By Brandon Yeo
I’m sure many of you have heard of this application because it is indeed one of a kind. Ever envied the trainers in the anime who whipped out their Pokedex upon meeting new Pokemon, well you can do the same, but it’s slightly different as clearly Pokemon “don’t exist” in reality.
In general, this is a brilliant free application by Nintendo to show the genuine beauty of the Unova Pokemon in its 3D form. Unfortunately it contains only the newest 150 Pokemon and not all 646 of them. It allows you to of course view each Pokemon in 3D, being able to rotate all around and zooming both in and out at the same time. In addition, it’s indeed a Pokedex, with the comparable stats of each Pokemon, abilities, Egg group and of course learnable moves.
First and most important is of course the 3D function and viewing each Pokemon. It provides you with a choice of different backgrounds you would like to view it in. Whether it is a Minccino in the surreal forest setting, to an Unfezant with a background of clouds. My personal favourite is the forest setting with a setting sun in the horizon, giving a warm brown glow. What is noticeable is how the colour of the background also affects the tinge of colour to each Pokemon, such as a Samurott being slightly yellowish and lighter blue in the setting of a setting sun. If you would like a plain background, the default Pokeball base background would definitely be ideal. Currently with only 3 types of background, you aren’t spoilt for choice, but hopefully in time Nintendo with continually update the application. In addition to the background changes, each Pokemon has its own animation and they’re by no means similar. My favourite, possibly biased is Oshawott and Samurott’s animations. Oshawott throws his scalchop in the air while Samurott removes its “Shell-Sword” from its sheave on his leg. The most detailed however are the Pokemon legendaries such as Reshiram using Fusion flare and being encased in a mountain of fire.
What is notable is that you don’t start off with all 150 Pokemon, but only 16, with 6 others obtainable through the net – Victini, Reshiram, Zekrom, Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion. You have to get the others through spotpass or from friends. This is great as you can only get 3 per day, so there is some sort of satisfaction and mystery incentive to keep checking back and getting your 3 free data.
And of course, what’s a Pokedex without information. This could be very useful especially when deciding your team and you don’t have access to internet. With the movepool and stats present, one could decide on what Pokemon to pick, but of course you’re limited to only the 150.
Lastly, the most notable function is the recognition of AR Codes or augmented reality codes. When the 3D camera on the 3DS recognizes the code, the image of the Pokemon spawns from the code. It’s brilliant and easy to use as you could just print it out on blank paper and put it all around your room. When you feel like it, you could view your favourite Gen 5 Pokemon standing somewhere in your room.
Overall, I think this is a great application and what’s more its free. I think Nintendo have outdone themselves and their generosity with this application and the perks it brings.
Tags: Nintendo DS