There are some sections of the game that look good, and some parts that look VERY good. For the most part it's bright colours, simple geometry and generic but suitable textures, but for some decent effects all you have to do is jump into the training mode. You step into a virtual fighting arena, and the way the room opens up around you is impressive, to the point where it might even startle you, because frankly, you just don't expect it. The battle arena is where you will spending most of your time, because it happens every five minutes, over and over and over again. While the Pokemon do indeed look like 3D iterations of their Game Boy equivalents, it would have been nicer if Nintendo had thrown in a few more polygons or a bit more definition into the textures just to make them look more like the cartoon.

Another time where you might think "Well hey, that's not too bad" is the small cutscene - the hero riding his scooter - you get when you select your next destination. It's brief, and it looks better than the rest of the game but it cuts out one of the most vital points of the Game Boy version. The whole idea of Pokemon is that you walk from point A to point B getting attacked by wild Pokemon that you can catch and train as your own. Considering this is now done via a cutscene there is no more wondering how far till the next city, or wondering if your Pokemon will survive until the next Pokemon Centre. Want to know another big disappointment? How about Pikachu not screaming "PIKACHU" like he does in the cartoon, or Smash Bros., or any other console game he stars in. That's right, no Pokemon say their own name, instead they blast out a "ARGGAHRAGRAHHHJPFFF" sounding identical to the sounds found in Pokemon Sapphire. Instead of deciding to put in a little extra work and create some sound bites for the little creatures, Genuis Sorority grabbed the entire sound library off the GBA and chucked it (unaltered) onto a GameCube disc.