Pokémon Colosseum

Overview

Pokémon Colosseum is the first Pokémon game to be released for the Nintendo GameCube. Pokémon Colosseum is also the first three-dimensionally designed Pokémon RPG. The main gameplay strayed from the success of the other three-dimensional releases,

thus for this reason, it was deemed less of a successor to the Nintendo 64 Pokémon Stadium series, but rather as an adaptation of the Game Boy console-level editions.

Pokemon Colosseum is a role-playing game developed by Genius Sonority and published by Nintendo. It is the first full length 3D Pokemon game on a home console, The Nintendo Gamecube, and features many different gameplay changes from the traditional handheld titles including an emphasis on double battles, no gym leaders to fight, and no wild Pokemon to catch.

Story

In the region of Orre, Pokemon are being turned into heartless fighters by an evil group. You control a teenage boy, Wes, who during the opening of the game is seen destroying the evil Team Snagem's headquarters while also stealing their newest piece of technology, a portable snag machine, a device used for stealing Pokemon from their trainers. During the course of the game Wes travels around stealing Shadow Pokemon from the remaining members of Team Snagem as he discovers another growing threat in the Orre region.

Gameplay

Pokemon Colosseum features major gameplay changes compared to the Pokemon games of the past. In this title there are no random battles in the wild, meaning no Pokemon to catch by normal means. Instead you obtain new Pokemon by stealing them from other trainers that challenge you through the game. The catch to this though is you can only steal "Shadow Pokemon" which are Pokemon that had been stolen from their original trainers and been put through a painful process to become emotionless fighters. Thus there is a very limited number of obtainable Pokemon until you complete the main story where you are allowed to trade Pokemon over from the Gameboy Advance Pokemon games, Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire, Pokemon Emerald, and Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green.

Colosseum also features a more fleshed out story than previous Pokemon games with focus on clearing story points instead of going across a region collecting gym badges, as the Orre region has no gym challenge for the player to face. There is also a heavy emphasis on double battles a concept introduced in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire, with very few one on one Pokemon battles throughout the entire game. The last major addition is with the Shadow Pokemon. These Pokemon start out only knowing one attack which causes recoil damage when used. They must be purified by spending time and fighting alongside Wes in order to gain levels, learn attacks, evolve, and be traded. Other from these changes Colosseum is similar to the other Pokemon games as you spend the majority of your time traveling from area to area while fighting other trainers to level your team of six.

Obtainable Pokémon

196. Espeon

197. Umbreon

296. Makuhita

153. Bayleef

156. Quilava

159. Croconaw

164. Noctowl

180. Flaaffy

188. Skiploom

195. Quagsire

200. Misdreavus

218. Slugma

162. Furret

193. Yanma

223. Remoraid

226. Mantine

211. Qwilfish

307. Meditite

206. Dunsparce

333. Swablu

185. Sudowoodo

237. Hitmontop

255. Entei

166. Ledian

256. Suicune

207. Gligar

234. Stantler

221. Piloswine

215. Sneasel

190. Aipom

198. Murkrow

205. Forretress

329. Vibrava

168. Ariados

210. Granbull

243. Raikou

192. Sunflora

225. Delibird

214. Heracross

227. Skarmory

241. Miltank

359. Absol

229. Houndoom

357. Tropius

376. Metagross

248. Tyranitar

235. Smeargle

217. Ursaring

213. Shuckle

176. Togetic

311. Plusle - Obtainable as a gift from Duking

250. Ho-oh - Obtainable after all shadow pokemon have been snagged

251. Celebi - Obtainable by Japanese bonus disc

025. Pikachu - Obtainable by Japanese bonus disc

385. Jirachi - Obtainable by American bonus disc

175. Togepi - Obtainable by Japanese e-card

179. Mareep - Obtainable by Japanese e-card

212. Scizor - Obtainable by Japanese e-card

Trivia

• Until the fourth generation remakes of Gold and Silver, the only way to obtain several second-generation, Pokemon, including the starters from gold and silver, was to transfer them from this game or from Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness via the GBA-Gamecube transfer cable. This meant that in order to complete the Pokedex a Player needed to own a prohibitive amount of hardware.