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Phil Larsen
04 Oct, 2006

DS Pokémon selling like crazy

DS News | Monsters making a killing in Japan.
According to a poorly translated Japanese website, the latest editions to the legendary Pokémon series of games are selling through the roof. No poor translation can disguise the numbers - 1,575,266 units sold since the Japan release just a week ago on September 28. Diamond takes the lead over Pearl, with 813,237 and 762,029 units sold respectively.

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl are the first "official" Pokémon games to arrive on the Nintendo DS. As per usual, two versions of the same game are released, each with slight variations in the Pokémon themselves and bonus content. The best part of all regarding the Nintendo DS titles? Wireless battles and trading. No more clunky link-cable system, just high-speed swapping and swiping. At this point we have no firm date for a PAL release, but rest assured we will be preparing for the latest catch-em-all craze long in advance.

Granted, the post-million mark has only been reached by combining the two titles, but it is only a matter of very short time until we have 1 out of every 50 people in Japan owning a perfectly precious piece of Pokémon paraphernalia. Even those sales figures are outdated by the time you finish reading this sentence. Right now. And another sold. So stay tuned for the numbers to soar, and be sure to keep up with PALGN for future Pokémon news!

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47 Comments
6 years ago
I can't say I'm suprised, It's Pokmon after all, hopfllu it comes out soon.
6 years ago
"Monsters making a killing in Japan."

Am I supposed to be surprised? icon_lol.gif It's Japan for goodness sake, they lap it up. I'd be very surprised if I wasn't reading this news!
6 years ago
The game is looking damn good, too.

Wish it would've came out here sooner.
6 years ago
Am I the only one who immediately thought of Godzilla upon reading "Monsters making a killing in Japan"?

I really hope the games come out here soon. Ordinarily I'd just buy the American version if there was a wait, but I'm not sure if it'd be compatible with my old games. I know that Japanese DS games aren't compatible with English GBA games, so I don't know whether that applies to American and Australian. As far as I know they're identical, though.
6 years ago
matrix-cat wrote
Am I the only one who immediately thought of Godzilla upon reading "Monsters making a killing in Japan"?
Well yeah, that was the joke.
6 years ago
Isn't it funny how many people are still into Pokemon, evan after Red/Blue, ten years ago?

I see what everyone likes about it, I mean I was obsessed for years, but the games just follow the same formula without any drastic changes. Then again, I guess these are online now, so..
6 years ago
I am a 27 year old man, yet I will be buying this title. Sad, but true.
6 years ago
And no release date for it in the US or PAL regions. We'll be waiting.

And on what I said about no drastic changes - if it ain't broke, don't fix it, I guess. But come on, at least some graphical changes wouldn't go astray.
6 years ago
Jim Dash wrote
Isn't it funny how many people are still into Pokemon, evan after Red/Blue, ten years ago?

I see what everyone likes about it, I mean I was obsessed for years, but the games just follow the same formula without any drastic changes. Then again, I guess these are online now, so..
Red/Blue were absolutely amazing in every aspect. Almost perfect games. The formula did not work for Gold/Silver, but Ruby/Sapphire did provide above average RPGing. I strongly believe there is many years left in Pokemon magic. Bring it on.
6 years ago
Formula did not work ofr Gold/Silver?

Explain yourself, young man.
6 years ago
^I second that.

Gold/Silver were the last poke games i had fun with.Ruby/Saphire got tall poppy syndrome and went overboard, to the detriment of the games overall 'fun' factor.
6 years ago
Anything part the original 151 Pokemon was a step back.

I can't exactly remember what I didn't like about Gold/Silver (if I need to go back and review them I will!), but I distinctly remember not liking them nearly as much as R/B, and then I went straight on to R/S and liked them much better.
6 years ago
I've enjoyed all 3/4 (depending on whether you count leafgreen as a new game) generations of pokemon, and, although the designs aren't as good as the first 150 (do like the crazy new type combos, though), I still found all of them enjoyable.

Blastoise is still the coolest Pokemon ever, though.
6 years ago
I think your one of few^

Most people i know personally, or here on the boards(myself included) seem to think they went stupid with r/s.......the number of pokemon got far too large with many new ones simply being 'stupid', the lack of connection with original(even gold silver had the original kanto map accesible even if it was watered down), and other stupid additions like the beauty contest felt tacked on, just put there simply to justify another purchase for those who already had g/s.

DancesInUnderwear wrote
Blastoise is still the coolest Pokemon ever, though.
My first ever starter too.........he's the kewlest.
6 years ago
DancesInUnderwear wrote
Blastoise is still the coolest Pokemon ever, though.
I still remember when I got my first Squirtle...was it really that long ago?
6 years ago
What does history dictate in terms of releases...

Red/Blue
Japan = 27/2/96
US = 30/9/98
Aus = similar to above

G/S
Japan = 21/11/99
US = 11/10/00
Aus = probably similar to above

R/S
Japan = 21/11/02
US = 18/3/03
Aus = very similar to US (a week if i remember)

FR/LG
Japan = 29/01/04
US = 07/09/04
Aus = similar to above

OK, so that leaves us with a wait of anywhere between 5 and 11 months icon_razz.gif
So anytime around february 07 thru July 07

This is one of three DS games that I'm interested.

I know I've ranted about pokemon before, so I'll just say that I hope these are better than ruby and sapphire, which were simply poor when compared to the previous efforts
6 years ago
Red and blue versions were 10 years ago.
icon_eek.gif
They were the best games on gameboy...
6 years ago
I agree with most of you in saying that R/B and G/S were great, but R/S was very average (compared to previos titles). I'll still be buying either Diamond or Pearl, I just hope it brings back the magic of the first two generations.

Also, every generation of Pokemon seems to bring with it more and more retarted looking Pokemon each time. Especially the 2 pokemon on front of the D/P packages. They are getting way to robotic for my liking.
6 years ago
Am I missing something? I feel like I am if 27 year old men like leonmc are waiting for these games. Can someone explain the gameplay of these titles?
6 years ago
^^Never played pokemon???
6 years ago
Phil wrote
matrix-cat wrote
Am I the only one who immediately thought of Godzilla upon reading "Monsters making a killing in Japan"?
Well yeah, that was the joke.
Oh, a joke. I get jokes icon_wink.gif Anyway, I feel stupid now icon_cry.gif

Now all I need is a DS.
6 years ago
Jibbs wrote
^^Never played pokemon???
That's what i'm sayin kid...
6 years ago
theory wrote
Jibbs wrote
^^Never played pokemon???
That's what i'm sayin kid...
WOW really? you should stop what your doing and go pick it up. it doesnt matter if you have no idea about pokemon, its just a great game.

Was the game b4 the TV show/ card game? I seriously cant remember.
6 years ago
theory wrote
Am I missing something? I feel like I am if 27 year old men like leonmc are waiting for these games. Can someone explain the gameplay of these titles?
400+ (anyone know the exact figure now?) creatures, each with their own type combination / abilities / movesets / stat balance. Pick six and try to strategize a combination of 4 moves/abilty/stats that maximises your chance of beating any other combination of six (avoiding legendaries icon_razz.gif). There's a massive movepool (450+ moves, each with an associated type, accuracy, max usage, secondary effect, effect probability etc...) and there are lots of different strategies you can employ. icon_smile.gif
Then you get to move your carefully crafted and raised team to Wii, and battle with them in 3D with special effects etc.
(In that case, there's the further strategy of viewing your opponent's team of 6 before battle, deciding what their possible moves might be, and choosing 3 from your team to go against 3 that they'll pick from theirs. Pre-battle strategy is very important.)

Well that's what I like about it icon_razz.gif

The RPGs themselves (rather than multiplayer battles) are less strategic than that... the AI isn't usually particularly good, and battles hinge more often on type-matchups (which is fun nevertheless) than move strategy. Also, which Pokemon you decide to carry with you throughout the game and whether you can form a balanced team with the limited set of Pokemon available to you.
However, the addition of Wi-Fi will give me the ability to battle highly-skilled players on the Internet, so the games'll be more balanced there now as well. icon_smile.gif

GS had quite a bit of interesting stuff that was removed from RS, what with the massive Kanto bonus-world and the day-night system. We know the latter's back, hopefully the former might make a return as well (though I personally doubt it).
I personally think Abilities and Natures were a massively interesting and useful addition to the battle system. I always wondered why you could previously hit the floating Weezing with an Earthquake, and now it has the Levitate ability, so you can't. icon_smile.gif
I don't mind the new Pokemon either. Some are a bit too odd, but for the most part they're good.

(OK, I'm gonna stop typing now. >_>)
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Australian Release Date:
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Publisher:
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Developer:
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Players:
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