Issue 4

By: Alakazam

With the release of the Pokemon Trading Figure Game (TFG) this past September in North America, a lot of Pokemon fans including myself have been wondering how successful it will be.  Will it catch on like the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) or will it be forgotten like Pokemon e-Reader cards?  To determine if it will be successful or not I will examine some of the important factors that will determine if it will catch on with today’s Pokemon fandom or not.

Accepted by Pokemon TCG players

With Pokemon TFG being very similar to Pokemon TCG in many respects, it seems obvious that they’re the target market Nintendo was going after when they developed this game.  Both games are very similar since both their game play is based on a combination of strategy and luck.  In my opinion, Pokemon TCG requires more strategy since the attack you select in Pokemon TFG is up to the spinner, while you can actually select it in Pokemon TCG.  They both share weakness and resistance; however, right now only Pokemon TCG utilizes it.  Pokemon TFG even has playing cards known as Trainer Cards just like Pokemon TCG.  Some game terms are shared, such as the bench where active Pokemon remain until they are sent into play.  The goals however are different in each game with players trying to either knock out all active and bench Pokemon in Pokemon TCG, while players in Pokemon TFG try to reach another player’s goal first.  Overall, the games are very similar, so if you’re a Pokemon TCG pro it shouldn’t be that hard to learn Pokemon TFG.  It also might be a nice change to try something new for once.

High Rate of Duplicate Figures

As first reported in Australia, there seems to be a problem with distribution of the Trading Figure Game.  Many players were ending up with a ridiculous amount of duplicate figures.  Since the figures aren’t cheap, players are going to have to trade with each other if they want to obtain figures they don’t have.  Duplicate figures are pretty much pointless since you are only allowed three or six Pokemon figures on the game board at once, unlike Pokemon TCG where you build an entire deck.  You always have the option of trading with your friends, but if they have the same duplicates figures as you, you aren’t going to get anywhere fast.  This could lead to a serious supply and demand problem where certain players end up with many rare Pokemon, while others end up with lots of common figures.  The best way to obtain figures right now is eBay, but depending on if the game becomes popular or not, the figures may cost a pretty penny.

High Price per Figure

A major difference between the Trading Card Game and the Trading Figure Game is the price.  Since Pokemon TFG is targeted at a younger crowd, they need to be able to afford the figures to play the game.  Here is an example of the disparity in price: a 10-card Booster Pack of Pokemon TCG Diamond & Pearl Secret Wonders retails for $3.79 and a 60-card Theme Deck retails for $11.99, while a Pokemon TFG one-figure Booster Pack retails for $3.49 and a four-figure Starter Set retails for $14.99.  It may be true that you need fewer figures (only three or six) to play a game of Pokemon TFG, but if you want to be able to develop any sort of strategy you are going to need a variety of figures.  If everyone just buys the Starter Set due to the high price, you’ll end up with a lot of players with the same or similar figure sets.  This will lead to players getting bored of the game quickly and may lead to the Trading Figure Game’s failure.

Ease of Adoption

One of the major determinants to whether the Trading Figure Game will succeed or not is the learning curve.  Basically, are the rules easy to learn for younger children?  In my opinion, Pokemon TFG is easier to learn than Pokemon TCG since it has just been introduced and there is only one set out right now.  The official Pokemon TFG website (http://www.go-pokemon.com/tfg/) provides an excellent video tutorial to learn the game.  The rules are a lot simpler in Pokemon TFG since all you have to remember is which colour of attacks wins (blue beats everything, while purple is second and white is last), as opposed to Pokemon TCG where you have to be concerned about attaching Energy Cards before you can attack.  You also don’t have to be concerned about marking damage on Pokemon since Pokemon TFG is based on the colour of the move (and if the colours are the same the amount of damage).  The goal in Pokemon TFG is pretty easy to understand since all you have to do is make it to your opponent’s, while your goal in Pokemon TCG is to knock out your opponent’s active Pokemon while they have no Pokemon on the bench or collect all of the opponent’s prize cards.  Again, both games require an opponent to practice against, so if you don’t know anyone who owns Pokemon TFG you’re out of luck.  Overall, Pokemon TFG is a lot easier to learn than Pokemon TCG, which is an advantage since it’s targeted at a younger demographic.

Counterfeits

Bootleg products, especially in Japan are a huge problem.  They hurt the bottom line of Nintendo and their reputation at the same time.  Pokemon TCG suffered from a huge problem with counterfeits cards near the beginning when Pokemon was in its prime, mainly due to unsuspecting parents buying fake cards for their children.  Since parents are have all the money and are buying the figures for their children, it will be important for Nintendo to educate consumers if counterfeit figures become a huge problem.  In my opinion Pokemon TFG won’t suffer from the same counterfeit problem Pokemon TCG did since cards are a lot easier to replicate than figures.  Even if counterfeits have molds to create the phony figures, it’s really difficult to create a spinner with the text of the attacks on it.  In the end, I don’t see counterfeit figures being a huge problem and that’s a good thing since a player might just give up on the Trading Figure Game if they wasted their money on fake figures.

Promotion by Nintendo

To paraphrase one of the opening themes to Pokemon, the power is in Nintendo’s hands in terms of if the Trading Figure Game is a success or not.  The key to success is through promotion.  Remember when the Pokemon e-Reader cards died?  It was because Nintendo stopped supporting them.  Remember when Pokemon movies stopped appearing in theaters?  It was because Nintendo stopped promoting them.  If Nintendo wants this game to be a success, they are going to have to do everything in their power to at least get kids to try it out.  Now with the Trading Card Game, Nintendo Power does giveaways where they include a promo card in their magazine for players to try out.  This isn’t possible with the Trading Figure Game since it’s impossible to fit a figure inside a magazine.  The only plausible alternative would be to have a monthly contest where kids can send in entry forms in hopes of being selected to receive a free figure.  The only problem with a contest is that only limited amounts of people get the game (the contest winners), but at least it still lets players know that Nintendo is supporting the game.

Speaking of supporting Pokemon TFG, the Pokemon Company needs to keep releasing new sets of Pokemon TFG if they want it to succeed.  Based on how well the first set, Next Quest, sells, it will determine if retailers like Wal-Mart will stock the game anymore.  Essentially, the success of the Trading Figure Game comes down to distribution; if few retailers are willing to stock the figures due to poor sales the game will fail.

Right now Nintendo is claiming that they don’t want to have any tournaments because they want players to learn Pokemon TFG for a while before they setup events.  This seems reasonable; however, if Nintendo wants the game to be a success they are going to have to make it seem important by holding big tournaments that they boast about on their website.  If the tournaments are widespread and not just in a few larger markets like New York, I believe the Trading Figure Game can benefit a lot from the added publicity

Lastly, as previously stated, support from Nintendo is the key to success and adoption of the game.  They are already going in the right direction by promoting deals from PokemonCenter.com for the Trading Figure Game.  They need to continue to do that and perhaps have bundles with Pokemon TCG and Pokemon TFG that go for very low prices.  Remember, the key is to get players to try the game out.  Once they are hooked then Nintendo can release new sets and rack in the dough then.

Conclusion

I believe that if Nintendo fully supports the Trading Figure Game and doesn’t forget about it after a few months it can be very successful.  I don’t think it will catch on like Pokemon TCG did since Pokemon isn’t as popular as it was a decade ago and the price point for the figures are a lot higher.  Unlike the e-Reader, Nintendo has spent years developing the Trading Figure Game.  I know they don’t want all that time, effort, and money to go down the drain.  We’ll see in the coming months if Nintendo has Pokemon TFG tournaments or if it ends up as a forgotten product like Pokemon e-cards.

Ultimate Pokemon RPG

The Pokemon games have much detail in them. However, everybody has their own opinion as to what the perfect one is. Here is mine. I briefly described it on the Zamcast, but have had a full opinion long before.

Overview
The ultimate Pokemon game would basically in my opinion contain much. However, most of the events, and the region, should match that of Crystal.

Graphics
Graphics in almost every body's opinion should be better. I imagine it be a very 3-D like game, but having a function that switches it to a D/P style Overworld. Basically, you should have a perspective mode, like that of Super Mario 64, you have the basic 3-D graphics, like those in Super Mario 64, and you would have the 2.5-D graphics of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.

Weather Patterns

Basically, there would be weather patterns throughout the region, in which precipitation would fall at varying rates, times, and extensiveness. The cities enduring the precipitation would also follow a "pattern". It will be a weather pattern however, which is simply a track that the storm moves in. There would be multiple weather systems on the map at one time, all following the region's jet-stream (which is the pattern). Let me break this down in simpler terms:

It is interesting. I think there should be Summer, Fall, Spring, and Winter, all having different conditions, and matching the accurate conditions of where you are. So, where ever you are in the world, the surrounding seasons match those in the game. Plus, Pokemon frequencies change.

Winter
In the Winter there should be snow in most areas of the region. Tree's, the ground, etc. would all have snow on them. Plus, the water would be frozen, and instead of using surf, you buy skates (not available until obtaining surf). Southern parts of the regions will have little or no snow, but there be frost on the ground. In addition you will find ice Pokemon more often, others very little.

  Ponds are fully frozen. Only ice Pokemon appear, all others are hibernating. Only snow falls.
  Ponds are mostly frozen, having slight ponds throughout the lake. Very few non-ice Pokemon appear. Only Snow Falls
  Ponds are mostly frozen, having slight ponds throughout the lake. Very few non-ice Pokemon appear. Occasional Rain-Snow Mix Falls
  Ponds have occasional week points, in which you fall through in order to use a surfing Pokemon. Non-ice Pokemon can be found easily, but ice Pokemon out-number them. Rarely rain will fall, but mostly rain-snow mix will falls
  All Pokemon can be found. Ponds are mostly liquid, with occasional solid points. Mostly rain falls, but a mix will fall occasional.

Fall
In the fall, the tree's should be changing color, there should be leaves on the ground and in the water, and more northern location will have frozen water areas.

Spring
In the spring, there would be many blossoming flowers. Trees are getting leaves back, and buds are flowing on them.

Summer

In the summer, conditions will mostly remain the way the do in southern areas of Sinnou. Ice Pokemon are rare.

Daylight Features

There would be several daylight periods. However, only 5 would be clearly visible. They all however, would have visible difference by shadows. The shadows would change due to the different sun location. Street lights at night would also cause a shadow, typically multiple.

-Early Morning

-Morning

-Day

-Afternoon

-Dusk

-Evening

-Night

-Late Night

Age: It plays a roll*

This would be the most significant difference. As you get older, you get age benefits. 1 hour=3 weeks. You will also start at 14. Here are a few ideas:

Age 16: Can drive a car, although they cost $999,999.

Age 18: Can gamble for actual money, not prizes

*A future newsletter article may occur

Faster Training

By: Alakazam

Are you anxious to get your Pokemon to level 100, but find it takes too long to level them by facing the Elite Four over and over again? If so, there are a few things you can do to speed up the experience points a Pokemon receives from battle.

 

Lucky Egg

 

Since the release of Pokemon Gold and Silver, where the ability to attach items to Pokemon was first introduced, an item called the Lucky Egg has been around. What makes this item special is any Pokemon who has this item attached to it gains 1.5 times the normal experience from battle. That means it takes you a third less time to level your Pokemon up to level 100. So now you're probably wondering how to acquire the Lucky Egg. Well the only way to acquire this useful item is to find it attached to a Chansey. Below is how to locate Chansey in the 3rd and 4th generation of Pokemon games.

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen

Acquiring a Chansey with Lucky Egg attached is very difficult in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen. The only way to acquire it is from wild Chansey in the Safari Zone, which only appear rarely. If you're lucky enough to run into a Chansey, there's only a 5% chance of it holding the Lucky Egg. When you run into Chansey you can attempt to catch it, but I recommend that you have a Pokemon as the party leader with the move Thief or Covet to swap items with Chansey. That way you won't have to worry about accidentally knocking out Chansey and losing the item.

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl

Acquiring Chansey in the 4th generation is a lot easier. Before you begin be sure to have first acquired the NationalDex. You should also have a Pokemon with the ability Compoundeyes on your team. Four Pokemon learn it: Butterfree, Nincada, Venonat and Yanma. Also be sure to have a Pokemon that learns either Trick, Covet or Frisk.

Now start in Hearthome City and head down to Route 212. Once on Route 212, head to the Pokemon Mansion. Once inside, head right and enter the first door you encounter. Be sure to save your game when you enter the room. Next talk to the fellow in front of you who will talk about a new Pokemon in his garden. The Pokemon he says is random and there are around 10 different Pokemon. It's important that you saved before talking to him, as you'll have to keep restarting your game until he talks about seeing Chansey. After he talks about Chansey head inside Trophy Garden.

Once inside Trophy Garden, switch the Pokemon with the Compoundeyes ability to first in your party. Compoundeyes will better your chances of running into a Chansey with Lucky Egg because it increases the chances of finding a Pokemon holding an item in the wild. Once you're in battle with a Chansey, switch to the Pokemon on your team that knows Trick/Covet/Frisk and use the attack to swap items with Chansey (make sure you don't have any important items attached to your Pokemon as you'll lose them). With Trick/Covet you can just take the item and run from battle, while with Frisk you'll have to catch Chansey to acquire the item. If you're lucky, the item you'll obtain will be Lucky Egg.

Besides Trophy Garden, Chansey can be found on Route 209 and at the south of Route 210. Both routes are located to the south of Solaceon Town. Again use the methods mentioned above to help capture Chansey. This method is best if you haven't acquired the NationalDex yet.

 

Traded Pokemon

 

By far the easiest way to level up your Pokemon is to level up a Pokemon you acquired via trade. As with Lucky Egg, Traded Pokemon gain experience at a rate of 1.5 times the normal rate. If you're lucky enough to have a traded Pokemon with Lucky Egg, that Pokemon will gain experience at 125% the normal rate.

 

Untraded Pokemon		Traded Pokemon
Normal EXP	EXP with Lucky Egg	Normal EXP	EXP with Lucky Egg
100	150	150	225
1,200	1,800	1,800	2,700

 

Exp Share

 

If you have a low level Pokemon that you want to train quickly (perhaps you hatched it from an egg), the easiest way to level it up is by attaching the Exp Share item to it. Exp Share is a great item because the weak Pokemon will gain half the experience that the stronger Pokemon who battled obtained. This works a lot better than having the weak Pokemon as the lead in your team and quickly switching out to your stronger Pokemon. That means you can have a Level 5 Caterpie with Exp Share gaining half the experience while your Level 50 Alakazam beats Pokemon from the Elite Four.

An added bonus is that the Effort Values (EVs) gained from the battle aren't split between the Pokemon holding Exp Share and the stronger Pokemon that battled. The EVs remain the same for each Pokemon as if they had beaten it themselves. For example, if a Bagon is holding Exp Share and Luxray beats Gyarados, Bagon earns itself 2 Attack EVs, while also Luxray earns 2 Attack EVs.

 

PokeZam in Beckett Pokemon Magazine

By: Alakazam

In December 2007, in Issue 97 of Beckett Pokemon Magazine, PokeZam.com was mentioned under the Editor's Note found on page 2. The reason PokeZam was mentioned was because starting in this issue I became a contributing writer for Beckett Pokemon. I am responsible for the episode reviews as well as other articles ideas I come up with. This is a huge honour because my major goal when I opened PokeZam was to get some media attention for this great website. Hopefully this will lead to more great opportunities to PokeZam, so stay tuned!

 

Pokemon of the Week (POTW): Mr. Mime

 

By: Blaziken

 

A very underrated Pokemon, Mr Mime is pretty good. It definitely goes past expectations. With a wide movepool, Mr Mime can be very effective, much more in the 4th generation. It has all around decent stats, but its special defense stands out the most, reaching a maximum of 372.

 

3rd Generation

 

Special Sweeper

Item: Leftovers
Nature: Modest
Attacks: Calm Mind
Thunderbolt
Psychic
Thunder Wave

Not much of a sweeper much it'll have to do. Calm Mind increases your special attack and defense, while Thunder Wave cripples sweepers opposing you. Thunderbolt and Psychic are there just for sweeping. A pretty dull Mr Mime, but it improves in the 4th generation.

Rating: 7/10

 

4th Generation

 

Special Sweeper

Item: Expert Belt / Choice Specs / Leftovers
Nature: Modest / Timid
Ability: Filter
Attacks: Psychic
Thunderbolt
Calm Mind / Shadow Ball / Focus Blast / Energy Ball / Power Swap
Calm Mind / Shadow Ball / Focus Blast / Energy Ball / Power Swap

This is a much better Mr Mime compared with the 3rd generation one. The most important part is its moves. If you choose to have Calm Mind or the riskier Power Swap, obviously Choice Specs would be eliminated. But without Calm Mind or Power Swap, Choice Specs is a big possibility. A fairly obvious Mr Mime, simply sweep. Two important things to note about the 4th generation Mr Mimes are that they have a much better movepool. The other thing to notice is its ability, Filter. It halves the damage of super-effective attacks, making it quite possibly the best ability in the game. This Mr Mime is easy to use and quite effective.

Rating: 8/10

Team Player

Item: Leftovers
Nature: Bold
Ability: Filter
Attacks: Thunder Wave
Confuse Ray
Reflect / Light Screen / Focus Blast
Trick Room

A more unique way to use Mr Mime, this one is quite effective. Thunder Wave paralyzes your opponent while Confuse Ray makes it hard for your opponent to attack. Trick Room is quite important here as it does help your slower Pokemon attack first in 5 turns. The 3rd move can stall time during that 5-turn period. Overall this is a more risky Mr Mime that can have mixed results.

Rating: 7/10

Baton Passer

Item: Salac Berry
Nature: Bold
Ability: Filter
Attacks: Calm Mind
Baton Pass
Endure
Energy Ball / Psychic

Mr Mime is a very popular Pokemon in teams just meant for Baton Passing. Calm Mind raises the special stats of Mr Mime while Endure is used to activate Salac Berry. With a rising special attack, taking advantage of this isn't too bad and that's what its last move is for. Finally with a Baton Passing Pokemon, Baton Pass is necessary.

Rating: 7/10

 

Stats

 

Gender: 50% ♀ / 50% ♂
Type: Psychic
Species: Barrier Pokemon
Height: 4'3" (1.3m)
Weight: 120.1 lb (54.5kg)
Weaknesses: Bug (x2), Ghost (x2), Dark (x2)
Resistances: Fighting (x0.5), Psychic (x0.5)
Immunities: None

Pokedex Entries:
Diamond - It is a pantomime expert that can create invisible but solid walls using miming gestures.
Pearl - Emanations from its fingertips solidify the air into invisible walls that repel even harsh attacks.

Evolution: Mr Mime evolves from Mime Jr when it learns Mimic at Level 17.

Location: Mr Mime can only be found in Pokemon Diamond (not Pearl) on Routes 218 and 222 where it is uncommon.

Abilities:
Soundproof - Unaffected by sound moves. If this Pokemon switches out with Baton Pass, Perish Song against the switched out will not be nullified.
Filter - Damage by super-effective moves is halved.

National Dex No.: 122
Sinnoh Dex No.: 095
Popularity: Low
Generation Introduced: 1st

 

Did You Know...

 

By: Alakazam

Did you know that after Pokemon was released, sales of Nintendo's GameBoy system jumped 249%? No wonder Pokemon is the second most popular franchise behind Mario!

 

Closing

As always, I would like to thank everyone for reading this month's PokeZam Newsletter.  Again, I'm sorry for the late release of this month's newsletter. I can't promise when the next newsletter will be out, but hopefully it won't take four months like this one. It will be out sooner though if people send me their Pokemon articles to include since it's a lot of work to write a Pokemon newsletter by myself.

 

As always, please let us know your thoughts on this month's newsletter. Did you like it? What would you like to see us write about next month? If you have an article that you would like to have us include in the next newsletter, please email it to me (webmaster@pokezam.com) and I'll be sure to add it and give you full credit.

Well until next time Pokemasters!

Alakazam
Webmaster of PokeZam
http://www.pokezam.com
http://www.pokezam.net