium One and Two for N64), Pokemon Colosseum still has the charm of the older games. Colosseum is missing the mini-games and rental Pokemon (Pokemon instantly prepared for battle) that children enjoyed in the two Stadium games. Our younger testers missed these two features, while an older tester found Pokemon Colosseum more engaging because of the new-to-GCN story mode. The lack of a rental Pokemon feature can discourage younger children from battling more experienced players.

When it comes to the Pokemon franchise, Nintendo has been treating the Game Boy owners very pleasantly while giving console owners bits and pieces. The Game Boy has seen three full-fledged “chapters” in the Pokemon series. These have been complete with Pokemon raising, capturing and everything else that makes a Pokemon game a, well, Pokemon game. On the other hand, console owners were given 3D battling games, a picture-taking safari, and some personal time with the infamous Pikachu. Pokemon Colosseum attempts to remedy this by giving us the first true 3D Pokemon game. But does it deliver on its promise?

Good, but not great. Everyone was expecting a massive groundbreaking title that would shake up the Pokémon franchise, well this aint it folks. Whilst the Dark/Shadow idea is very neat and adds a real drive and purpose to the game, the whole thing is pretty much what anyone might expect from a full-on 3D RPG of Pokémon. Not that we are complaining massively. This is a hugely enjoyable title and will no doubt delight Poké-nuts the world over, and perhaps even convert some former Poké-nots.

Pokemon Colosseum is a lot like Pokemon Stadium. You battle Pokemon in 3-D. In other Pokemon games, you walk around battling foes, going to the Pokemon Center, and saving… a lot! Though it is a lot like the Pokemon Stadium games there are also a lot of different things about it. Pokemon Stadium featured nothing but battle after 3-D battle, no exploration or anything else from the Game Boy games. But Pokemon Colosseum is different. Well for one… you actually walk around! Yes, it's true! One of the major things about Pokemon Colosseum is that you walk (or should I say ride) from town to town. The only thing is that by the time you get to know the game, you'll probably get tired from walking everywhere.

Pokémon Colosseum is certainly worth the Pokémon name and for the fans it's a must-have. Nintendo has done the right thing to incorporate a storyline but on the other side it wasn't a good choice to decrease the freedom by choosing the cities on a map. This makes the game miss the huge feeling you have with the other games. Also, there's way too little Pokémon to catch.

It's clear that the designers limited the direction of the GameCube's quest so as not to overshadow the Game Boy Advance design; if you want the full Pokemon experience, you're going to need a GBA system. But even with the lack of gameplay variety in its quest, Pokemon Colosseum is one hugely challenging game, and it has enough originality, not to mention a whole assortment uniquely catchable creatures, in its design to encourage both newbies and veterans alike to experience a new style of Pokemon adventure.

Though its popularity isn't quite at the same fevered pitch it was back in the late '90s, Nintendo's Pokémon franchise still seems to have some spark left in it. The perennial pairs of Pokémon games that show up on the Game Boy platform have maintained a level of quality that, despite an aesthetic that some find too saccharine, has kept the franchise fresh and accessible. Though the weird metagame known as Pokémon Channel was released in the States a few months ago, it's been a long time since a real Pokémon game has been released outside the GBA, and the new Pokémon Colosseum does a decent job of filling this void. As the successor to Nintendo's Pokémon Stadium games for the N64, Colosseum largely gives fans what they want, which is lots of real freaky-looking monsters and lots of battling. It can be pretty fun, even if you're not already sold on the whole Pokémon thing, though it's probably not the best introduction to the franchise for novice players.

Shortcomings aside, PC is a solid and welcome addition to the Pokemon universe and it should satisfy fans that have been yearning for a GameCube incarnation of the series. The Story Mode, Colosseum Battles, and the scores of items and Pokemon to find should give gamers plenty to busy themselves with. It feels very similar to other games in the franchise, but for those of you who've stuck with this series for the past several years, you know what you like, and I'm happy to say that Nintendo delivered.

If you haven’t played Pokémon before and you want to get on Nintendo’s biggest franchise, then I suggest starting with Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire, or better yet, wait for the best with the upcoming release of Pokémon Fire Red & Leaf Green (Water Blue in America). If the Story Mode in Pokémon Colosseum was a sign of things to come for Pokémon in 3D, then count me out. Until then, I will be happily playing the 2D versions.

Que les amateurs de Pokémon ne boudent pas leur plaisir. Il trouveront dans Pokémon Colosseum une bonne alternative aux derniers opus GBA, avec une aventure inédite qui comporte pas mal de bonnes idées et des arènes permettant de savourer pleinement les duels en 3D. Sorti de là, les non fans n'y trouveront pas grand intérêt.

If Pokémon had been around when I was 10, I would have been that crazy kid on your block who lived and breathed Pokémon in all its forms. However, the days that this would have interested me have passed, and I can only see this game for what it is: a shining example of working just hard enough to keep a franchise alive. The game isn’t glaringly sub-standard, but there was little effort put into innovation or moving the series forward.

All good Pokémon boys and girls harbor a secret hope that someday, maybe, there will be a real, wonderful Pokémon role-playing game on a console and not just on a handheld system. Pokémon Colosseum doesn't herald the arrival of that magical day - but at least things are heading in the right direction.

Fans will and should pick this up. But many old devotees will be disappointed because, at best, Colosseum feels like a sad shell of the franchise's glory days and at worst, a poor example in the RPG genre.

Vale deixar uma nota que o game exige pesados 47 blocos de cartão de memória, e não oferece as mesmas funções avançadas de gerenciamento de criaturas que "Pokémon Box" e os "Stadium" traziam. Infelizmente, a Nintendo americana parece não ter planos de oferecer essa ferramenta nos EUA.

Although the Pokemon experience makes the transition successfully to 3D, and retains the strategy that makes the series fun, the game does not deliver an RPG experience that lives up to those on the Game Boy.

Non dénué de défauts, Pokémon Colosseum n'est rien d'autre qu'un gros add-on aux versions Pokémon Rubis et Saphir. D'un certain côté, le mode scénario apporte une réelle complémentarité aux volets de la GBA, mais avant de pouvoir s'amuser il faudra attendre plusieurs heures de jeu. Le problème vient du mode Colisée en lui-même, qui se réduit finalement à sa plus simple expression : une suite de combats avec quelques récompenses à la clef. Bien entendu, ceux qui veulent à tout prix compléter leur collection de Pokémon passeront des heures à tenter d'avoir des Pokémon femelles pour leur faire faire des oeufs plus tard, ou se referont un nombre incalculable de fois les différents combats afin d'obtenir des Poké Coupons pour les échanger contre des CT ou CS, mais sorti de cela, l'interface est bien triste.

After years of waiting, the first "true 3D Pokémon RPG" is finally here, and... well, it's pretty good, but not quite what you might've been hoping for. Is Nintendo intentionally leading us on? Is it worried that all of us Pokémon addicts will leave for good if we are ever fully satisfied by the perfect Pokémon game?

This game is not an evolution in the Pokemon franchise. It keeps everything that is familiar about the handheld games and ports it over to the Gamecube, bringing the monsters people are so familiar with alive in a different format. It represents a great improvement over Pokemon Stadium by actually offering some compelling single player play. With a higher difficulty level and some presentation quirks, Pokemon Colosseum is a great game for the Pokemon veteran and not such a great choice for someone just now getting into the games.