Pokemon Pearl (DS)

Much to the delight of Pokémaniacs the world over, Nintendo and Game Freak have finally brought a proper Pokémon game to the Nintendo DS with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and it delivers much of what a fan would desire—a richer, more detailed presentation, the ability to battle and trade Pokémon over the Internet, and of course, more than 100 brand-new Pokémon to collect. Like any of the core Pokémon games released since the original Red and Blue hit in 1999, Diamond and Pearl offer some nice upgrades, but if you didn't like Pokémon then, you probably won't care for it now. That said, it's a little surprising how well the formula holds up in Diamond and Pearl, which is a testament to the strong fundamentals of the series as well as the quality of the execution.

Sticking to the script, Diamond and Pearl start out the same as any other Pokémon game, and though the specifics are different, the story plays out in a familiar fashion. Playing as either a young boy or girl living in the out-of-the-way hamlet of Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh region, you and your highly competitive best friend are sent into the world by Professor Rowan to collect as much data on the Pokémon that inhabit the region as is possible, which you do by capturing and fighting. During your travels, you will battle plenty of wild Pokémon and other Pokémon trainers like yourself, as well as face off with the leaders of eight different Pokémon gyms spread across Sinnoh. And, in the tradition of the nefarious Team Rocket, Diamond and Pearl introduce the shadowy and oddly self-righteous Team Galactic, a new Pokémon-obsessed organization for you to square off with. The plot doesn't tread much new ground for the series, and it generally keeps things real light and breezy. They won't dazzle you with the complexity or originality of their storytelling, but Diamond and Pearl are still packed with lots of sharp writing. There are hundreds of people for you to meet, and though they don't always offer lengthy conversations, they all have something to say.

The story is ultimately in the service of the gameplay, which fans and newcomers should be able to leap right into without much fuss. You start off with a single Pokémon companion by your side, which serves as your proxy in battle—you might be calling the shots in a fight, but it's your Pokémon that do all the heavy lifting. As you wander through forests, fields of tall grass, underground caves, and a myriad of other locations, you'll regularly be attacked by wild Pokémon, which, if you're able to wear down their health without defeating them entirely, can be captured in a Pokéball, effectively taming them and turning them into companions. You can have up to six Pokémon with you at once, and each of your Pokémon can learn up to four different abilities. These abilities can come naturally as they earn experience in battle, or you can teach them new tricks using technical machines and hidden machines, which can be earned in a number of different ways. As they grow stronger, many Pokémon can also evolve, effectively turning them into an entirely new and more powerful Pokémon.

The combat is turn based, and it's mostly about the rock-paper-scissors nature of the different types of Pokémon. The only difference between Diamond and Pearl is the Pokémon contained within each game. With the addition of 107 brand-new Pokémon, Diamond and Pearl raise the grand total of Pokémon to capture to well over 480. Every single one of them can be categorized by type. Some of these types are defined by elements, such as water-type Pokémon and fire-type Pokémon, while others are determined by more specific, functional differences, such as fight-type Pokémon and poison-type Pokémon. Each type of Pokémon is inherently weak to the attacks of another, so the key to combat is having a well-balanced team of Pokémon with you that will be able to handle whatever types of Pokémon get thrown at you. It's a simple enough concept to grasp, but there are enough different types of Pokémon out there that you'll find yourself constantly tweaking your roster of active Pokémon and laboring over which abilities you should be giving to which of your Pokémon. The fact that you're constantly running in to, and thus capturing, new Pokémon makes the process that much more involved. And that's just the basics. Aside from wandering around the Sinnoh region and getting into countless Pokémon battles, you'll fish, harvest and plant berries, cook up special treats for your Pokémon, enter your Pokémon in a pageant, set up a secret hideout, and more. These games are long, with the main stories clocking in at well over 40 hours, and those intent on hunting down the rarer Pokémon will spend far more than that.

The bulk of the activities in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl aren't new to the series, so what separates these two from the Pokémon games that appeared on the Game Boy Advance? For starters, the presentation has been improved to take advantage of the superior DS hardware. Though the game is mostly still presented in 2D, there's improved detail to the 2D and you'll notice lots of nice polygonal touches. For example, buildings and windmills are rendered in 3D, and it's enough to give the 2D world a little depth. The game also has a bright, highly saturated color palette that makes it a pleasure to look at. When in battle, the Pokémon are still static 2D sprites—much of which appears to have been recycled from the Pokémon games on the GBA—but in general, the 2D art still looks sharp. The dynamic battle transitions look great, as do the numerous attack effects. Diamond and Pearl also feature some catchy music, and there's a whole lot of it, with a special theme for virtually every location or activity. As clean and upbeat as the music is, though, some of the sound effects from the Pokémon themselves sound screechy and lo-fi. It's out of place, considering how great the rest of the game looks and sounds.

There's also a little touch-screen support in Diamond and Pearl, letting you use the stylus to select menus during battle and play a few simple, rather forgettable minigames that crop up. During most of your travels, the lower screen on the DS is occupied by your Pokémon watch (Pokétch for short). In addition to telling the time, you can install a number of applications, some more useful than others, on your Pokétch. There's a calculator, a pedometer, a status screen for your Pokémon, a metal detector of sorts, and more.

What's probably the most significant new feature in Diamond and Pearl is online play, which lets you battle, trade, and chat with other players over the Internet. The trading system is surprisingly robust, letting you put any of your Pokémon up for trade on a global market, while specifying which Pokémon you'll trade it for. Once you define the terms of the trade, the Pokémon is transferred to a server, and you can set it and forget it. Your DS doesn't even need to be turned on for someone to agree to your terms and complete the transaction. The online battle options aren't as immediately accessible. Early on, you'll need the game-specific friend code for anyone that you want to battle online, and it will take dozens of hours of single-player action before you'll be able to battle with random strangers. The game also supports voice chat using the newly released DS headset, but you can only use it with other players whose friend codes you've already registered. Of course, you can also still battle and trade with other people through a local Wi-Fi connection. Diamond and Pearl also promise connectivity to the upcoming Pokémon Battle Revolution for the Nintendo Wii, purportedly letting you use your DS as a controller and take the Pokémon you've collected on the DS into battle on your TV.

Between the 100-plus new Pokémon, the improved presentation, and the online play, this is a must-have game for established fans. The new features also make this the most well-rounded Pokémon game to date, and if you've never dabbled in the world of Pokémon before, there's no better game to start with.

Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream (Wii)

In 1987, the world was Mike Tyson's oyster. He was boxing's world heavyweight champion, he was on the verge of marrying Robin Givens from TV's Head of the Class, and he had his own video game in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Who would have guessed that just a few years later, he'd lose his title to Buster Douglas, get bitterly divorced, find himself in mounting legal trouble, have his business relationship with Nintendo come to an abrupt end, and, in the ultimate indignity, find himself replaced in Punch-Out!! by some goofy George Reeves-looking palette swap of his former self? Yes, in 1990, Punch-Out!! was forever altered--Mike Tyson was out and Mr. Dream was in. And you know what? It didn't make much of a difference. The game was still Punch-Out!! through and through, and Mr. Dream still fought like Mike Tyson. Now the Mr. Dream version of Punch-Out!! is available for the Wii Virtual Console for 500 points ($5), and unless you're dead set on playing only Mike Tyson-brand Punch-Out!!, this is easily one of the best ways to spend $5 on the VC.

For the uninitiated, Punch-Out!! is a boxing game chock-full of kooky characters, ranging from the lowly Glass Joe (an aging Frenchman with a 1-99 record and a dislike for getting hit in the face) to the iconic Bald Bull (a hulking, chrome-domed Turk known for his infamous "bull charge" maneuver). You, the pint-sized Little Mac, work your way through a variety of boxing circuits, collecting championships and eventually earning yourself a title shot against the fabled (and extremely tough) Mr. Dream.

Each fighter has unique punches and special moves, as well as unique weaknesses that can be exploited. Who can forget the wide-open mouth of King Hippo or the timing of the punch needed to stop Bald Bull's bull charge dead in its tracks? Though several of the boxers animate similar to others and even use a few of the same punches, the timing is never quite the same on each, so it behooves you to learn each boxer's individual timing and tricks to be successful.

Of course, beyond getting down the twitch-action timing of different boxers and beating them up with high or low punches (with the occasional special uppercut thrown in), there isn't much to the game. It's a very simplistic boxing game that leans more on its crazy characters than on anything resembling real boxing. But in a sense, that works to the game's favor now. The personalities of the boxers are just as memorable as they were 20 years ago, the cartoony graphics are still pleasant to look at in spite of their extreme age, the tunes are as catchy as ever, and the game is still fun, despite the simplicity of the action. You can beat the game in an hour if you're wicked good at it, but you'll be happy to spend that hour time and time again.

Just make sure you're playing on something other than an HDTV, or at least be prepared to readjust the timing you remember from your childhood. There's nothing wrong with the emulation of Punch-Out!! on the VC (even the old password system still works), but if you're playing the game on an HDTV, you may find just a hint of lag between the controller and the onscreen action that doesn't exist if you play on an SDTV. It's not too noticeable early on, but as you start to progress to the faster and tougher boxers in the game, it becomes apparent that something is slightly off. You can adjust to it, but it's an irritation all the same. Also, the game is best played with a Classic Controller, simply because the Wii Remote's plus and minus buttons aren't comfortable substitutes for the start and select buttons, and trying to reach for that plus button to execute an uppercut is a bit vexing.

Whether it's Mike Tyson or Mr. Dream, the story remains the same. Punch-Out!! is one of the greatest games of the NES generation, and while it certainly shows a bit of its age with this Virtual Console release, none of what made the game fun or unique has been lost with time. If you remember the game from your younger days, you probably ran off to go download this the moment King Hippo got name-dropped. If you never had the chance to experience Punch-Out!! back in the day, there's no time like the present.

3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures (Xbox360)

The original 3D Ultra Minigolf was a forgettable PC game from Sierra released in 1997, so it's curious that 10 years later, the follow-up game is being released. The sequel, 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures is a bit of fun when played with friends, but the single-player experience is lackluster thanks to slow pacing and erratic physics.

There are a few different modes of play in Ultra Minigolf. You can enter a single-player tournament or play a multiplayer game both locally as well as online. You can even create and then play custom courses. Once you pick the game mode, you then pick from four generic characters: two male and two female. There are only a couple of outfits to choose from, but there are quite a few different ball designs available, so if you want to golf with an 8-ball-style ball, you can. There are 36 holes spanning three courses, and as you might expect, they're all in "wacky" locations. There's a carnival, an Old West ghost town, and a course in space. Despite the exotic settings, the actual courses are, for the most part, rather dull. Sure, there are all sorts of hazards--such as obnoxious scorpions that will push your ball around, hills, loops, and obstacles on each hole--but somehow, they're still straightforward, requiring very little creative shot making. It's odd that the developer was unable to make the game's 36 holes interesting because you can make some creative and fun holes with the game's course-editor feature, which is a breeze to use and probably the game's best feature.

In a backward way, you'll come to appreciate the straightforward nature of the game because it doesn't provide you with the necessary tools to consistently make ultradifficult shots. You can choose from three different putting setups: single-tap, multi-tap, and use of the right analog stick. It's easy to get the power level you want with any of the three methods, but the problem is that the power level you think you want often isn't what you really want. The physics are so erratic that you never know how far the ball will actually go or how it will react when it hits something. Sometimes the ball will hit the side wall and bounce as you'd expect, but at other times, it hits the wall and flies over the edge out of bounds. It's quite difficult to judge the slope of the greens, so you'll often find yourself leaving the ball short or crushing it too far. There's also very little camera control. The default view is just behind your golfer, and you can zoom out for an overhead look at the hole, but you can't rotate the camera, so it's very difficult to judge shots on holes with twists and turns. The result of all these problems is a game that's quite frustrating. You'll be cruising along just fine until you have a meltdown on one hole, costing yourself any chance of victory in the process.

In the single-player mode, the pace of play is quite slow. The tournaments are all 36 holes, which is too long for a simple arcade-style putting game. You also can't speed up the ball after you've hit it, which is particularly painful when the wonky physics decide that your ball needs to roll another 10 feet as slowly as possible. Thankfully, the multiplayer aspect is more fun. Because you're playing against other human opponents who are subject to the same gameplay issues as you, having a few bad holes generally doesn't kill the competition. It's also quite a bit of fun to blast your opponent's ball out of the way, even if you've got to go out of the way to do so. There are power-ups in both the single-player and multiplayer modes, but you'll likely find yourself avoiding them for a number of reasons: The icons for the good power-ups look a lot like the bad ones, many of them are ineffective, and they're quite often out of the way, so you're just wasting a shot trying to get them. The game's 200 achievement points are easy to get, but you will have to search around for a handful of hidden medals to earn them all.

3D Ultra Minigolf has some nice graphics for a Live Arcade game. In fact, if it weren't for some low-quality textures and ugly water, you'd be hard pressed to believe the entire game was just a 43MB downloadable game. The courses are colorful and surprisingly detailed, with a nice amount of animation going on in the backgrounds too. The four available characters aren't going to win any awards for creativity, but they're large and have a bit of personality thanks to a few different animations that they perform after good and bad shots. The audio is bare bones, but other than the carnival course's grating theme, it isn't bad.

While the real sport of golf translates well to video games, miniature golf generally does not, so 3D Ultra Minigolf was facing an uphill battle from the outset. It's not a flat-out bad game, but it's not particularly exciting, and its cause isn't helped by the bevy of gameplay issues. Even with these problems, it may be worth 800 points ($10) if your primary interest lies in playing with other people and you really enjoy putting, but unless you fall into that very specific group, you'll want to stay away.