Arts and Culture

‘Pokemon Platinum’ is worth the replay

With the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS eShop discontinuation and the popularity of ROMs and emulators skyrocketing, I recently began to replay one of my favorite (if not my absolute favorite) main series Pokemon games of all time.

As I noted in my review of "Pokemon: The First Movie," Pokemon has always been a huge part of my life. My cousin and I would sit around for hours watching the TV show and playing his Gameboy back in the early 2000s. That love for this franchise has only grown as the years go by.

"Pokemon Platinum" was a companion game to "Pokemon Diamond" and "Pokemon Pearl," both of which were released in 2006 and began the 4th generation of the Pokemon franchise.

"Pokemon Platinum" released in Japan in September 2008, and didn't hit shelves in North America until March 2009. Unlike "Pokemon Diamond" and "Pokemon Pearl," which had their mascots as Dialga and Palkia respectively, "Pokemon Platinum" featured Giratina, a Pokemon who had two different legendary forms.

When my Mom bought me this game in 2009, she got me not only the game, but the Giratina Origin form figurine and carrying case that came in the deluxe package -- both of which I still have! Shout out to my Mom for funding my long-standing Pokemon merch addiction.

Just like all other Pokemon games, in "Platinum" you play as a character who receives their first Pokemon -- in this case, either Turtwig, Piplup or Chimchar -- and embarks on a journey to fill your PokeDex. Along the way, you will catch more Pokemon for your team, battle gym leaders and fight off a criminal organization called "Team Galactic."

Along with the main storyline, there were other fun tidbits in the game that helped you kill time in between gym battles -- collecting all of the Poketch applications, contests and, of course, my favorite, building secret bases in the underground area.

The underground decoration was always my favorite part of the game. It was online multiplayer, and I have fond memories of my nephews and I setting up traps throughout the underground to catch each other, and making our bases close by so we could continuously steal each other's flags and level up.

The base game and storyline of "Platinum" is the exact same as it is for "Diamond" and "Pearl" with the exception of a few additional features.

"Platinum" added in the "Wi-Fi Plaza" which had a bunch of different mini-games; the Vs. Recorder which I did not use at all; the Global Trade System or "GTS" that allowed you to trade with other players across the globe; as well as many more smaller features such as Pokemon forms.

The most significant addition to the storyline was the "Distortion World" which was a whole new area to explore, and the post-game player villa that you could decorate yourself.

Though I had played the other Pokemon games on my Nintendo DS and my cousin's Gameboy, "Platinum" was the first game that I had ever beaten entirely by myself with no outside help. Before "Platinum" my cousin would always help me pick the best Pokemon to battle with, and occasionally help me with a puzzle or two.

"Platinum" was the first game where I chose what starter I liked best, picked the team I liked best and did the puzzles all by myself.

For 9-year-old Bre that was a huge deal.

I'd like to think I was a smart kid, but even as an adult some of the puzzles in these older Pokemon games are difficult -- and I'm not even talking about the combat, yet!

I am notoriously bad at any game that takes actual skill or critical thinking (usually), but that doesn't mean I can't still have fun with it.

Though the older games lack the quality of life changes the newer games have (anyone who has played one of these before knows that one slot in your party is always for that Bidoof that knows all the HMs) they still hold up in terms of playability.

No matter how many years pass, the older Pokemon games are still incredibly fun, and bring with them a lot of nostalgia.

Some of my most vivid memories of my childhood are of me playing my DS way past my bedtime on a school night and having to stuff it under my pillow so my Mom wouldn't see I was still awake.

Now, 15 years later, I'm still up at the wee hours of the morning, playing "Pokemon Platinum" when I shouldn't be. My Turtwig is still named the same thing it was in 2009, and Twiggy and I still blow through the competition on every route.

It's just as fun and exciting as when I was 9.

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Breanna Hanley is a reporter for The Express.