Plain Jane Mom Reviews

I checked out some new Pokemon games for the Nintendo DS the other day, and I’ll confess… I didn’t know anything about Pokemon before I started playing. You should also know that I never read instruction manuals unless the item in question has the potential to explode or otherwise cause bodily harm.

That said, I was up and running in no time. And by “no time” I mean — hey, look at the clock, wow it is 2 hours later and I’m still playing this game! I’m probably more of a Super Mario fan than Pokemon, but now at least I understand what my kids will be into in a few years.

These new games have some cool features. For example, if you play them at night, the setting of the game is night time. Clever! Also, the Pokemon you can catch vary by the time of day as do the skills the Pokemon have. You can feed them berries, dress them up, and give them accessories to hold and fight with. You can even play with other gamers worldwide using the built-in Wi-Fi. Neat!

But as a parent, my favorite part of Pokemon is the toned-down violence. Yes, you have “battles” but as far as I can tell, no one gets killed. When a Pokemon runs out of power it doesn’t die, it faints. You can then recharge it and use it again. When my boys are older and really jonesing for video games I’ll likely let Pokemon be one of their choices.

There are also some fun new accessories available to pimp your Nintendo DS system. For example, there’s a headset designed to work with games that use voice interaction. Plus you’re able to talk to other players you’re battling with when using the online system. Kind of makes me feel old to say this, but if I’d had something like this when I was a kid it would have blown my mind.

My oldest child is only 5 and he’s not asking for video games yet, but I see that day coming. I’m on the fence about when I’ll say he’s old enough to have a game system, but at least now I know that Pokemon would be a good choice when we get to that point.