My Pokemon Ranch Review

My last post talked about the impact and memories that Pokemon creates. This one is an official review for the Wiiware 'game': My Pokemon Ranch! It is available for download on the Wiiware section of the Wii Shop Channel for 1000 points.

First of all, I want to say that for all of you out there who are looking for a fun new Pokemon game to try or you're first starting on Pokemon, this game is not for you. If you don't happen to have a copy of Pokemon Diamond or Pearl (not Platinum as of this blog the Platinum patch hasn't come out yet in English), then don't bother with this game.

My Pokemon Ranch is Generation IV's Pokemon storage application, similar to how Pokemon Box was for Generation III and Pokemon Stadium 2 was for Generation I and II. However, this time around, they've changed a few things. Some for the better, some for the worst. The storage apps for the previous three generations have been predominately for storing Pokemon only, having little to no gameplay (with Gen I & II's only being an addition to the main game). This time around, they tried to make it more of a video game than before. This makes it a little bit more fun.

You start off with a small ranch owned by Hayley, your main contact in this game. Her dream is to fill the ranch with tons of Pokemon to play with. She'll bring one a day, which at the end of your play session she will give you a vague description of and ask if you'd like that one. You can answer no, prompting her to describe another Pokemon and if you say no again she'll automatically pick one herself. You can then add up to 5 Miis to help Hayley tend to the ranch and play with the Pokemon. The ranch starts off small, holding only 20 Pokemon, but once you hit a certain number of pokemon, you'll prompt Hayley to upgrade the ranch, which takes a day to do. Once the ranch as upgraded, the number of Pokemon it can hold increases as well as certain other benefits (such as getting a number of toys per day, more miis can tend to the ranch). This will continue until you reach the max ranch level and can deposit 1000 Pokemon.

The ranch is somewhat boring and is more like a screensaver than anything else. Once you unlock Free Mode, you can move Pokemon and Miis around as you please, dragging them to other Pokemon and toys. Otherwise, you'll be limited to watching them wander around on their own. Every now and then, the Pokemon on the ranch will all pose together. You can take pictures of the Pokemon, your Miis, pretty much whatever you're watching at the time and send them to your friends, which is pretty cool. However, this is about all you can do if you're only playing on Wii. Although the interactions can be somewhat humerous at times, it's rather boring on its own. Still, watching Groudon use Earthquake every 2 seconds and constantly make the Miis and Pokemon around him 'faint' is rather amusing. Keep in mind though that if you don't have a DS, this is what you are limited to.

The main reason for this game is the DS connectivity. If you have a copy of Pokemon Diamond or Pearl, you can link up to this game and deposit Pokemon. As of this writing, Platinum is not compatible with My Pokemon Ranch, although there is a patch if you're living in Japan. Unfortunately, My Pokemon Ranch contains one colossal error: any Pokemon deposited by your DS game can only be withdrawn by the same copy of the game. That means if you want to start over, you better have some trustworthy friends with lots of box space. I seriously don't understand why they would limit this, as the previous storage applications were used predominately by people starting over. But, regardless, the game does have many perks.

By connecting your DS to My Pokemon Ranch, you can deposit your Pokemon to live on the ranch, which will then be converted into the Mii-like Pokemon that wander around the ranch. You can play with them and watch them the same way you can with Hayley's Pokemon. It's great if you need the extra storage. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Whenever you connect your DS, it autoreads your Pokedex and saves the information. It then posts three Pokemon on the BBS: a board that contains Pokemon Hayley wants you to transfer over from Diamond or Pearl. They're always Pokemon you have yet to obtain and by clicking on their wanted ad on the BBS, it will show you exactly where and when you can get these Pokemon. For any Pokemon with additional tricks to catching it, it will explain them to you. This is an incredible addition and really helps give you the drive to complete your Pokedex. It also tells you how your Pokedex is filling out since the last time you connected. Plus, if you have more than one copy of Diamond or Pearl, it will do the same for that copy as well, although it will only put one more wanted ad up for that copy. Be forewarned though, posting Pokemon for another game will result in Hayley chewing you out.

Also, if Hayley happens to have brought certain Pokemon to the ranch, whenever you complete a wanted ad, she'll offer to trade you for that pokemon. Sometimes the trades are completely ridiculous (Gible for Pikachu), but if you decline, she'll keep the Pokemon and the next time you complete a wanted ad, she'll offer the same Pokemon to you for the new one you just deposited. Two of these Pokemon are ones you'll only ever be able to get from events (or Ranger): Phione and Mew. Yes, that's right, after 10 years you can finally get a fully legit Mew outside of events!

The graphics, for those that care, are similar to Mii's. They're small, cartoony versions of the Pokemon you've caught and uploaded to My Pokemon Ranch. Plus, it keeps all variants your Pokemon may have (Shiny, M/F, Rotom Forms, etc).

Overall, I think this game is pretty cool. If you've got Diamond and Pearl, pick it up and check it out, if nothing else, to complete your Pokedex and get Mew. For those of you Wii players out there who want a Pokemon game to play, this is not for you. If you have Platinum, be forwarned, this game is not compatible. For those who want to deposit all their Pokemon and start over, sorry but this one's not for you.