Perhaps trying to appeal to some of the Yu-Gi-Oh! market, Pokemon Colosseum’s story mode introduces Shadow Pokemon. These evil monsters were once peaceful, but a mysterious organization has “shut the door to their hearts”, thus draining them of all their goodness. Luckily, throughout the quest these Pokemon can be snagged from other trainers and purified back to their original state. This is the basic premise of the 1-player adventure mode and its advancing storyline. Similar to Ruby & Sapphire, battles take place with 2 Pokemon on each side fighting to the end. What’s different is that there really aren’t any wild Pokemon in the game. Instead, all monsters must be snagged from other Pokemon trainers. This zaps most of the fun out of the game since exploring and “hunting” was one of the most enjoyable aspects of previous games.

The game plays out pretty much the same from beginning to end. From the map screen the player selects a location to go to next, a cut-scene plays showing the character flying to that location by hover bike, and then the player walks around the location and talks to people, many of who are trainers that want to do battle. In fact, the game sticks to such a basic formula that it became extremely boring after only a few hours of playing. The difficulty level is pretty much a joke. I went through an entire gym battle (4 or 5 different battles in a row) without hitting anything but my “A” button to continue on with the fights. I didn’t lose a single Pokemon and most of my rivals were defeated in a single blow. No strategy required. Later in the game it does become slightly more challenging, but let’s not gloss it over. This game is made for kids and any person who’s played Pokemon games in the past will breeze through this adventure with not problems.

The multiplayer mode is almost identical to the ones found in the Stadium games on the N64. 1, 2 or 4 players can take part in the multiplayer festivities by choosing Pokemon and battling it out to the death. To play multiplayer games will require some serious setup costs. Let’s say you’re playing 4-player. To do so you’ll need to have at least 3 GBA systems linked to the GameCube via 3 GC to GBA cables, and each GBA will need either a Pokemon Ruby or Sapphire game pak. The 4th player can use either the GameCube controller or a GBA as well. Contrast those requirements with those needed in Stadium. With Stadium all that was required was enough controllers for those who were playing. A transfer pak and game wasn’t required on the N64 because players could simply use the preset Pokemon on the cartridge. It’s discouraging to see Nintendo rely so heavily on connectivity for Colosseum when it’s obvious they didn’t need to.

Judging by how well the Stadium games sold on the N64, Nintendo could have left out the story mode and most Pokemon fans would have still bought the game. It’s good to see Nintendo put the extra effort forth to create a more substantial product and attempt to give fans a Pokemon game worthy of a home console. Pokemon Colosseum is definitely a good purchase for younger players or those completely absorbed in the Pokemon universe. The game does offer some fun moments for those interested, but it fails to bring anything new or revolutionary to the series. The story mode is a move in the right direction, but until Nintendo can deliver a GBA-sized Pokemon RPG with depth and length, console Pokemon games will always lag behind their portable counterparts.