Nintendo Power’s first look at Pokemon: “Meh.”
Here’s a fascinating bit of lore from the Nintendo Power archives. When NP first reviewed the original Pokemon game in issue #113 (October 1998), they walked away moderately unimpressed. The overall review score was 7.2 out of 10, with individual review scores ranging from 6.6 (from Todd, who liked “Sports, Active, Adventure” games) to 7.7 (from Paul, who preferred the “Fighting, Sports, Simulation” genres.)
The review mentions that the game is a hit in Japan and half-assedly defines the difference between the Red and Blue versions… but suggests that “serious role players may want to look elsewhere.” Pokemon at 7.2 was outranked by Space Station Silicon Valley (N64, rated 8.1), Madden NFL 99 (N64, 8.3) and NASCAR 99 (N64, scored 7.4). Pokemon was the second worst rated game of the issue, handily beating the Game Boy version of Disney’s Mulan with a 4.6.
Tags: Game Boy, Nintendo, nintendo power, pokemon
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*Sassy black chick voice* Oh no they didn't! *Snap*
Although Pokemon is growing more stale with every iteration, I still have a blast with them. It's simple enough for a young child to understand, but there is actually a whole lot of depth to the game for competitive players. You could come pretty close to beating the game by just spamming attacks with your starter Pokemon, but once you discover the realm of competitive gaming, you'll be introduced to all sorts of new aspects of the game you never knew about (like IVs, EVs, etc.).
PSSSH. See? The experts predicted it would never go anywhere, and they were proven right.
Complete fail. Mediocre at best. Shovelware. Not for SERIOUS gamers.
It might even be for the casual sort, or just kids who like cartoons.
Nintendo needs to get cracking on some new IP. Something we MATURE, HARDCORE gamers can appreciate.
Not this animal-ball crap. This just won't fly outside of Japan – abort mission, Nintendo. Pokemon? More like SUCKYmon.
Am I RIGHT, folks?!
Pfffffthahahaha
Are you aware Pokemon is actually a good series and your opinion is very biased?
Also, so much for mature. “SUCKYmon” lololol so funny and mature.
Anyways, back to the point. I've loved Pokemon since it's creation. The idea was innovative, the original wasn't very impressive, but they blew fans away with the sequel. Sure, the third set of games wasn't that great, but the fourth brought back it's glory.
Pfffffthahahaha
Are you aware Pokemon is actually a good series and your opinion is very biased?
Also, so much for mature. “SUCKYmon” lololol so funny and mature.
Anyways, back to the point. I've loved Pokemon since it's creation. The idea was innovative, the original wasn't very impressive, but they blew fans away with the sequel. Sure, the third set of games wasn't that great, but the fourth brought back it's glory.