Satoshi Tajiri

In his review of Pokémon: Sapphire/Ruby, Chi talks about the lethargy Pokémon trainers eventually experience. The game's problem, he writes, "is that at the end of the rainbow it expects players to stay in Oz rather than go home." He's right.

Even with a predictable commercial stigma that 10-year olds can see coming a mile away, the game delights and triumphs as an irresistible pass-time. Nintendo hasn't forgotten how to engage a gamer and at its core, Sapphire/Ruby, no matter how familiar it looks, sounds and still feels like a good game.

Game Description: Pokémon Sapphire and Ruby take place in an all-new region known as Hoenn. When the game starts, you get to decide to control either a boy or girl Pokémon Trainer. Whichever you choose, the storyline will be the same—your goal is to set out in the world and become the world's greatest Pokémon Trainer.

Game Description: What can you expect from the sequel to one of the favorite Nintendo 64 games of 2000? A lot. Pokémon Stadium 2 comes with four new tournaments, 12 new minigames, and lots of fun extras, like special Pokéquizzes to test your level of mastery. And you're sure to find your favorite monsters, because—gulp!—249 Pokémon are present in the game. As in Pokémon Stadium, you can train and battle your monsters, as well as transfer them (via the separately sold Transfer Pak) from your favorite Game Boy titles—including the newer Gold and Silver editions of the game.

The main reason why Pokémon flourished—single-handedly elevating portable gaming to a new plateau in the process—was that it was simply a great game. It's still hard to believe that with all the catchy "gotta catch 'em all" jingles, feature films, Saturday morning cartoons, collectible toys and trading cards flooding the market, at the end of the day, innovative design and addictive gameplay prevailed above all else.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Language, Violence

Game Description: This popular series continues to add new innovations and features with each release. The object of Pokémon Gold is still to become the "World's Greatest Pokémon Master" by capturing, training, and battling different creatures, this time with all-new creatures and moves. Also, elements such as day-and-night gameplay and the ability to breed and mutate Pokémon add an exciting new dimension to the game. You'll be able to transfer Pokémon from the Red, Blue, and Yellow editions—even train them for new tricks--but you won't be able to transfer your newly caught creatures to any previously released games. Also, expect special, limited-edition gold and silver Game Boy Color units decorated with Pokémon characters.

After more than a year of Nintendo's persistent Pokémon marketing blitz, the fact that Pokémon Gold/Silver had me glued to my Game Boy Color's LCD to the extent that it did is quite amazing. As Chi said in his review, the game is not that much different from Pokémon Red/Blue, but it is such a solid overall game that it picks up where its predecessor left off without much of a hitch.

As I said before Stadium is not the finest example of a stand-alone game, but in all fairness, it was never to meant to be. It was to be used with Nintendo's very innovative Transfer Pak, and when linked with a Pokémon game, it offered new options and modes that enhanced the original games experience. With the exception of a true Pokémon sequel, I doubt fans really could ask for more.