By the time the trading card games weren't as popular as they are nowadays, this could be called a risky bet. But it turned out to be a good move, seeing as how trading card games are so popular now. Throughout the many new generations of Pokemon, the trading card game has received numerous changes, as well as a massive increase in the card database. This game wasn't really a failure, seeing the number of plays it has here, so I'm still trying to figure out why Nintendo didn't make any other game like this. If the answer is because they would fall behind Magic the Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh!, I reject it, because it offers a much different playing style than those two.

Graphics: Well, this game hasn't much graphics to start with. The map of the game is small, there aren't many places to go either, and the action of the game, being a card game, doesn't have a big display of graphics. At least, the design of the characters seems alright, and the cards are also very good depicted if we talk about the Game Boy. In my opinion, graphics earn a 7.

Sound: There isn't much variation to the soundtrack throughout the game. Used to Game Boy Advance games, and more recently also to PSP games, which have a very varying soundtrack, added to the fact that I usually prefer to omit sounds when playing, doesn't favor much my opinion about the sound. Also, for what I can remember for the games I owned in real life for this console, the sounds in this game aren't the best ones Nintendo could select. For this, sound earns a mere 6.

Addictiveness: In my opinion, trading card games are very addictive by the simple fact that there are many changes you can make before facing a challenge, more than any other type of game out there. You can change strategies very easily, that is, as long as your card database allows you to do so. Also, we are talking about Pokemon, a game in which each type has advantadges and disadvantages against certain types. Surely, here we don't have that much type variation, neither we have dual-types and double weaknesses or resistances, but still the weaknesses and resistances we have allow for a little bit of strategy and very different playing styles depending on the opponent you're facing. If we add the fact of how lucky you are with the cards you draw, you can very easily be trapped within a challenge you can't overcome although you desperately want to pass it. Addictiveness receives a 9.

Story: Little to nothing to say here. There isn't nothing to do, you just have to get to the top, honing your skills with every battle. This is the only meaning, and there aren't any support characters that will help you nor there are any villains to defeat, so nothing to rate in here.

Depth: As any other Pokemon game, main game I mean, you have to battle through a set of the best players, earn all medals and then challenge the very top. As always, each opponent specializes in a set type of Pokemon, although the elite in here specialize around a special legendary card instead. The depth of the game isn't much different from the main Pokemon games like Yellow or Crystal, except the story, non-existent in this game. This game also revolves more about the luck factor, because if you draw a bad hand, there's a high probability you have to start over again due to the rather quick battles that take place in this game and how easy is it to win or lose a match compared not only to the main Pokemon games, but also compared to other trading card games as the ones I mentioned above. For all these things, depth gets an 8.

Difficulty: As in all Pokemon games, the key is to be prepared for what you're challenging, and as in all games, you can have a good glimpse of it depending on which badge you're going to conquer. Even then, this game is more challenging, due to type reduction, and sometimes a Pokemon that would win a battle in Yellow or Crystal can lose in here because of a newly attained weakness. The best part happens when challenging the elite players and their legendary cards, which have no weakness, and due to this game's rules, they can be easily powering up in the back row so they can strike you at full strength when they come out to the main row. Their powerful attacks and high HP make them really tough opponents, and in my opinion, anybody that can speed through this four cards in one try is worth of being called both skilled and, the most important, lucky. Difficulty gets an 8.

Overall: Well, the only bad thing is that I couldn't get this game in real life. Considering the fact I'm already a big fan of card games far before discovering this game, I don't know up to which point I could venerate card games now if I discovered this in time. Also, as I said before, a sequel to this game including the new additions to the card database would have been nice, but neither the Game Boy Advance nor the DS got one. And now, since there's an official online version of the game, the chances of seeing another game like this for a portable console have lowered to near zero, as has happened to Yu-Gi-Oh!. However, if we can expect a company to surprise us, Nintendo is the best suited for it, so never lose hope with them.

Awesome job on the review. It was pretty good and categorized very well with a decent amount of detail for each category. I like how you didn't use any layouts. I actually like it when I read reviews without any layouts. lol. Anyways, I look forward to your future reviews.

What a wonderful review that you have done here...it is well detailed in a way, well done and good job. ^-^

EX Palen : good job on the review very catergorized and your details are doing awesome and nice and long

I would think that they would make a game about trading cards actually good (unless it's yugioh, lol.) but they did. anyway, great job on the review.