So I may not be the only one here on vizzed who has gotten into the Pokémon Card Game and loved it, but for those of you who have not this game is the perfect game to teach you how to play. It is really quite simple once you play, and to be honest I didn't know how to play when I was younger I played this and wanted to smack myself a hundred thousand times because it was so easy. This game however, throws a little twist to the card game and gives you an even bigger goal than winning your prize cards in a match.

You start as a young Pokémon card collector who decides to start playing the card game because of a chance to win 'the legendary cards'. You then talk to Dr. Mason who gives you your first starter deck of your choosing and takes you through a step by step tutorial on how to play the card game. After this you must then defeat different card players to gain their badges much like battling gym leaders in an average Pokémon game only using cards. After this you must then defeat your rival and gain the legendary cards. But those badges also serve a purpose rather than letting you win the legendary cards, they are essential to operate different computers in Dr. Mason's lab to build different types of decks as long as you have the cards for it that is. Now I hate to go off topic a little but I have a little interesting fact about this game that I don't think a whole lot of people know, in Japan there was this singer that a lot of people know by the name of Imakuni and for a while Nintendo was using Imakuni on some of their trainer cards (of course they were joke cards and couldn't be used in official Pokémon tournaments), and in this game Imakuni makes an appearance he will have a black outfit on with some crazy ears he will also use some of his joke cards in a battle with you. So keep a look out for him, below here I will attach two pictures one is the actual Imakuni and the other is Imakuni in this game:




Continuing on now, I rated this game a 9.5 for mostly nostalgic reasons it is a good game but could be improved. The game play could have been changed to make it seem more realistic or even more fast paced. But it is a fun game, that passes time quickly and also if you are having problems make you rage like no other. Now for the graphics I rated this game a 7 because lets face it they were not that great, and I understand that at the time it came out for gameboy color but other games had higher quality graphics for the same handheld and some even came out before this game. As for sound an 8, I like the music for the game it was nice and to me kind of peaceful and relaxing. I also feel like a lot of the sounds made the game have more feeling during battle or while strolling around one of the many locations in the game.

As for the addictiveness I rated this game a 7, it can get quite addicting as long as you are on a winning streak. However, as soon as you start losing a few matches you begin to hate life and everyone in it putting the game down and swearing that you will never pick it up again. Sometimes it will feel like the game is purposefully screwing with you, but hold on and keep playing because you will get somewhere I promise. As for story a 6, it actually had a story granted not much of one like it's sequel but it still had a decent story and that was beating your rival to the legendary Pokémon cards and defeating all those who stand in your way too. As for depth and difficulty both a 5, it wasn't that long of a game or that hard, true it may get a little challenging if you can't seem to draw the right card at the right time (like energies) but it really is not hard when it comes to overall game play and if you play a few times you will easily overcome most if not all of your opponents.

Now I really loved this game, and I recommend it for anyone who likes the card game or wants to learn how to play the card game it will certainly teach you how. It is also a fun and real lovable game. I hope all of you who chose to play this love it as much as I do and will become interested in actually playing the game, and maybe one day we will have a Pokémon battle.