Handheld Review : Pokemon Trading Card Game (Game Boy Color)

Handheld Review
Pokemon Trading Card Game
Game Boy Color

Recently a PC version of this concept saw the light of day... then promptly fell off the radar of gamers and nobody I know of ever talked of it again. I dont know if it is still active or not, but if by some circumstance it has shut down I wont be surprised. The game seemed unoriginal to me, even for an online PC so called free to play game that, like many games of this type, lives and dies on micro transactions of real cash. In this case micro transactions of real money bought you starter decks and booster packs... yeah, I cant imagine this game still being alive.

Continuing the lack of originality theme we have Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color, also playable on the GBA SP.

You might think a game like Pokemon Trading Card Game might be original, especially if you played the trading card version of Monster Rancher, also for the Game Boy Color, but then you would be wrong. Right to the most basic story premise the game is a shallow clone of Pokemon Red and Blue. You are this fan of the Pokemon TCG, and thanks to your friend the Professor you are set on the road to earn the Legendary Pokemon cards by beating this game's version of the Elite Four (after earning eight gym badges).

But, you might think, isnt that a good thing? Considering how much gameplay you can squeeze out of even first gen Red and Blue this should be a long and involved game... right? Actually no. The explorable domain is very very small. Dr Mason's lab, the eight Pokemon gyms, a Challenge dome, the home of a high level Pokemon TCG trader and the Pokemon Dome (home of the four grandmasters). And if your wondering? All the gyms and the challenge dome are the same basic design. An entrance room, a waiting room (where you can link with other GBAs for linked battles or where you can find NPC to trade with) and the main gym room. You wont always find all the gym members in this room. In the case of the Fighting Club the members are hanging out in other gyms.

Otherwise that is about it. It is maybe 20 or so hours of gameplay. Not the longest Pokemon you played, and not the shortest but... it is a fair decent slice of gaming. Something for your traveling kit if you have a Pokemon obsession, and you can find probably find it if you look about places like GameTZ or Amazon. A decent middle of the road 3 out of 5. Try it, if you can overlook the game's shortcomings, and enjoy.