Pokémon Play It!
released on Feb 01, 2000
Reviews View More
I would absolutely feel embarassed to play this instead of the GBC classic(s), I swear. But it was kinda fun when I was 8. lol
Poking around this site reminded me that this game existed! Thank you, Backloggd! I had v2 back in the day, which I'll rank once I'm able to get a version working on my current computer, but I was able to play a couple matches of this version.
Pokémon: Play It! v2 scratched a very specific niche - if you loved the Pokémon Trading Card Game back in the day, didn't have anyone to play it with, and did not have access to the GameBoy Color game based on the TCG, that was your best bet. But for a brief window of time, you had to go with this instead. To be clear, this game is super limited - you can choose from one of initially two decks, though you can unlock two more with a code. There is no way to build additional decks, and outside a few lessons, a couple quizzes, and a few downloadables/printables, there isn't much else to do.
The decks also kind of suck. This is to be expected since the game was packaged as a "learn to play" set, and obviously you're not gonna start newbies out with all the most technical metagame cards. But you do feel that suckiness in a vacuum. They're all half-decks (30 cards instead of the standard 60), and there aren't any real power cards in play. Your hardest hitters are Base Set Machoke, Jungle Seaking, Base Set Charmeleon, Base Set Arcanine, and (due to a glitch) Base Set Magmar - cards that don't have much going for them besides hitting hard (not even type effectiveness, since Julie exclusively uses the Fighting deck against the two Fire decks). Draw power, the absolute cornerstone of the early TCG, is almost nonexistent; three decks have exactly one Bill, and the other deck has two Jungle Meowth. You have very few Trainer cards overall, and each half-deck is filled to bursting with energy cards and Basic Pokémon. And since they're half-decks, each game wraps up right around the time it's getting interesting.
As a tool to learn the TCG, this disk is fine. It captures the novelty of the TCG well enough, incorporating things like anime voice clips and special effects to make matches more showy and flashy. But it doesn't really capture the essence of the TCG. v2 didn't do so hot in that regard, either, but there was enough to keep me coming back there as a kid. I suspect I would've bounced off this release pretty hard.
Also, the CGI is terrifying. Opponent Julie always creeped me out as a kid, between her dumb hair and dopey overalls and eerie smile. And I don't even know what the hell is going on with those other kids in the opening.
Pokémon: Play It! v2 scratched a very specific niche - if you loved the Pokémon Trading Card Game back in the day, didn't have anyone to play it with, and did not have access to the GameBoy Color game based on the TCG, that was your best bet. But for a brief window of time, you had to go with this instead. To be clear, this game is super limited - you can choose from one of initially two decks, though you can unlock two more with a code. There is no way to build additional decks, and outside a few lessons, a couple quizzes, and a few downloadables/printables, there isn't much else to do.
The decks also kind of suck. This is to be expected since the game was packaged as a "learn to play" set, and obviously you're not gonna start newbies out with all the most technical metagame cards. But you do feel that suckiness in a vacuum. They're all half-decks (30 cards instead of the standard 60), and there aren't any real power cards in play. Your hardest hitters are Base Set Machoke, Jungle Seaking, Base Set Charmeleon, Base Set Arcanine, and (due to a glitch) Base Set Magmar - cards that don't have much going for them besides hitting hard (not even type effectiveness, since Julie exclusively uses the Fighting deck against the two Fire decks). Draw power, the absolute cornerstone of the early TCG, is almost nonexistent; three decks have exactly one Bill, and the other deck has two Jungle Meowth. You have very few Trainer cards overall, and each half-deck is filled to bursting with energy cards and Basic Pokémon. And since they're half-decks, each game wraps up right around the time it's getting interesting.
As a tool to learn the TCG, this disk is fine. It captures the novelty of the TCG well enough, incorporating things like anime voice clips and special effects to make matches more showy and flashy. But it doesn't really capture the essence of the TCG. v2 didn't do so hot in that regard, either, but there was enough to keep me coming back there as a kid. I suspect I would've bounced off this release pretty hard.
Also, the CGI is terrifying. Opponent Julie always creeped me out as a kid, between her dumb hair and dopey overalls and eerie smile. And I don't even know what the hell is going on with those other kids in the opening.
I remember it being very buggy and quite low budget, and you couldn't play that many decks with it. But it did get me into playing the pokemon TCG for real against other people every week in officially licensed shops. You could even earn badges that way. And eventually even country wide tournaments. That brought me years of joy. It was around the time the the Team Rocket set came out until around the time Nintendo took over from WOTC. So i have a lot to thank this little promotional curiosity for(or hate for a lot of money and time spent).
Still have an complete base set and a lot of the other first sets in maps to this day.
Still have an complete base set and a lot of the other first sets in maps to this day.
This is mostly a novelty at this point, as it's essentially just a tutorial for the Gen 1 Pokemon TCG. That being said it plays fine, the graphics are certainly dated, but again, it's a fine novelty to kill a couple hours.
mom i dont think celebi is in this movie
Does it seem weird to anyone else that the fancy PC Pokemon TCG game released in 2000 looks and plays so much worse than the Game Boy Color Pokemon TCG game released in 1998?
I get it, this was more of a promotional/instructional CD to keep kids hooked on buying booster packs, but when it has scans of (as far as I was aware at the time) each contemporarily released card, as well as sound effects for Pokemon cries, it feels like a missed opportunity to have such a lackluster game built around those assets.
I get it, this was more of a promotional/instructional CD to keep kids hooked on buying booster packs, but when it has scans of (as far as I was aware at the time) each contemporarily released card, as well as sound effects for Pokemon cries, it feels like a missed opportunity to have such a lackluster game built around those assets.