Pokemon Dash is, however, a bit of departure from normal pokemon games in that it is essentially a racing game. Whats also interesting is that the controls for the game are just about done entirely through the use of the stylus.

Basically what you have to do is to drag your pokemon along by swiping the stylus in front of them. The direction you swipe determines the direction you take around the course. The course is displayed in the top screen while the playing service on the lower screen shows the zoomed-in detail. Winning the game is achieved by arriving first at the final control point.

The tracks consist of paved areas, sand, sea and forests. Each has its own special effect of either slowing you down or - in the case of the sea - drowning your pokemon. These effects can be avoided by powerups that improve travel over differing types of terrain for a limited time. The trick to winning is to memorising where these are and taking the shortest route possible to the next control point.

A novel powerup is the balloon. This is used to move from island to island. Once you pick it up you have the ability to swipe up on the side of the screen and this will zoom you up into the air and treat you to a birdseye view of most of the course. A small shadow appears on the ground where you would land if you were to pop one of the balloons (popping two gets you down faster but stuns you for a while). This is quite novel, but once in this mode it is difficult to determine where the next control point is. The zoomed out view is quite small so it is easy to mistake which is which. Once you memorise the course, though, this will no longer be a problem.

There are some 25 courses to play over with new areas unlocked as you win more races. There is also a huge array of characters from the pokemon family to race against. Where the game really comes to the fore is the ability to play wireless multiplay games against 5 other opponents in a swiping frenzy. This above everything else makes the game one that Nintendo DS owners should consider.

In-game sound, although cute and annoying (depending on your taste), is done well. The graphics across the two screens also have the necessary cuteness for a pokemon game, however they certainly do not stretch the power of the console.