Pokemon - Trading Card Game

Product Description ------------------- The hit Wizards of the Coast card game comes to the Game Boy Color! Pokémon Trading Card Game features many of the famed Wizards of the Coast cards, plus exclusive cards not found in any store. Equipped with a modest deck and sage words of advice from the wise Dr. Mason, you'll win booster decks by battling--and defeating--a series of rivals. You'll need to talk to everyone that you encounter in this adventure role-playing game (RPG). Each conversation may unlock a key piece of information or an offer to trade cards. You can also scour bulging bookshelves for new tactics or check your e-mail for additional clues--you might even get a valuable booster pack from Dr. Mason! Players of the Wizards of the Coast game will recognize the basic game mechanics and strategies, which are faithful to the popular trading card game. In all, there are more than 200 cards. You can even battle a friend via the Game Link cable! .com ---- Pokémon Trading Card Game is a Game Boy Color title based on the popular strategy card game from Wizards of the Coast. Fans of the existing red, blue, and yellow versions of Pokémon will find this game to be less redundant than earlier Game Boy Pocket Monster offerings. This game is more of a hybrid of its predecessors--mixing strategy card gameplay and role-playing game elements--with highly successful results. The story in Pokémon Trading Card Game is basically the same as that of the original Pokémon titles, only with new character and feature names substituted. Instead of Professor Oak, players meet Dr. Mason. Gym Leaders are named Club Masters, battles are duels, and so forth. Learning the card game is a breeze thanks to the inclusion of comprehensive instructions and an in-depth tutorial. Although some minor changes have been made, the method of play is virtually identical to the original card game, and just as addictive. While much shorter than the Pokémon games, the gameplay here doesn't involve random and repetitive battles, and follows a less linear path. Although Pokémon Trading Card Game would seem to turn a social experience into a solitary one, it allows for and encourages interacting with other game owners. Duels can be fought between players via a game link cable, and cards and decks can be traded using the infrared communications port. The most interesting (although somewhat dubious) feature here is the "card pop!" option, which generates one new card for each player when communicating wirelessly; the catch is that you can't "card pop!" the same person again for a while after doing so, thus limiting the feature's appeal. --Joe Hon Pros: * Easy-to-learn and highly addictive gameplay * Features cards exclusive to the Game Boy * Excellent game link and infrared communication port options * Package includes limited edition trading card Cons:* Relatively short game compared to Pokémon Game Boy titles * Very limited appeal outside the Pokémaniac crowd P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); From the Manufacturer --------------------- Collect; trade and duel with your favorite Pokemon trading cards in your quest to defeat the four Grand Masters! One exclusive; limited edition Wizards of the Cost trading card included! Based on the hit startegy card game by Wizards of the Coast! Review ------ A great deal of Pokemon's popularity came from Wizards of the Coast's collectible card game, so it's really no surprise that Nintendo would adapt the game to the Game Boy. Pokemon Trading Card has many of the qualities of the original games, and it proves addictive and fun, if somewhat less satisfying than the original Game Boy excursions. If you've played the Game Boy Pokemon games, this is all going to sound a mite familiar - your character hopes to cl the legendary cards from the eight card-club masters and become a Pokemon card master. While you won't find cards lurking in bushes waiting to strike, you will visit the eight card clubs and challenge a variety of card players in hopes of engaging their leader. In defeating a club leader, you'll, of course, be awarded with a badge. For those familiar with the more tangible incarnation of the card game, Pokemon Trading Card will be familiar territory. Fortunately, for those of us who aren't, Pokemon Trading Card provides a detailed tutorial explaining the game's core concepts and a choice of one of three starter decks. As with the real card game, you set up your bench Pokemon, attach energy cards of various colors to attacking Pokemon, evolve Pokemon, and so on. While hard-core card players will likely want to meticulously create their own decks, the game provides a mechanism for quickly creating decks with emphasis on different types - provided the player has all of the necessary cards of course. Each badge has the deck of its club leader encoded within, letting you quickly prepare for upcoming battles at the different clubs. This is a good thing, as determining a good balance of Pokemon and energy cards is very feel-oriented, and it will take a little while for neophytes to get a handle on it. Pokemon Trading Card is the kind of addictive, collect-'em-all fun you'd expect from Pokemon, but there's something less satisfying about filling an album with the 226 Pokemon cards in this game than growing and raising 151 monsters. While getting all the cards is no small feat, success comes from repeatedly challenging the same card players and revisiting all the same clubs. Even bearing potential link-cable play in mind, this is still a bit of a chore. Unlike in the regular Pokemon game, however, link battles are generally more balanced, thanks to each card's fixed stats. Adapting the collectible card game has translated to the Game Boy's limited color palette with mixed results. While the overhead "adventure" component is colorful and attractive, the cards themselves are muddy and grainy in appearance - hardly a replacement for the real thing. Nintendo really should've spent more time touching up the cards' appearances. Music is traditionally happy Pokemon fare, although the tunes are a little more complex and a little less catchy than those found in its predecessors. A great game for a time, Pokemon Trading Card is a faithful and amusing adaptation of the collectible card game, but it suffers as a single-player video game. Collecting all 226 pieces of paper just doesn't satisfy like "catching 'em all" can and does. --Peter Bartholow--Copyright © 1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot Review See more ( javascript:void(0) )

• Number of Players: 1-2.
• Collect more than 200 different cards.
• Get new cards from Professor Mason.
• Challenge other players to collect new cards.