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PokeMon Game boy help??

S

StRaNgE

Banned
My son has been bugging me for a pokemon game for his gameboy SP.

I have no clue which one is the better to pick him up.

Emrald, fire, saphire or something else?
i have never been into the pokemon games so i can not make an educated guess on this one and could use some help from fellow gaffers....


he is about to turn 8 and LOVES pikachu more then the other pokemon.

what is the difference in them all anyway?

thanks for input and explinations.
 
Pokemon Emerald is the end-all be-all of the Pokemon franchise right now. A more robust version of the most built up games.
 
Pokemon Emerald = newest/best version
Pokemon Crystal is pretty good if you can find it used. Works on a GBA and you can play stuff from the second set of Pokemon games plus pretty much everything from the first set of games. Besides, it's about half the price of Emerald.
 
so Emerald is the newest , i assume pikachu will be on there somewhere?

what's the game even about?

i mean what's the story and concept, i assume it is nothing like the cartoon on TV he watches?

Emerald is a GBA game ?
 
It's a light coming of age story of a son (or daughter, you choose, and then name him/her), recently moved into a new town, trying to make friends. You eventually are dragged, almost by accident into the world of Pokemon and try to live up to your father, who is a master trainer and one of the land's 8 gym leaders. You effectively wander the land, capturing Pokemon and trying to become a master, eventually challenging the Elite 4 at the ultimate competition.

In essence, aside from a few details, the story is identical, in style, to just about all the other Pokemon games. And yes, it is for the GBA.
 
Get Leaf Green or Fire Red for GBA. They're remakes of the original Pokemon game for classic Game Boy. You can catch Pikachu pretty early in the game (in Viridian Forest) and it would be much easier to play through than Emerald for a younger gamer. The story mirrors the anime, which is about a boy's (or girl's) journey through Kanto to become a Pokemon master. The boy looks like Ash from the TV show, and Misty/Brock are Gym Leaders in the game.

I'd suggest you get Leaf Green for your son, and Fire Red for yourself. It's a great introduction to the series.
 
If you can find Pokemon Yellow (your only hope of really finding it is used or ebay), that game actually starts you off with Pikachu and Pikachu follows the player on the screen at all times.

It's a GB/GBC game though, so it's going to look fairly ugly compared to Fire Red/Leaf Green.
 
Leaf green sounds pretty good.

i got him pokemon collosium on the cube and he never finished it although he did dig on the n64 pokemon games.

having ash or someone looking like him and pikachu close to start sounds perfect.

can you stil find those new or would u say just to grab a used copy ?

maybe i'll suprise him with both.

thanks again all.

as far as game content can u think of anthing a bit much or wrong for a younger player to read or play through?
 
Sounds like you're following people's advice, but given his Pikachu luv, I'd definitely go with Fire Red / Leaf Green. The Pokemon games are about as all-ages friendly as they come ... I don't think there's even much innuendo, let alone questionable content.
 
AniHawk said:
There is the sex scene between Brock and Misty, but that was only in 5% of the copies of Pokemon Yellow.
Click to expand...


u gotta be jokin .. lol :lol :lol :lol


yeah gotta take the advice given seeing i have no clue about pokemon and being dad i gotta do my homework 1st. wish more parents did the same before just slappin GTA infront of an 8 year old... i see that alot. sad really.
 
He is joking. :)

I wanted to say FireRed and LeafGreen before as well, particularly since it hits on some points you mentioned. But those games feel very empty and dry by today's standards. They're pretty much just graphical upgrades to Pokemon 1, whereas Emerald is a refined and expanded Pokemon 3. You may not easily be able to tell the difference by looking at the boxes or screenshots, but the games are just too simple by today's standards.

Of course, an 8 year old won't care about any of this. So yeah, got with FR or LG. (I recommend LG.)
 
I'd get him a GBC with Pokemon Red or Blue, there aren't any GBA versions of it though right?
 
Get him FireRed.
It recreates the original, so he'll be up to speed in order to get the most out of RuSaSaph's world.

There's 386 in the current generation, not including the newly revealed ones for Diamond/Pearl like Munchlax.
 
Here's a bit of an explanation of the colors.


Pokemon Red and Blue (on the GameBoy) are the originals, and are basically interchangable. Blue was originally Green in Japan, but they changed the color for America. Red, Blue, and Green represent the three starting Pokemon in the game, Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur.

Pokemon Yellow is basically an "attachment" to Red and Blue/Green. The story is slightly different, and they made some minor improvements. Most notably, you don't get to chose your starting Pokemon, you just get Pikachu.


Pokemon Gold and Silver (on the GameBoy Color) are like "Pokemon 2". They're interchangable again. They have a new story (nothing major) and a whole bunch of new Pokemon. And a number of new gameplay ideas, like having a clock built into the cartridge, so the game changes depending on what time of the day you play it (some Pokemon might only come out at night, or early in the morning).

Pokemon Crystal is an attachment to Gold and Silver, with some minor improvements, similar to Yellow.


Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen (on the GameBoy Advance) are remakes of Red and Blue/Green.

Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire (also GBA) are like "Pokemon 3". Interchangable, as always.

Pokemon Emerald is an attachment to Ruby and Sapphire, making it the most recent Pokemon version.
 
i assume as far as reading goes Leaf Green would be a bit easier as well compared to the newest one?

since he is only 7 about to turn 8 he reads but still has troubles with some words.

Thank you al for the explinations of the story and colors.

i know these games sell like hot cakes to kids but for a gameboy game is there an attraction in gameplay for adults?

can ya compare it to anything else?

thanx again
 
Pokemon is actually pretty unique out there. I'm 26, and have been playing them since I was 20, I suppose. They're pretty fantastic, the combat is fairly typical turn-based RPG combat, but the games give you so much control and so many options over how to put together and develop your team. It really becomes very strategic, on multiple simultanteous levels.
 
Hmmm, i might have to steal his gameboy for a day and try it out for myself...


ok, to clarify before i go out later today and pick this up.

Leaf green is the one with the ash like looking charecter who gets pikachu early in the game or was it red that gets him ?

gunna go out see batman and get him the game all in the same afternoon, he just got over a 104.5 temp yesterday so i am sure he'll be very happy indeed.

thanx again
 
Both LeafGreen and FireRed get the Ash look-alike with a Pikachu as catchable in like the third major area of the game (Veridian Forest).
 
If he likes pikachu at all, definitely go for yellow. Its ALL about pikachu. Most of the other games its kindof hard to get one.
 
Thanx again all.

looks like i have come down with the sick he had and feel like complete ass when i woke up today.

gunna try and force myself out o go get it and will let him choose between red and green since they are the same just with different colors.

again, thank you for all the input.
 
JackFrost2012 said:
Don't listen to the people recommending GBC games in 2005! Get Fire Red or Leaf Green, dammit!
Click to expand...

Well, for an eight year old, it's hard to say. Yellow has the bigtime tv show and pikachu advantage, but FR/LG has the bigtime "looks current" advantage, and is actually available in stores. I guess it depends how game savvy the kid is, or how many friends with GBA he has (because admittedly buying a barely GBC game is not going to help out in that regard).

Good to see you're still seduced by the pokemon side of the force though. A year from now, Darth Frost, the death star..er...Pokemon Diamond/Pearl will be complete!
 
Whoa, make sure you help him catch Pikachu before you leave Viridian forest. Pikachu was rare in Red and Blue, I'm not sure if they made him more common in Fire Red/Leaf Green.
 
How far is the forest into the game so i can sorta keep my eyes open to help him out .

if he passes him up can you go back and try again or is it a one shot pass?
 
StRaNgE said:
How far is the forest into the game so i can sorta keep my eyes open to help him out .

if he passes him up can you go back and try again or is it a one shot pass?
Click to expand...

You can always go back (although, midway through the game you might not be able to make it back until you earn some moves for the pokemon that can cut/break the terrain). The forest is fairly early on in the game. My memory is a bit hazy, but I think it goes:

Village 1 (palette town, where you start) -> north to village 2 -> north to viridian forest

Something like that. The forest is an actual area you go into.
 
I laugh at anyone who said Fr/Lg are easier then R/S/E. Once you hit the Elite 4 you're gonna be stuck leveling up for a good long while. Really....I remember breezing through Red very easily many a time but the retrashes lost something in the translation to GBA.

While Emerald doesn't have "Ash" it does have the female character from the current seasons of the cartoon. It also roughly follows the same storyline as well. Pikachu can't be gotten until roughly 3/4ths into the game but Plusle
080.gif
& Minun
081.gif
can be had relatively early into things and are very Pikachu-like.

Crazymoogle said:
Yellow has the bigtime tv show and pikachu advantage
Click to expand...

Yellows only relevant to the first season of the show which a.) is never aired anymore and b.) the dvds of it are OOP. R/S/E are relevant to the current show far more then any of the past games have been actually.
 
Did anybody bother to mention the old Game Boy/Color games are NOT compatible with the Game Boy Advance titles?

The whole point of Fire Red and Leaf Green is so those players can catch the old 150 Pokemon and play against trainers in the latest in the Pokemon franchise (Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald) and also work with the Gamecube Pokemon games Pokemon Colloseum, and the cleverly titled upcoming Pokemon XD.

The older Game Boy/Color games (Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver and Crystal) do not work with any Game Boy Advance/Gamecube Pokemon title. Instead, they link with the older Game Boy/Color versions and are compatible with both Nintendo 64 games: Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2

If I didnt explain that clearly, I'm sure someone'll do better.

Edit: Though I just want to make clear, its better to get one of the titles on Game Boy Advance, as its the current version and more people will have these versions than the older ones.
 
Lindsay said:
Pikachu can't be gotten until roughly 3/4ths into the game
Click to expand...

How so? Viridian forest is right after the first badge. Pikachu is considered rare (harder to run into), but he's there.

Yellows only relevant to the first season of the show which a.) is never aired anymore and b.) the dvds of it are OOP. R/S/E are relevant to the current show far more then any of the past games have been actually.
Click to expand...

It still airs, actually. Maybe not on the channel you're thinking of, but whatever. And whereas FR/LG has Misty/Brock, Yellow has pikachu (following you on the world view no less) and actual battles against Jesse/James/Meowth of Team Rocket, hence the relevance.

Bartman3010: Yeah, that's right. GBA games can only trade with GBA games, which I guess is a good point (although relevance depends on whether the kid would have another GBA and then the cable just to trade up anyway).
 
Team Rocket just got his attention , that and meowf .

so that would again be red and green?

did they make those with gamecube conectivity cuz that would be a plus for him as well.

Again thanx for all the input.

i'm feeling better so gunna bail in a few minutes to go grab one of these for him.

he also wants to know if he can catch a meowf and a persian (no idea what that one is, lol)

and a whoo whoo he says, lol
 
Crazymoogle said:
How so? Viridian forest is right after the first badge. Pikachu is considered rare (harder to run into), but he's there.
Click to expand...

I meant that about R/S/E where you can only get Pika in the Safari Zone.

It still airs, actually. Maybe not on the channel you're thinking of, but whatever.
Click to expand...

The first season does not air in the US which I believe is pretty much what we're mostly/all refering to.
 
StRaNgE said:
Team Rocket just got his attention , that and meowf .
so that would again be red and green?
Click to expand...

Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green for the GBA. You fight against Team Rocket in this game but they're just generic team rocket goons. Yellow (which is for the original GB and is very old at this point) had Jesse/James. Who knows, maybe they will remake yellow some day (since they've done a third game for every pokemon series after a year).

Yeah, Meowth is in the game (Meowth evolves into Persian when you level it up to lv28, . You can find it at one of the following: Treasure Beach, Kindle Road, Mt. Ember, Cape Brink, Bond Bridge, Five Isle Meadow, Water Path, Ruin Valley, Quest Island, Route 5, Route 6, Route 7, Route 8

Persian by itself is rare, at any of: Treasure Beach, Kindle Road, Mt. Ember, Cape Brink, Bond Bridge, Five Isle Meadow, Water Path, Ruin Valley, Quest Island

did they make those with gamecube conectivity cuz that would be a plus for him as well.
Click to expand...

Sort of.

1. Pokemon Box (a gamecube "organizer" game) connects to the GBA games for sorting your pokemon. You can only buy box online though and your trading is limited to fire red/leaf green pokemon until you beat fire red or leaf green.

2. Pokemon Colosseum (a standalone gamecube pokemon adventure) connects to the gba games for trading, but you have to beat colosseum and (your choice of) fire red/leaf green first.

3. Pokemon xd is another standalone gamecube pokemon adventure (sadly looks like a colosseum sequel) coming out this year, probably the same restrictions.

Obviously you need the GBA->GC cable to connect those games to the gba ones.

Again thanx for all the input.
 
Just a reminder that your Pokedex tells you where to find any pokemon you have seen on a map, i think you choose area to find out (it's been some time).
 
StRaNgE said:
How far is the forest into the game so i can sorta keep my eyes open to help him out .

if he passes him up can you go back and try again or is it a one shot pass?
Click to expand...

The forest is right after the 2nd town, you'll know it when you're fighting weedle's, caterpie's, and bug catchers. Just keep getting into random battles and you'll eventually get one. My only concern is that if you get to the 4th town you won't be able to go back until much later in the game (there's a ledge you jump over that you won't be able to jump back).
 
Pokemon Box includes the needed memory card (In a translucent Ruby/Sapphire 2-piece shell!) and the GCN/GBA cable. I have it.
 
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