To start out the game, it's the same as many other Pokemon games, cept some concepts (like choosing gender) weren't though thoroughly back then.. Choose your character's name, and then you get a step by step introduction on how to battle.?

After you beat the duel with Sam, you'll be given the choice of choosing between 3 decks. I highly recommend choosing the Charmander deck, as it is the most helpful early on.?

In case you were not that familiar with trading card dueling style for Pokemon, I'll rephrase. Select the Pokemon you want fighting FIRST when choosing from your hand. Any extra Pokemon will be stored in your party. Flip a coin who makes the first move. Heads, you. Tails, opponent. To attack, you will need to place an Energy card based on your current Pokemon's requirements. Next to EVERY Pokemon's attack are symbols. These symbols represent the necessary energy cards needed to be applied to that one Pokemon. Basically, if you want a Charmander to use fire attack that has 2 fire symbols on it, the Charmander needs to have 2 fire energy cards added to it to make the move. You can only apply 1 energy card to a Pokemon at a time, so choose wisely.
To earn more energy cards, you can win ONE from a pack against anyone your duel against. The club members, random people, the club leaders all give only 1 energy per pack. If you go to the main lab, walk up to the professor, go to the room to the right of him and talk to people, you'll meet someone who uses structure decks (a deck consisting of mainly a specific type). Whatever deck you choose, he will choose the more superior type. (You choose fire, he chooses water) It's possible to beat him tho as each deck consists of 2 types, but you do need more skill than the average newbie. If you win, you get one full pack of energy)

Note: You can only use the CORRESPONDING symbol that it says next to an attack. If you want Charmander to use a move with 2 required FIRE energy cards, using 2 water energy cards will NOT do. Even if there's 8 water energies, there still needs to be at least 2 fire energies. For Attacks that have a star or a * where the symbols are, that means that ANY energy is required. No specific type is needed.?
Cards that aren't Pokemon are "Trainer cards", similar to spells in Yu-Gi-Oh. Each has a different effect. I suggest adding 2 "Bill"s and a"Professor Oak" to whatever deck you make, as these two are VERY handy.

The Pokemon you place can also evolve. If you want a Charizard, you must place a Charmander down, draw and apply a Charmeleon the next turn, and THEN draw and apply a Charizard. You can not evolve a Pokemon the same turn you evolve it or place it on the field.

The point of the duel is to claim all 4 (6 if facing a master) of your "prize cards". Prize cards are awarded after defeating an opponent's Pokemon completely. Prize cards are randomly taken out of your deck and placed in your hand if you win one. So your only Charizard could be a prize card, and you might not know until you pick it up. You can also have your lead Pokemon Retreat to switch for another. Each Pokemon has a different amount of (any) energy that must be subtracted to switch. The type of energy subtracted to retreat doesn't matter, so this'd be a good time to add a nonbeneficial energy to your lead card. If you switch Pokemon, I think you're still able to attack with your new Pokemon if possible. Retreat only when near K.O., or when you have a stronger party Pokemon necessary for winning.

There are 8 places to earn "medals". Fire, Water, Grass, Lightning, Fighting, Psychic, Ground, (then some weird lab...). To earn a medal, you must beat the 2-4 people required to beat the club master, then beat the club master to earn a medal. Some of the lackies are spread out across the ENTIRE map, so if you still have to beat someone, search every club for that person.

As you'll notice also, each club specializes in a certain type of Pokemon type. Fire club obviously has its players use fire Pokemon, Psychic club has its members use many psychic Pokemon, etc. The easiest way to beat the game is to repeatedly battle the same club with a deck consisting of its more superior type. Like I said before, use the Charmander starting deck. Then immediately go to the Grass club and face the girls there A LOT. You'll need to beat them many, many times. I suggest until you have at least 25 grass energy cards. Then base your deck off of grass Pokemon and grass energies. After doing that, go to the Ground club and beat the people there.?
(If you look on any Pokemon's card, you'll see "Resistance" and "Weakness", then an energy symbol next to each. If your opponent uses a Pokemon type that is the same as "Resistance", then you take less damage (half as much damage, I believe). If your opponent attacks with a Pokemon type that is the same as your Pokemon's weakness, then you take more damage. This also applies for when you attack your opponent. Basing a deck by what type your opponent specializes in is a LIFE SAVER, rather than creating one deck that can beat anyone.

In your deck you MUST have a deck of 60 cards;I don't think it can go over, and can never be less than 60. I usually have about 20-25 energies, about 30 pokemon (Evolutions included), and about half a dozen Trainer Cards of your preference. Like I mentioned, create decks that are suitable for groups of people you will face next.?
You are given the option to make multiple decks, but If you place your ONLY Charmander in one deck, you can't make another deck with that same card. That's why it's important to win multiple copies of cards.

Also, be on the look out for Double Energy cards. This is the only energy card that gives 2 normal energies at once. This works great on normal Pokemon cards. However, if you lose it, then you lose the 2 normal energies, since they are from only 1 card.

I do believe I have covered most of the material needed to win the game, without spoiling the opponents too much

port753 : A game for the Pokémon trading cards exists?? I had NO idea, or rather, completely forgot as I preferred the video game RPG. I feeI kinda bad now for forgetting about it now. Back in the day I merely collected the cards as a kid and helped others trade cards thanks to my special trading guidebooks you could buy for the trading cards. But I stopped when I got hooked on the RPG games. This is interesting, maybe I should try this out, give it a chance for old times' sake. I remember I was about to get into "dueling" with Pokémon trading cards before the video game came along, and Yugioh cards. Oh yeah, good times, man, good times.