Hay so i herd u liek mudkipz!

*ahem*

I have been at war with myself as to whether or not to pick this up. I probably will eventually, but having played every iteration of the game so far, and with a big move coming up, I haven't been able to justify dropping the cash. But yeah, something about those little buggers makes endless leveling seem fun.

I too haven't played Pokemon since Pokemon Red on my Gameboy Pocket. It seems like yesterday I was catching Pokemans left and right! I picked this up when I saw that Circuit City launched it at $28, I needed a game to keep me from buying more expensive games for a few months and this is it. Its the exact same game I remember. The touch-screen stuff is pretty useless and spastically implemented, other things like the day/night cycle and double battles don't really add much depth either. I've spent a good 8 hours playing already and have definitely gotten back into the groove. There are some things that are very nicely refined like the storage system, added animations, the ability to arrange the moves of your Pokemon, etc. I would love to get into the WiFi stuff as well but don't feel the need to either disable my WPA security or buy a $30 adapter to hook up to my PC. (I'm not even sure if the software works on Linux or not.)

I have fond memories of playing the original Pokemon game, but as the years have gone by, I've just grown more and more disappointed with the whole thing-- Pokemon has to be the absolute LAZIEST franchise ever. I mean, if I could release essentially the exact same game every few years with completely behind the curve graphics and still sell a bazillion copies, I guess I'd do that too.

I know, I know... don't mess with success. Still, I can't think of a single other franchise that tries so slightly to...well, EVOLVE.

I know what you mean, but seriously-- compare MADDEN 93 with MADDEN 07. Every year EA at least tries to add new features, as well as constantly updating the graphics to match the console. Imagine if you were STILL playing with 1990s sprite based graphics in madden, with a few very minor tweaks.

Draft Day '07: Gotta Catch 'Em All?

This isn't about saying "MADDEN" is a good game. I am just using it as an example.

To follow on what you were saying-- you're honestly telling me that you wouldn't complain if 10 years later, you'd buy a full priced "Tecmo Bowl" game with barely improved graphics and gameplay? I doubt it. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, but my experience is that we expect games to grow with the technology.

I mean, the first POKEMON game was perfectly fine for the Game Boy... and OK, yellow had the exact same graphics with a few colors plastered on for your GBC. But when you're releasing a game for the GBA, which has SNES-quality graphics capabilities, and you're STILL giving me almost the exact same graphics and nearly the exact same story I've already purchased several times... well, I think that's weak. There's no reason why the backgrounds in this new game shouldn't look at LEAST as good as something like Zelda or Golden Sun... And i'm not even talking about Phantom Hourglass... they're not even "Link to the past" quality! (edit: to be fair, I am only going on static screen caps. It could look at lot better when things move, but I just can't tell).

And surely they can come up with a better storyline than the same dang one they've used now for 10 years? Team _______ is doing something odd, fight the gym leaders, the end.

And like I said... Ok, it works. They sell in the millions. And lots of young kids are coming into this game fresh, and haven't ever played those originals before.

Maybe I'm just missing the point-- that these games are all about nostalgia, and people WANT then to remain exactly the same.

Actually, I would complain if they released full priced Tecmo Super Bowl today on the 360 and it had no online play. However, if it had online multiplayer I'm guessing I would pay full price and then some for the joy of going online and playing Tecmo with my buddies. I guarantee you that alone would sell the system to know fewer than 4 of my friends who are holding strong on last gen. Seriously.

If they sold a copy of Tecmo Super Bowl that I could carry around with me on a Gameboy Advanced I'd probably buy one again.

I love Tecmo Super Bowl.

You've made your point SommerMatt. There are some slight inaccuracies in your accusation towards Diamond and Pearl, but I largely agree with your view. That said, can we please keep the haterade in this thread to a minimum?

I will as soon as I figure out how to get friend codes...

I added you my friends code is 1461 2719 8146

I am just wondering if anyone would help me out to trade a chimchar and trade back to add the chimchar to my pokedex, I would be willing to trade and than trade back just mainly because I don't know why I don't have the chimchar on my pokedex it's strange.

My code is 2363 2162 4622.

And I registered Lothar and Elliotx. Look forward to "showing you my Pokemans."

I don't think you're off the mark Sommer. And you were right in one of the primary comments you made:

I can't speak to others, but I love Pokemon just the way it is. There are a few game franchises that I like staying roughly the same on gameplay while just adding extraneous stuff for fun. The two primary ones are the Pokemon games and the Dragon Quest series.

The way that each Pokemon title has evolved over time hasn't really been the graphics (the Sapphire/Ruby overhaul was the most significant graphics overhaul the series has seen, and I was very pleased with it, actually) and it hasn't been the story/battling, it's been the side"games". The contests, which become deeper and more interactive each time, are the main way they've been doing it. The Sinnoh Underground in Diamond/Pearl is the main addition this time.

But the core gameplay and presentation remains roughly the same, which is just fine with me. I also enjoyed Colisseum's battle/multiplayer options and presentation on the Cube, and am looking forward to the new edition releasing on the Wii: it'll probably be one of the first titles I pick up when I eventually grab a Wii.

I played Red/Blue on the original GB, but skipped out on the GBC generation (Gold/Silver) of Pokemon due primarily to being busy and not having much disposable income at the time. I picked it back up again with Sapphire/Ruby and then Leaf Green / Fire Red for the great remake of the original adventure. And so far I'm really liking Diamond/Pearl.

You know, imo, the best analogy for me is that the Pokemon games are appealing in the same way Tetris is through its many iterations: there's always some new twists on the game, but at its core, it's appealing because it's just good old Tetris/Pokemon.

Got it.

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Alright I added everybody on the list.

I'm at Victory Road, the worst part of every Pokemon game in my opinion.