Home > Reviews > Gamecube > #445

Pokemon Colosseum Review - Gamecube

The cute little pocket monsters are back in their first true GameCube outing. However, what makes this outing special is that Nintendo have finally given Pokémon fans a 3D Pokémon RPG that is similar to the Game Boy outings. But, that's not all. In loving memory of the Pokémon Stadium games on the N64, Nintendo have included a Battle mode, which takes a very similar fashion to the N64 stadium games. Alas, we are given the title Pokémon Colosseum.

Gameplay

Taking a darker approach to Pokémon, in Story mode, you take on the role of a thief who has stolen a machine that allows you to catch Pokémon that belong to other trainers. However, just because you are a thief, doesn't mean you will be catching just any Pokémon, because you've had a change of heart, you can only catch Shadow Pokémon. In case you're wondering, these Pokémon are not a new type but they are Pokémon who have been mistreated by their trainers causing them to 'close their hearts' as Colosseum puts it. In order to 'open their hearts' you must both catch them and train them by battling other trainers. In order to catch (or rather steal) them from other trainers you must weaken them by battling them with your own Pokémon until their HP is low and then throw a Poké Ball at them to make them yours. In all, it works the same way as the Game Boy adventures but instead of catching wild Pokémon (which don't make an appearance in Colosseum) you catch already owned Pokémon.

The elements of Pokémon have remained the same though with the little critters being weak against certain types of Pokémon such as electric types being weak against rock and ground types of Pokémon making them have a some what impact on the player's personality. This assures you of making your own strategy in your Pokémon team in order to defeat other trainers Pokémon making everyone have a different team. However, it isn't only the Pokémon type that counts; you'll also have to take into account the different attacks your Pokémon can learn (with up to four attacks being at your disposal per Pokémon) to battle other Pokémon with. When battling other Pokémon, you command your Pokémon in the same set up as the Pokémon Stadium games where you press a button on your controller to command your Pokémon to attack your opponent with the attack your button was set at. One extremely bad thing with the Shadow Pokémon attacks though is that they only have one attack for you to use which is the Shadow Rush attack but it also causes damage to the Pokémon using it too. Luckily, once it heart 'opens' it will learn different attacks that you'll find both more useful and affective. However, don't be alarmed with the beginning of Colosseum because you won't be starting with Shadow Pokémon but with other ones which have their hearts fully opened.
(continued next page)