Pokemon Colosseum for GameCube

Though its popularity isn't quite at the same fevered pitch it was back in the late '90s, Nintendo's Pokémon franchise still seems to have some spark left in it. The perennial pairs of Pokémon games that show up on the Game Boy platform have maintained a level of quality that, despite an aesthetic that some find too saccharine, has kept the franchise fresh and accessible. Though the weird metagame known as Pokémon Channel was released in the States a few months ago, it's been a long time since a real Pokémon game has been released outside the GBA, and the new Pokémon Colosseum does a decent job of filling this void. As the successor to Nintendo's Pokémon Stadium games for the N64, Colosseum largely gives fans what they want, which is lots of real freaky-looking monsters and lots of battling. It can be pretty fun, even if you're not already sold on the whole Pokémon thing, though it's probably not the best introduction to the franchise for novice players. Minimize