With the onset of the Pokémon craze in 1999 in the United States, Pokémon cards became extremely popular and you could trade them or use them to play a game. In the game, the object, of course, was to vanquish your opponent. Each of the Pokémon characters had different strengths, abilities and weaknesses. You were the Pokémon Master or Trainer and you have to pick the right Pokémon and hopefully win the battle against the other Pokémon trainers. That is a quick synopsis of how Pokémon games and cards work. 

The PokéROM mini CD-ROM fits on the inside of the CD tray and is about one-third the size of a regular CD disk. Mattel Media Software made these miniature disks and each one has the Pokémon character’s name and picture embossed on the CD itself. The two CD’s reviewed here are #25 Pikachu and #54 Psyduck. They are both from the first series of PokéROM’s that were produced. There are 150 different Pokémon characters, and I am unsure how many of these were actually made into PokéROM’s but I do know that there were multiple series produced. 

System requirements are as follows: works with most platforms including Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME and XP or MacIntosh systems. For the PC, the system needs to have a 166 Mhz processor, 32 MB of RAM, 10 MB of hard disk space, 4X CD-ROM drive with sound card and 16 bit color with 800 X 600 screen resolution. They also recommend a color printer. I tried the two programs on an older system using Windows 98 and a 300 Mhz Celeron processor and it consistently hung the system up during the game. Then I moved it to an AMD K-6, 550 Mhz system running Windows ME and it worked perfectly. I also tried it briefly on my 1.33 Ghz K-7, Athlon Thunderbird machine running Windows XP and it worked very well. 

Once the CD starts, the player is confronted with a challenge of having to solve a puzzle before moving on to other choices or options. The puzzle is a “Concentration” matching type of puzzle, with a picture of the Pokémon character revealed upon completion of all of the matched squares. Math facts (simple math problems) and numbers of Pokémon are depicted with matches from the solutions or the pictures or number. For example, there might be a square with a picture of two Charmander characters on it, which would be a perfect match for a square with the number “2” on it or for one that had a  problem written as “2 x 1” or “7 – 5”. There are five levels for each player to choose from when the player signs on at the initiation of the game. As the child learns, the level of difficulty can be increased by choosing a higher level. They range from Level 1 (Junior Trainer) to Level 5 (League Master). The animated Professor Oak provides commentary, directions suggestions and tips as you are playing. The sound and music also enhanced the play and feel of the game. 

My 8 year-old daughter, Zoë describes the game as “exciting, fun and interesting.” She and Jackson, my 6 year-old, both enjoy playing it. Another option that they both loved was the “trainer challenge race,” which allows up to four players to compete against one another. The race is won by the player who answers the most quiz questions correctly. Incorrect answers make the player go back one space, so paying attention and solving the questions is rewarded. The questions cover subjects such as grammar, vocabulary, science, math and civics. Toward the end of the “race” the game starts the lightning round, in which each player uses a separate keyboard letter key to answer quiz questions, with the player who first answers the question correctly advancing. Zoë and Jackson both wanted to play with (against?) me as well. Being able to view and/or print the Pokémon character was an important feature for both of my children. They and I were both disappointed in the “Pokémon sanctuary” portion of the game. 

From a parental standpoint, I liked the focus of educational questions, including the range of difficulty and the variety of topics covered in the trainer race challenge. Adding the ability to race against other players will hold the interest of many children. This is a subtle educational ploy, but one that reinforces learning that they are already doing in school. It was an easy way to play with my children and get them to think and answer a variety of educational questions. The Pokémon Sanctuary was disappointing as was the repetitiveness of questions on the different PokéROM CD’s. My review was on two PokéROM’s from the first series, and I do not know whether the questions changed on other PokéROM series. 

These programs are supposedly available online but Amazon listed them as Out of Stock. Their suggested price was $4.99. Another online store, Outpost  also had them and they were in stock with prices varying from $4.95 to $6.95 per CD. A final suggestion, if you want to purchase one or more of these items is to go to ebay and make an online bid. The prices I saw there ranged from $1.95 to $2.99, but of course, in an auction setting like e-bay, prices are determined by the highest bid.