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Hands-on with Pokemon Battle Revolution
Gotta catch 'em all again, and again, and again...


May 24, 2007 - There's no denying the selling power of Pokemon. In
just a few short weeks both Diamond and Pearl have rocketed up the
charts, selling at an insane rate to once again clinch the top of the
NPD numbers not only for handhelds, but rank among the best games
overall in the month of April. There's also no denying, however, that
while Pokemon Battle Revolution is going to sell like the oh-so-famous
"hot cakes", it's the same freaking game it was back when it was
called Pokemon Stadium. It may be a top-selling game, but gamers
better get used to the fact that it's Stadium all over again, and
there's very little else to say for it.

We had a chance to go hands-on with Pokemon Battle Revolution this
week during Nintendo's Gamer Day in Seattle Washington. As part of the
countless game demos being shown during the event, Nintendo put on a
wireless demonstration of Battle Revolution in action, and allowed us
to not only sync up our own copies of Diamond and Pearl to do battle,
but also to fight with people across the world. Our consensus - as I'm
sure you can see already - is that while Pokemon Battle Revolution is
still fun, it scream's "quick cash-out". We've played it before.
You've played it before.

It looks better, but plays the same.

For anyone that somehow hasn't played any of the previous Stadium
Pokemon games on GameCube and Nintendo 64, it's a pretty simple
concept: Play through Pokekmon on your handheld, transfer them over to
the console, and explore the wonder of watching your Pocket Monsters
attack each other in glorious 3D. Even though the concept is anything
but new, we still have to agree that it's fun to battle in Revolution,
and for any newcomers that are into the concept and have yet to try
it, this one is a sound plan. It's just no different from its near-
decade old predecessors.

What is definitely a notable aspect of Pokemon Battle Revolution,
however, is just how seamless the entire experience is. We had our DS
out and were battling before we knew it, syncing the handheld with Wii
in a matter of seconds, and playing touch-controlled Pokemon action
with the power of the Wii. The characters look great on screen, and
the fact that we could relax on a set of couches and enjoy the same
great Pokemon feel with the addition of the big screen is an obvious
plus. Players can now battle online against random strangers, as well
as play through multiple modes of play which include level capping,
two-on-two fights, or traditional free-for-all bouts with up to six
Pokemon each. Not bad.

Warning: Clicking this image will result in time warp.

To be real though, Pokemon Battle Revolution is still just more of the
same, and could be a free service at this point. Yes we had fun
playing it, but no - there's no way I personally would be paying $50
to play it with a 480p, 16:9 presentation; it just isn't worth it. By
this point we should have a Wii Pokemon Channel that shows off online
battle stats between our DS handheld friends, also including a basic
Wii pass-through for home-based battles. At the very least put a
compilation together with a few different mini-game modes or casual
Pokemon-based activities (one of which being the Battle Arena of
sorts), but don't make players pay over the price of the original game
again for a 3D experience. Wii owners (and Pokemon fans) deserve a
full-fledged Pokemon RPG for their console; if you can't do that, at
least provide them with something more than just the same old Stadium
combat.

Yes we're being a bit cynical, but Pokemon Battle Revolution really
feels like an old dog doing old tricks at this point. The online
battles are quick and easy to pull off, and we admittedly had fun
doing both online and local competitions with 3D versions of our
characters, but there just isn't enough to it. Granted our play
through dealt with only the multiplayer aspect, so if the single
player modes offer a bit more girth to the package (from the sound of
it, unfortunately, that too is pretty thin) our final impression will
of course represent that. With what we've played thus far, it's a fun
addition to the Diamond/Pearl experience, but Nintendo would have to
be crazy to think we'd pay $50 for that experience for yet another
iteration of the same console cop-out.