To fully appreciate this game we have to put it in context, Pokemon is in an unprecedented level of worlwide popularity, but the actual real Pokemon experience is played in a small box with monochrome pixels and 8bit compressed music. And then the N64 pops this out, in a time where 3D graphics were something so new and seemed so futuristic, suddenly the creatures that you grew attached in your tiny device could be seen fighting just like you (probably) imagined they whould look and sound like.
I cannot imagine what that whould've feel like, when technology looked so shiny and hopefull for the future, being represented on how your starter now could destroy all the other gym leaders and Elite 4 in what at the time looked in your head like the most HD 4K Ultra Max Graphics know to man.
The rearrangements of music are great, the models and textures are so full of life and personality; there are some details that are there to be noticed just for people who loved Pokemon, how certain Pokemon animations are consistent with a bit of their lore or just make sense (I love how agresively insane all of Kangaskhan animations look for example), they may look a bit overdramatic but come on, is fun to look at and pretty much what most of us pictured in our heads.
At it's core, this was supposed to be an enhanced experience rather than a fully traditional Pokemon game, all of the mentioned above being the selling point, and yet it has a lot more content than I expected, I can see myself as a little Pokemon obsessed kid playing this nonstop.
But does it hold up? In a way no, it has it's flaws and all here and there, and compared to other games is rather short... But take a look at what the current 3D Pokemon games are? You can say whatever you want about them but looking at this game I feel like something got lost over the years, with the way Pokemon are portraied specifically. Like, Rapidash's current 3D model looks like it has an orange plastic bag dangling from it's head, and here in the N64 they figure it out a way to make it look like a cascade of fire, to make most limbs look like they can have individual movement, to have animations that show some level of emotion when the Pokemon gets hit. Sure there were only 151 back then, less to animate compared to now but... you get the idea.
The different modes are fun too, and they can get surprisingly hard on later stages, I can't remember the last time I didn't just sweep on a team using super effective moves nonstop. The way the Pokemon and movesets are limited is a good idea to save space but also a nice challenge.
Overall this was meant to be an interesting novelty for any kind of Pokemon fan, I think is fun to revisit nowadays too, and by it's own is a bit flawed, but fun.
Don't have the parience to finish all the R2 battles though.
I cannot imagine what that whould've feel like, when technology looked so shiny and hopefull for the future, being represented on how your starter now could destroy all the other gym leaders and Elite 4 in what at the time looked in your head like the most HD 4K Ultra Max Graphics know to man.
The rearrangements of music are great, the models and textures are so full of life and personality; there are some details that are there to be noticed just for people who loved Pokemon, how certain Pokemon animations are consistent with a bit of their lore or just make sense (I love how agresively insane all of Kangaskhan animations look for example), they may look a bit overdramatic but come on, is fun to look at and pretty much what most of us pictured in our heads.
At it's core, this was supposed to be an enhanced experience rather than a fully traditional Pokemon game, all of the mentioned above being the selling point, and yet it has a lot more content than I expected, I can see myself as a little Pokemon obsessed kid playing this nonstop.
But does it hold up? In a way no, it has it's flaws and all here and there, and compared to other games is rather short... But take a look at what the current 3D Pokemon games are? You can say whatever you want about them but looking at this game I feel like something got lost over the years, with the way Pokemon are portraied specifically. Like, Rapidash's current 3D model looks like it has an orange plastic bag dangling from it's head, and here in the N64 they figure it out a way to make it look like a cascade of fire, to make most limbs look like they can have individual movement, to have animations that show some level of emotion when the Pokemon gets hit. Sure there were only 151 back then, less to animate compared to now but... you get the idea.
The different modes are fun too, and they can get surprisingly hard on later stages, I can't remember the last time I didn't just sweep on a team using super effective moves nonstop. The way the Pokemon and movesets are limited is a good idea to save space but also a nice challenge.
Overall this was meant to be an interesting novelty for any kind of Pokemon fan, I think is fun to revisit nowadays too, and by it's own is a bit flawed, but fun.
Don't have the parience to finish all the R2 battles though.