The Pokemon Remake We (or Just Me) Want

Looking forward to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which are releasing at the end of this year,  I wanted to write about one of my favorite pokemon games. Which is Pokemon Go!!!!

Sike!!! It's Pokemon Colosseum

Similar to how the N64 Pokemon Snap got a remake for the Nintendo Switch, I wish we would get a remake for Pokemon Colosseum for the current-gen console. 

The game was released in Japan in November 2003 for the Nintendo Gamecube and a few months later in March 2004, the game was released in the US.

I enjoyed the game because it was different from any of the previous games of the franchise at the time. In most Pokemon games you start as a 10-year-old starting their journey toward becoming a Pokemon Master. 

For those who have never played one, the basic pokemon formula is you start the game by leaving your hometown with your first pokemon partner. You travel the region, capture and build up your team to defeat the gym leaders and the evil organization of that specific region. In the end, you face the best of the best, the Elite Four and Pokemon Champion.

In the Colosseum, it was entirely different. The game starts with a cutscene, the main character Wes with his Umbreon breaks into a building and steals an arm-mounted device. The organization he stole the device from starts chasing him. Wes escapes by getting on his bike, which looks like a vehicle from Mad Max, with his other pokemon Espeon waiting for him.

As the game starts we find out Wes was part of the evil organization Team Snagem and the device he took from them was the Snag machine which allowed Team Snagem to steal pokemon from other trainers. A big no-no in the previous, you were never allowed to capture a trainer’s pokemon. 

Through a partnership with the other evil organization Team Cipher, the stolen pokemon would become Shadow Pokemon, creatures whose hearts were artificially closed and making them stronger and completely living weapons.

The game is set in the desert region of Orre, with no routes to walk from city to city or areas where you can capture wild Pokemon.

At the first city we visit, Wes rescues Rui from Team Snagem. With her joining you in your journey, Wes is able to capture all the Shadow Pokemon because Rui is the only one who can see the black aura and identify which Pokemon have their hearts closed. Though I don't think they ever mentioned why Rui is the only one who can see Shadow Pokemon.

As you use Shadow Pokemon on your team, eventually you can purify them and bring them back to normal.

I like you start the game with two strong evolved pokemon, and not with one of three starter Pokemon. To be honest, Espeon and Umbreon are my two favorite Pokemon because of this game. I wish I got back into Pokemon sooner, I would have loved to get a sleeping Umbreon and sleeping Espeon plush. No shame.

The reason you start with two Pokemon is all battles in the game are double battles.  Though with 2v2 battles it gets difficult to capture Shadow Pokemon when you're trying to capture one while your opponent has the opportunity to take your team out.

Before Colosseum was released the latest Gameboy Advance games were Ruby and Sapphire, which mostly had 3rd generation Pokemon. The Gamecube game allowed us to capture and transfer 2nd generation Pokemon into our Gameboy Advance games. Later we could trade them to the first generation remakes of FireRed and LeafGreen.

MT. Battle was a tough obstacle which I wish the current games had sometimes like that. I understand that these games are for everyone but mainly for children, but most fans grew up with this franchise, maybe the franchise should grow with it.

I think just having an older protagonist was more memorable than having to be a kid in the sequel game, XD Gale of Darkness. But Shadow Lugia will always look badass.

This is probably why I enjoyed the Digimon CyberSleuth franchise more than the current-gen games of Sword and Shield because there is so much grind work to get the Digimon you want and get them stronger.

I hope they bring back the Pokemon Colosseum somehow, it was a great game and the music was amazing, especially when facing Cipher Admin Mirror B.

What’s a Pokemon game or any Gamecube games, you would love to see a remake for the Nintendo Switch? Leave your answer in the comments.

Thank you for reading!!