Developer: Genius Sonority
Publisher: Pokémon Company/Nintendo
Released: 2022
Platforms: GameCube

Pokémon Colosseum isn’t quite how I remember it, but I still had fun. It’s definitely a diamond in the rough.

Every Trainer encounter has a 2-v-2 (“Double Battles”) setup, instead of the typical 1-v-1 in other Pokémon games. It’s a simple but brilliant format that I’ve always enjoyed. There’s a lot more synergy between Pokémon that can be experimented with.

However, I was admittedly disappointed at how easily battles are won. Most opponent Pokémon aren’t fully evolved, while the ones you rescue in the story are. Usually, I curbstomped the competition.

Mt. Battle compounds this issue, being a slog to clear because its 100 Trainers are complete pushovers. I discuss it a little more in the Best/Worst list.

To be fair, this was a good choice in terms of making the game approachable to younger players. Competitive Double Battles get hectic and rage-inducing fast. To this day, it’s a format that rarely pops up in story mode, being designated more as a post-game feature. Kids don’t get a decent handle at how complex it can be.

That’s where Colosseum steps in as an entry point. Weaker opponent Pokémon offer a wider margin of error, so that players can figure out type matchups and how attacks compliment each other. As a long-time player, I remember almost all of these mechanics like the back of my hand; of course the game’s way easier for me.

Some of the available Shadow Pokémon as listed on Bulbapedia

The list of obtainable Pokémon in this game is interesting. For the most part, their stats are balanced in a way that normally weaker Pokémon (e.g. Misdreavus, Sudowoodo, and Mantine) have a chance to shine. They’re Pokémon that are considered “gimmicks'' at best in the competitive scene. Even though you capture the Legendary cats/dogs/whatevers (Suicune, Entei, Raiku), they’re not as overwhelmingly powerful as other Legends in the series.

There’s one snag to the previous, however. By the end of the game, the tournament-level meta is thrown at your gimmick team. I’m sorry, but there’s no chance in Hell that a Qwilfish has the muscle to fight a Salamence.

Even if you don’t play Pokémon, you can tell that Qwilfish will have an uphill struggle.

The one silver lining is that Colosseum provides some Pokémon that can handle the end game, it just requires the usual RPG grind. I’m only salty that I had to shelve my poor Dunsparce because of the sudden power creep.

While still talking about the Pokémon themselves, I should bring up the amazing work by Genius Sonority. Every single Pokémon has a vibrant personality thanks to their fluid animations. Colosseum was released to Japan 10 years before X & Y, and yet it completely eclipses the latter’s stiff action figure movements.

EDIT: I later learned that Pokémon Stadium had a different team that built the animations, which were recycled for Colosseum. I’m guessing that Genius Sonority filled in the gaps with the Gen 3 models and new attacks. This is a smart move for a budget title, and the new Pokemon animations fit in just fine with the old. Even though the N64 models didn’t change much, for this time in the franchise, I’d say it’s a situation of “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

Ironically, all human characters in this game awkwardly move like their limbs are plastic. Maybe a different part of the team worked on them, or maybe time was prioritized for the characters that actually matter. It was a worthy sacrifice, to be honest.

Moving on to the plot, one of the selling points to Pokémon Colosseum was how much “darker” it was. Civilization is scattered in small clusters across a desolate landscape. A lot of buildings have a grungy and worn feel to them. There’s a seedy underbelly (literally called The Under) to a town already tense from a crime-filled history. Violence has escalated to the point that Pokémon are being corrupted into mindless fighting machines.

It’s fun to see a Pokémon game with a twist on its usual happy-go-lucky aesthetic. Unfortunately, the execution of this world lore is extremely messy.

The weakest link in Colosseum is how awful the English localization turned out. I’m confident that it was put through an automatic translator and wasn’t touched up in the slightest. Dialogue gets the point across, but it’s incredibly dry and tone deaf.

I definitely had rose-tinted glasses when I returned to Pokémon Colosseum. But in the end, its flaws didn’t take away my enjoyment. If you want to find a physical copy for your collection… don’t buy it for $70 (thankfully, store credit made it $45 for me). Its value is exaggerated thanks to being a smaller Pokémon game, and because the GameCube collector scene is booming.

Pokémon has tackled more serious & existential topics over the years, so Colosseum might feel bare bones by today’s standards.