Until about two weeks ago I didn't even know this game existed.
I played a lot of the first game on my Game Boy Pocket and after my recent Nuzlocke run I fancied something else Pokémon that I knew wasn't as long or intense.
One google rabbit hole later and I discover that actually Japan got a sequel but it never made it outside of there, I think to myself "I might be able to play it untranslated, I'll give it a go" and thank my lucky stars I didn't have to.
It's a real shame this never did make it out of Japan officially because overall it's really quite good and a much better package than the first.
You have a much vaster pool of cards, the AI and/or the opponents decks seem much more competitive and there's twice as many locations and more than twice as many opponents to face.
What starts as a smart sequel reusing many many assets ends up becoming so much more.
The addition opponents who require you to fulfil certain deck requirements also means you're much more likely to experiment and this along with some additional rules with other opponents means there is a lot more variation.
The card game itself is unfortunately not the best, whilst I won't review the current state of that TCG I will say that it has all the problems from today plus a ton more from being a game in it's first years.
Things like coin flips, which there are a lot of, make games feel too based in variance and can cause frustration when the inevitable is being delayed.
A tip I would give is save often, because unlike a real game of cards you cannot scoop if you can see the writing on the wall (and nor will the opponent) and this can turn a fun session into a tiresome chore.
If like me though, you like Pokémon and you like card games - together or separately I'd encourage you to give it a shot.
It's got some great to terrible art but it's all so joyous.
It just makes me hope that maybe one day a third game will appear on the Switch for us all to enjoy.
I played a lot of the first game on my Game Boy Pocket and after my recent Nuzlocke run I fancied something else Pokémon that I knew wasn't as long or intense.
One google rabbit hole later and I discover that actually Japan got a sequel but it never made it outside of there, I think to myself "I might be able to play it untranslated, I'll give it a go" and thank my lucky stars I didn't have to.
It's a real shame this never did make it out of Japan officially because overall it's really quite good and a much better package than the first.
You have a much vaster pool of cards, the AI and/or the opponents decks seem much more competitive and there's twice as many locations and more than twice as many opponents to face.
What starts as a smart sequel reusing many many assets ends up becoming so much more.
The addition opponents who require you to fulfil certain deck requirements also means you're much more likely to experiment and this along with some additional rules with other opponents means there is a lot more variation.
The card game itself is unfortunately not the best, whilst I won't review the current state of that TCG I will say that it has all the problems from today plus a ton more from being a game in it's first years.
Things like coin flips, which there are a lot of, make games feel too based in variance and can cause frustration when the inevitable is being delayed.
A tip I would give is save often, because unlike a real game of cards you cannot scoop if you can see the writing on the wall (and nor will the opponent) and this can turn a fun session into a tiresome chore.
If like me though, you like Pokémon and you like card games - together or separately I'd encourage you to give it a shot.
It's got some great to terrible art but it's all so joyous.
It just makes me hope that maybe one day a third game will appear on the Switch for us all to enjoy.