It’s time to seize your Pokeballs and go on an journey as we try the most effective GameDice Pokemon video games!

The early 2000s had been a good time for the principle Pokemon video games, as they left the 8-bit Game Boy and Game Boy Color machines behind to look on the way more technically succesful Game Boy Advance.

Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire expanded the scale and scope of the collection in so some ways, with lovely pixel artwork visuals and plenty of added gameplay options.

Available alongside the Game Boy Advance, the GameDice additionally allowed quite a few advances over Nintendo’s earlier dwelling console, the cartridge-based Nintendo 64 – and but there weren’t many Pokemon video games accessible for the machine (you’ll find them – and each different Pokemon recreation – on our all Pokemon video games so as record!).

With simply 4 Pokemon titles on the Nintendo GameDice, which of them are the most effective? Let’s discover out, as we try the most effective GameDice Pokemon video games!

Though not strictly a recreation, Pokemon Box: Ruby & Sapphire is – or reasonably was – a significant device for severe Pokemon collectors. 

Back within the early 00s, should you had been accumulating Pokemon throughout a number of Game Boy Advance cartridges, it was an actual ache to organise them and even simply get them into the correct recreation on the proper time. 

Pokemon Box – which got here with the disc, Game Boy Advance Link Cable and GameDice Memory Card – alleviated these issues. Still, its restricted availability made it fairly a problem to pay money for.

It allowed gamers to retailer and organise as much as 1500 Pokemon on the included reminiscence card – and was suitable with all Game Boy Advance Pokemon titles. Despite solely having Ruby and Sapphire within the title, Pokemon Box was truly suitable with Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed and LeafGreen.

It additionally allowed players to play Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire on the massive display screen, utilizing the Game Boy Advance Link Cable.

There had been a couple of different options, akin to the flexibility to breed Pokemon – however with Pokemon Box being extra of a useful accent than a recreation (despite the fact that Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire might be performed in your TV utilizing the disc) it sits in final place on our greatest GameDice Pokemon video games record.

Pokemon Channel was a very odd recreation that was seemingly geared toward very younger Pokemon followers.

When the GameDice was first revealed, quick gameplay and FMV snippets had been proven as a part of a demo reel. One of the clips proven was named ‘Meowth’s Party’; a really temporary showcase of pre-rendered graphics that confirmed how Pokemon might look, utilizing the GameDice’s then-cutting edge 3D. It was fairly superb again then, particularly compared to the blocky N64 Pokemon that had been the usual on the time.

That temporary clip made it into Pokemon Channel, although Pokemon Channel maybe wasn’t the expertise that followers had been anticipating.

Pokemon Channel was someplace in the course of a really fundamental journey recreation, a mini-game assortment and a digital pet sim, wherein gamers watch varied TV channels alongside Pikachu and report again to Professor Oak on his behaviour. 

You can even play varied video games on a Pokemon Mini (which was an actual life, extremely small, handheld console) and accumulate buying and selling playing cards within the recreation. 

Perhaps the largest promoting level for Pokemon Channel again within the day was the truth that it allowed gamers to catch and obtain Jirachi to Pokemon Ruby or Sapphire, utilizing the Game Boy Advance Link Cable.

Pokemon Channel was additionally suitable with Nintendo’s e-Reader machine, which learn barcode-style scanning strips on Pokemon playing cards (and devoted e-Reader playing cards, offered individually) to add new creatures and gadgets into the sport!

When Pokemon Colosseum was first revealed, gamers had been genuinely excited that they’d be capable to have the total Pokemon accumulating and roleplaying expertise in 3D for the very first time.

That, sadly, didn’t fairly occur with Pokemon Colosseum – however it was as shut because it acquired for a while.

Set within the harsh desert area of Orre, the local weather and circumstances within the space are cited as the explanations that no wild Pokemon might be discovered there. Therefore, there are not any random encounters with Pokemon, that are as an alternative caught by ‘snagging’ them from different Pokemon Trainers. 

There was a catch, nonetheless: solely Shadow Pokemon – who had been corrupted – may very well be snagged. Shadow Pokemon wanted to be ‘purified’ earlier than they’d obey the participant too, including an additional uncommon twist to the sport’s mechanics.

Pokemon Colosseum was a visible step up over what we’d beforehand been used to, however with out an overworld, it didn’t match as much as the scale and scope of the earlier video games – and its uncommon mechanics proved divisive.

It did present a comparatively simple method for a number of gamers to battle collectively, nonetheless, outdoors of the Story Mode. Pokemon is also traded between Colosseum and the GBA Pokemon video games: Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed and LeafGreen.

The sequel to Pokemon Colosseum, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness once more options Shadow Pokemon – 83 of them in whole – although there’s a significant distinction, in the truth that every of them has a choice of Shadow strikes to make use of in fight.

Players can even make use of a Purification Chamber with a view to purify Shadow Pokemon – however maybe the largest change is that there are three areas (PokeSpots) the place wild Pokemon might be lured and caught!

There’s additionally an space referred to as Mt. Battle, which presents gamers with a 100 coach problem; beating trainers right here can internet gamers particular gadgets and prizes.

Once extra, the entire Game Boy Advance Pokemon video games – Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed and LeafGreen – can join in buying and selling and battle modes too!

Though not a big improve over Pokemon Colosseum, the adjustments it does convey to the gameplay put it firmly on the prime of the most effective GameDice Pokemon video games record – and, naturally, each of the video games within the prime two spots on right here characteristic on our greatest Pokemon video games record too!

Has Nintendo Provided Cross-platform Connectivity Before These Pokemon Titles On The GameDice?

Yes! Nintendo have at all times executed attention-grabbing issues with connectivity and cross-platform compatibility with their consoles, going proper again to the SNES and the Super Game Boy.

The latter allowed gamers to play Game Boy video games – with restricted color palettes and typically fancy borders – on the TV by way of a SNES cartridge adaptor. 

The N64 had the flexibility to switch information between suitable N64 and Game Boy/Game Boy Color video games, utilizing the Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak, permitting gamers to switch their handheld Pokemon collections to Pokemon Stadium on the N64, in addition to offering bonus options in a small variety of different video games.

How Did The GameDice Connect To The Game Boy Advance? 

The GameDice had a improbable peripheral referred to as the Game Boy Player, which enabled handheld video games – from the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance – to be performed on the massive display screen by way of the GameDice. 

How Did The GameDice Pokemon Games Connect To The Game Boy Advance Pokemon Games?

They didn’t use the Game Boy Player. Instead, a Game Boy Advance-GameDice Link Cable linked the hand-held to the GameDice itself. This allowed for a various and versatile vary of performance and further options.

It was fairly extensively supported, with greater than 50 video games providing some type of connectivity.

What Extra Features Were Enabled When The Gamecube Was Linked To The Game Boy Advance Pokemon Games?

The Pokemon GameDice video games all supported the hyperlink cable with a view to switch Pokemon to and from the GBA Pokemon titles – Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed and LeafGreen (try our opinion on the greatest Pokemon GBA video games right here!).

Additionally, gamers might obtain Jirachi this fashion, from Pokemon Colosseum (utilizing the US model’s Bonus Disc) or from the PAL variations of Pokemon Channel. Pokemon Colosseum’s Japanese bonus disc had a Celebi that may very well be transferred this fashion too.

Finally, each Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire may very well be performed on the TV utilizing the hyperlink cable and a replica of Pokemon Box: Ruby & Sapphire!

Jason – who lives within the UK – has had a lifelong curiosity in video video games, which all began when he found Space Invaders within the early 80s. The first recreation he ever accomplished was Wonder Boy in Monster Land on the Sega Master System – which stays certainly one of his proudest gaming achievements. Jason is a passionate author – and has been writing about gaming because the late 90s. He at the moment runs popular culture weblog midlifegamergeek.com, which he updates each day (and has written greater than 700 articles on the weblog alone!).

Outside of video video games, Jason is a eager tabletop gamer, movie buff and comedian e-book fan.