Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness GameCube

If you're an avid Pokemon trainer then you'll be used to conducting your adventures on your handheld system. The only time you'll have been able to battle with your beasties on bigger Nintendo consoles is when using the Pokemon Stadium or Colosseum on N64 and GameCube respectively. Would you be excited, then, if you knew that there was an all new Pokemon capturing, training and battling RPG coming to the GameCube? We'd certainly imagine that you would. Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness is the real deal, and the first time that the 'Cube has played host to a bona fide Pokemon RPG. Gale of Darkness takes you to the world of Orre, and you are charged with solving the mystery of Shadow Lugia. Journey the land challenging trainers of the dark Shadow Pokemon, who once captured, or 'snagged', must be purified before you can use them. You'll remember the sinister CIPHER organisation from Pokemon Colosseum, and once again you must get to the bottom of their plot. As well as the Shadow Pokemon you can capture regular Pokemon, and even wild Pokemon, previously thought not to exist in the land of Orre. So, you'll soon have quite an array of fighting beasts at your disposal, though at first you'll have to make do with just Eevee. Pokemon fans brought up on the sprite based stylings of the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance are in for a treat with full 3D graphics showing the animals and world in their full glory. And the storyline is involving and exciting - just what you'd expect from a Pokemon title. As well as all this, you don't lose the multiplayer gameplay you're used to on handhelds - the game also has a multiplayer mode facilitating play for 2 and 4 player battles.