Xatu's A History of Pokemon [VOLUME 3]

          The first Pokemon spin-off game created was Pokemon Pinball. This game was released in the U.S. on June 28, 1999. It was released for the Game Boy Color and was the first of a series of spin-off games. Then, four years later, Pokemon Pinball Ruby and Sapphire was released for the Game Boy Advance. These games were well received by reviewers and sold well.

            On June 30, 1999, Pokemon Snap was released for the N64. This game required players to capture pictures of Pokemon doing different activities. This game did not receive as good reviews as other spin-off games.

         Another Pokemon spin-off game released was Pokemon Puzzle Challenge. This game was released on December 4, 2000 for the Game Boy Color. This game is played much like Tetris, and received good ratings. The game was a counterpart of Pokemon Puzzle League released about a month earlier for the Nintendo 64. Puzzle League was played in much the same way, and it was the only game to be based on the Anime series. Both Puzzle League and Challenge got good ratings.

      
         On February 29, 2000, Pokemon Stadium was released also for the N64. This game is played quite like the battles that take place in the Pokemon Main Series games. Then, on March 28, 2001, Pokemon Stadium 2 was released. In both of these games, Pokemon could be imported from Game Boy and Game Boy Color Pokemon Games. This happens when players put their game cartridges into a converter in the back of the N64 game controller. Neither of these games were received very well.

       On November 6, 2000, Hey You, Pikachu was released for the N64. This game was played by talking into a microphone to control Pikachu. This is one of only two games to use the N64's Voice Recognation Unit.

      On March 13, 2005, Pokemon Dash was released as the first Pokemon game ever for the Nintendo DS. This game is played much like a traditional racing game and received mediocre reviews.
One year later, Pokemon Trozei was released. This game was played as a puzzle and received fairy good reviews.

      On September 18, 2006, Pokemon Mystery Dungeons Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team were released for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS respectively. These games are played by traveling through dungeons to go on rescue missions to save Pokemon. On April 20, 2008, Mystery Dungeons Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness were released for the DS as sequels to the other two games. Later, on October 16, 2009, Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky was released as a remake of Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness with an expanded plot.

Next issue, I will finish writing about the spin-off games. Signing out, Xatu.