Pokémon Trading Card Game

The Pokémon Trading Card Game has evolved a lot since its initial launch, and with over 10,000 unique cards released to date, people have been able to do a lot in the competitive scene over the years. As exciting as that is for the modern player, it also means the original competitive TCG experience has largely been lost to time. Luckily, the popularity of Pokémon on the Gameboy prompted a videogame translation of the classic rules and earliest cards, giving curious folks like me the chance to play the game as it was originally designed without the hassle of rounding up a bunch of 20-year-old cards and finding someone just as crazy to play against.

While the card game rules are just those of the TCG as they were in 1998, the developers added some context to your dueling in order to make the experience feel more like a videogame than a simulator. Right from the start, you'll probably notice that the goal was to imitate the mainline games, and despite the smaller scale, it does a good job of it. You're a kid just starting out in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. An eclectic researcher provides you and your rival with a deck of your choice, and you both set out to become the best player and inherit the legendary cards. However, you need to beat the leaders of all eight type-themed gyms, and then four of the most powerful competitors the game has ever known. That structure, along with the assets that it ripped straight from Red and Blue, make the Pokémon Trading Card Game feel right at home amongst its Gameboy counterparts. On top of that, the card game translated over to the small screen and limited buttons remarkably well.

While the deck you start with is pretty much garbage, it doesn't take long at all to start earning new cards and customizing your loadout. Each victory nets you two booster packs, with the cards weighed in favor of the type-theme of the gym in which you won them, making it easy enough to get the cards you're looking for. Once you have a deck or two that you're happy with, it's a lot more fun to battle all of the different competitors on your way towards inheriting the legendary cards. The surprising dependency on coin flips during this era of the TCG means that luck can be even more important than skill and strategy at times, which can be really frustrating, but it also makes drawing the right cards even more thrilling (or at least, that's what I tell myself).

While I think the rules and structure of the Pokémon TCG have evolved for the better, I really enjoyed getting a chance to play the game as it once was. Choosing to make this a Gameboy game led to a few minor inconveniences thanks to the hardware limitations, such as the tedious steps required to view the cards in play, but the platform also gave the developers a chance to make this really feel like it's a part of the established franchise. Borrowing the structure of the first generation Pokémon games and giving you access to the full selection of cards available in 1998 makes this game a perfect nostalgic trip for fans of the videogames and card game alike, and I had a really great time with it.

The game is available for 3DS here (as of 1/5/22): https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/pokemon-trading-card-game-3ds/

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