Pokemon Battle Revolution

Gotta have diamond or pearl or else pointless

Reviewed by kngzmexican on October 26, 2007  |  report this review

The joys of Pokemon can be a difficult thing to explain to those who haven't been hooked. From a distance, the core Pokemon games look like standard-abiding Japanese role-playing games, and the changes that the series has undergone over the years have usually been subtle. The pieces might not be revolutionary, but they fit together with a precision that makes for an RPG experience that's accessible, highly engaging, and lasts a long time.

Pokemon Battle Revolution is the latest in a series that started with Pokemon Stadium on the Nintendo 64. Essentially, it is a single piece of the Pokemon experience--the actual Pokemon fights--that has been brought to the Wii and polished up to a high shine. The thing about Pokemon Battle Revolution is that, without any greater context of a grand adventure, Pokemon fights are kind of boring. Furthermore, the game's connectivity with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl for the DS ends up being a crutch. If you haven't already made the investment of time and money into one of those games, there's not much to get out of Pokemon Battle Revolution.

Pokemon Battle Revolution takes place on the island of Poketopia, a place where Pokemon trainers can go to battle other like-minded Pokemon trainers to their hearts' content. There are a few ways you can go about this, though the best of them involve interaction with Pokemon Diamond or Pearl for the DS. The DS battle mode is the simplest, and in a way, it best exemplifies what Pokemon Battle Revolution is all about: making Pokemon fights look cool. Using their active Pokemon from Diamond or Pearl and the DS itself as the controller, two to four players can have a good old-fashioned Pokemon throw-down as big, polygonal versions of the pocket monsters go through the motions on the TV.

In addition to the local multiplayer options, Pokemon Battle Revolution can be played online against other players and is the first game for the Wii to hit the US with live online functionality. It's a no-frills affair where you can choose to battle randomly against other trainers or directly challenge any trainer with whom you've exchanged friend codes. The bummer here is that your friend code for Pokemon Battle Revolution is different from the friend code for the Wii itself. It's not too different from how the DS works online, and Nintendo has stated that it plans on assigning discrete friend codes for any Wii games that go online. So, it's not surprising, but it's still kind of a hassle.

You can also import any Pokemon you've captured in Diamond or Pearl into the colosseum mode, where you'll get to make yourself a trainer from a few basic models and fight your way through a series of different colosseums. You will earn money from your victories that can then be used to buy new clothing and baubles for your trainers. You can also purchase mystery gifts that can be transferred back into Diamond or Pearl, though that's the extent of the flow of information back to the DS. If you do

Mix n' Match Rental Passes

Hint by DarkClockZ2 on September 02, 2007  |  report this hint

If you don't have Pokemon Diamond or Pearl,then you have to use rental passes.Once you get them you can mix the pokemon together and make a dream team of the selected pokemon.Oh yeah,and to get all the rental passes you have to beat the Collouseum and then beat the Gateway Collueseum with that pass.