New Details: Pokemon Colosseum

[Metal Mario]

*Source: Nintendophiles


Amidst poorly translated Japanese, and innumerable statements of "I had a lot of fun working in this game, it is very cool," we were able to gather a few new tidbits of information about Pokémon Colosseum.

The developers repeatedly stressed that this is a completely new game. Pokémon Stadium and its sequel for the Nintendo 64 were really nothing more than extensions of the Gameboy game, allowing you to battle friends with your own Pokémon in 3D. However, Pokémon Colosseum goes one step further, adding a brand new 30+ hour long RPG adventure which makes the game stand by itself as a title, instead of just acting as an add-on for Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire. One developer even went so far as to say that with the inclusion of the RPG mode, Colosseum is really two games in one, and that should help attract people who have never even played a Pokémon game before.

Battles will still work the same as they always have. The two-on-two battles from Ruby & Sapphire are back, but there are some new concepts thrown into the mix that are completely new to the Pokémon world. The major new concept, as far as battles go, is the ability to snag other trainers' Pokémon. The mechanics of this have yet to be revealed, but we can assume it works in the same way as catching a wild Pokémon. The developers also mentioned a new feature called 'purifying' although they gave no details as to exactly what it is, or how it works.

As in Pokémon Stadium, your Pokémon can be uploaded to the game from the Game Boy version. A new feature in Colosseum though, allows you to use your Game Boy Advance system as a controller. This can give you an advantage when playing against human opponents, because your commands are input on the GBA screen, and aren't visible on the main screen.

Contrary to the fact that the developers specifically mentioned the target demographic hasn't changed, they did say the RPG mode is an 'older', 'darker' Pokémon game, and even the game characters themselves are older and more sophisticated. Although the roots of the game are still intact, this new adventure will be nothing like any of the games seen on a Game Boy system. The world in the game was actually designed to mimic pictures the developers had seen of Arizona. So we can expect a mostly desert landscape. They also mentioned the CPU opponents have been made significantly more difficult.

[Yoshi Girl]

Awesome

I really want this game.

Almost makes me want to get back in the series.

Awesome! Now where's March?

I have no idea, Knux... *hides bloody axe*

I´m drooling.

[Falco53]

I really hope they give it a decent plot. They don't need to patronize their audience. If the plot goes over the heads of the little kids, who cares? They won't.

Sophisticated storyline? *immediately snaps to attention*

[Metal Mario]

*Source: IGN


Hey, Poke-maniacs! March 22 means one thing and one thing only for you: the American release of Pokemon Colosseum. Of course, hardcore Poke-nuts like us are playing through the import version as you read this. We already provided you with in-depth first impressions of the Japanese version of Colosseum at its release late last November, but just to make sure you're at the forefront in Poke-knowledge come American Poke-launch, we're back with a few extra details on just what makes this game a Poke-dream for Poke-fans everywhere.

The biggest area that sets this game apart from the N64 Stadium titles is the inclusion of a RPG-ish adventure mode. Our initial playtest of the import suggested that this mode would be rather basic on the RPG-side of things, and having gotten all the way through it now, we can confirm that this is the case. The adventure mode is a completely linear quest, meant mostly to put one-on-one battles against various computer-driven opponents in some sort of story context. It has the features you'd expect of an RPG, including story sequences, a world map, towns and even maze-like dungeons, but don't expect Pokemon meets Square-Enix here.

Battles in adventure mode can be had in various forms. Some are forced upon you when you encounter a key character in a story sequence. Others are initiated when you encounter a random bystander in town and choose to battle. While in the dungeons, battles are initiated by "enemy" characters that stand around waiting for you to get too close. You can see these characters in advance and can often (but not always) navigate around them.

Given that the name of the game is Pokemon Colosseum, it makes sense that coliseum-based battles should feature heavily in the game. Towns in the adventure mode have coliseums in which Pokemon tournaments are held. Once you've cleared certain story sequences, you can take part in a coliseum's tournament. This entails fighting a series of battles, ending up in a semi-final battle and a championship bout. As you progress through the tournament, the difficulty rises, with trainers in the final stages holding six Pokemon in their arsenal, just like you.

There isn't much in the way of hoopla surrounding the tournaments. There's no chart showing other contestants progress, nor is there an award ceremony. We get the feeling that Nintendo skimped out a bit on this area of the game.

Fighting battles in adventure mode is fun and all, especially if you're wild on Pokemon, but the real point of the mode is to catch 'em all, building up a collection of Pokemon for use in the game's battle mode and for pure bragging rights. You don't go around catching Pokemon freely, though. You're limited to one particular type of Pokemon -- Dark Pokemon.

Dark Pokemon, as the story goes, are normal Pokemon who've had their hearts sealed off at the hands of some really bad men (one of whom has a beach-ball sized afro!). The adventure mode begins with your stealing a special "Snatch" device that allows you to catch Dark Pokemon from trainers who are using them against you in battle. Once you've encountered Annie, who has the unique ability to see the characteristic black light that surrounds Dark Pokemon and can thus differentiate them from legit Pokemon, you're on your way to freeing all Dark Pokemon from the clutches of man.

Capturing a Dark Pokemon tends to be simple. While in battle, once Annie has identified a Dark Pokemon, you wear it down with attacks. Once the Dark Pokemon has reached a low life level, you toss a Pokeball at it and can capture it. There are multiple types of Pokeballs; which one you uses depends on the strength Dark Pokemon.

Once caught, your goal is to open up the Dark Pokemon's heart. Dark Pokemon, instead of an experience meter, have a meter showing how closed off their heart is. This depletes under various conditions. Each time you use the Dark Pokemon in battle, the meter goes down some. While in battle, a Dark Pokemon will occasionally loose control and go into "Hyper Mode," where it stops listening to your commands. You have to get the Dark Pokemon under control by calling out its name when inputting commands for the next turn. This means a turn wasted for the creature, but opens its heart up slightly.

Once a Dark Pokemon has had its heart cleared up, which takes just a few battles, it can be turned into a normal Pokemon at one of the towns. As only normal Pokemon can be used in the game's battle mode, you'll want to make as many of your Dark Pokemon into normal Pokemon as quickly as possible. You can't even fully utilize the game's battle mode until you've revived at least four Dark Pokemon, something that doesn't happen until a good way's through the adventure mode.

When you pick up Pokemon Colosseum in late March, we have a feeling you'll be playing it a bit differently from how you played Stadium. With its massive collection of 3D Pokemon, link-up features with the portable GBA games and adventure mode that brings you closer to playing an episode from the television series, this could be the best console Pokemon game yet!

I see a few downsides already, but I should still love this.