• Tag Archives Pokemon
  • Pokemon Pinball (Game Boy Color)

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/687882876442804224

    Most pinball fans probably have trouble finding room in their house (and the money) for a real pinball machine. Fortunately, there have been alternatives for a long time in the form of video pinball. Sure, it’s not quite the same as the real thing but it can be a surprisingly good facsimile.

    The earliest video pinball game I can remember playing was Night Mission Pinball on my Commodore 64. As I recall, there was only one table and it was in black and white. But the movement and physics were pretty solid. Later on I would play lots of other video pinball games including Pinball Adventure (NES), Alien Crush (TurboGrafx-16), Epic Pinball (DOS), and others. It turns out, there was also a pinball game for Pokemon fans.

    Pokemon Pinball was released for the Game Boy Color in 1999. It got pretty solid reviews overall but pinball fans might have mixed opinions. While it did a great job integrating Pokemon into the game, the actual physics and other pinball aspects were kind of an afterthought. Having said that, it is still fun to play.

    There are two basic tables that you can choose from, the red table and the blue table. As with many video pinball games and unlike physical pinball games, these tables are a lot bigger than you might expect. There was also a lot more to do that just keeping the ball in play and accumulating points. Each table allows advancement into different areas based on certain accomplishments. In addition, you must also “catch” pokemon…151 of them if you want to be complete. Fortunately, you don’t have to catch them all in one sitting.

    To catch pokemon, you have to enter “catch mode” which lasts for two minutes. In that time period, you have to hit certain things multiple times in order to reveal the picture of the pokemon. After that, you have to also manage to hit the pokemon a certain number of times in order to finally catch it. There is also an “evolution mode” that works in a similar manner. Some pokemon can only be collected through evolution but you can only evolve pokemon that you caught in the current session.

    While not necessarily the best pure pinball simulation, it is still fun to play if you like pinball and there is lots to do. There was also a sequel called Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire for the Game Boy Advance. Both of these are worth checking out if you are pinball fan and especially if you are a Pokemon fan. Unfortunately, I don’t think these have been released outside of the Game Boy originals so you will have to track down original cartridges or resort to emulation if you do want to give them a try.


  • Pokemon Crystal (Game Boy Color)

    Pokemon Crystal – Title screen

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/174108250585/general-teddie-pokemon-crystal-title-screen

    Until Pokemon Go came along, I had never played a Pokemon game. And while I enjoy playing a little Pokemon Go once in a while, I never really understood the mass appeal of the earlier games. So many of the games were just slight updates to others in the series. Pokemon Crystal is a good example.

    Pokemon Crystal was released for the Game Boy Color in 2001 and was the 7th game in the series (the 6th released in North America). It was the first developed specifically for the Game Boy Color and was not compatible with the original Game Boy. However, Pokemon Crystal was basically just a slightly enhanced version of Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver released a year earlier. It added spectacular new features like the ability to choose your sex and animated sprites in addition to another subplot or two.

    There are a large number of Pokemon games but many of then have been remakes or slightly enhanced versions of previous releases. Pokemon Gold and Silver were remade once again as Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver for the Nintendo DS. There’s nothing wrong with Pokemon Crystal but if you are buying Pokemon games to actually play vs. to collect, you can skip over Gold and Silver to play Crystal or skip over all three to HeartGold and SoulSilver instead. Nevermind, skip all of those and just get the remake of Pokemon Crystal for the 3DS. See what I mean?





  • MegaCon 2017 Cars

    It’s amazing how far some people will take fandom and there’s know better place to see it in action than at a major convention such as one of the ComiCons, DragonCon or MegaCon among others. Look, for example, what some people will do to their cars (from MegaCon 2017 in Orlando):

    Here is a Pokemon car. This particular vehicle (or one just like it) has been making an appearance at MegaCon for a number of years. I play a bit of Pokemon Go now and them but this seems to be taking it a bit far. I have to admit, the VW Beetle seems particularly appropriate though.

    Now this one I can understand a little more. Who doesn’t want a vehicle like they had in Ghostbusters? This is a little bit of a more modern take using what appears to be a relatively modern Dodge station wagon instead of a hearse based on a 1959 Cadillac. A more practical choice perhaps but if I were going to take it this far I would go ahead and take the next step and do it with a hearse, even if it had to be one a little less obscure than the 1959 Cadillac variety.

    Finally, we have my personal favorite car of the bunch, the General Lee. This is also the most true to the original. I mean, you can hardly tell this one is not the original (except after one of those jumps they did in the show the original would probably be in a junkyard). I know, some will say that the Confederate Flag makes this car racist but cars can’t be racist and there was nothing racist about my love for The Dukes of Hazard when I was a kid. And if you disagree, you’re a racist.