Mediaholics Cinema: Jirachi Wishmaker

Hoenn is where the heart is, and its time for some wishes to come true... now to find Star Cave and Mt Freeze. Oricorio, mind giving us a hand?

Link to video (Should player not work):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WS5IzCcs2w

Mediaholics Cinema: Spell of the Unown

How to explain the plot holes? Because bitch he's Entei. What do me and Marcus think of this classic Pokemon movie? Time to start the Week of Pokemon.

Link to video (should player not work): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2NIDayqNEQ

Pokemon Adventures Gold, Silver and Crystal Arc: THE PODCAST IS HERE TOO!

We've gotten on several boats before we went across some kinda steep mountains. We're getting to those games soon, I promise. But hey, at least we can talk about them now. Let us go to the Jhoto region, one year after the events of Yellow, and take a peak into the life of the breeder, the trader, and the catcher.

Mediaholics Review: Pokemon Generation Six

Link to video should it not work (Update your video player iOS and Android users): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2ZYILk3yUw

No I'm not going to quote the lyrics of the anime opening this time, have you heard them? The three English ones for gen 6 suck.  The Mediaholics Pokemon World Tour continues as we travel to France... I mean Kalos. Excuse the coughing though.

Music credits go to FL Remix, Mixeli, Mewmore, GlitchxCity,  and Kamex. Go check out their channels, as they do great remixing work.

Song names and remixers:

Battle! Kalos Gym Leader: Pokémon XY & Z [Orchestral Remix]
FL.Remix

Pokémon X & Y: Elite 4 Battle Music Remix
FL.Remix

Pokemon XYZ Music: Ash-Greninja Theme
Mixeli

Mewmore / 'Lisia's Theme' (Remix) from Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Mewmore

Mewmore / 'Zinnia's Theme' (Remix) from Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Mewmore

Mewmore / 'Battle Zinnia' (Remix) from Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Mewmore

Mewmore / 'Lumiose City' (Remix) from Pokémon X and Y
Mewmore

Hoenn Battle Frontier Brain Remix v.II
GlitchxCity

X and Y Champion Diantha Remix
GlitchxCity

Pokémon R/S/E - Vs. Steven Remix
Kamex

Pokemon X and Y - Vs. Lysandre Remix
Kamex

Pokémon ΩR/αS - Wally Battle Theme Remix
Kamex

Pokemon X and Y - Battle Vs. Diantha Remix
Kamex

Super Mystery Dungeon Lush Forest Remix
GlitchxCity

You can find the Generation I review here: https://youtu.be/gsKSSXWfzQg
You can find the Generation V review written by Blaster (because he was the only one he could get in contact with that has either played the game, or has a more balanced view of the game) here: http://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/pokemon-generation-5-what-many-dub-as.html

The Generation IV review can be found here: https://youtu.be/D1fHScrSgmQ

Pokemon Adventures Yellow Arc: Destroying the Pokemon World before it was cool

https://twitter.com/Blaster5426/status/773122018577219584 You asked for this, and now we're going to be doing this until September next year, and probably coming back to it once new arcs are finished, but thankfully that takes a while. And we're doing it in order because it is a story that, for the most part, follows a standard timeline in order of the games release. this is going to be fun, so shall we see how Kanto has gotten on two years after Red won the Pokemon League?

Mediaholics Review: Pokemon Generation Four (Video)

Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1fHScrSgmQ
Fun Fact: This image was one of Blaster's first desktop backgrounds on his school laptop

"We will be heroes, we can change the world if we try". We will stand up, for what is right, we will be brave, we're ready to fight... No point finishing those two as we still have 3 more generations to do by the end of the year. Because we can't stop talking about Pokemon, its time for the Mediaholics team to talk about Pokemon Generation IV, on the day it was originally available in Japan. How well does the first move to 3D and the jump to the Nintendo DS hold up 10 years later (no joke) and how does "It all [come] together"

You can find the Generation I review here: https://youtu.be/gsKSSXWfzQg

You can find the Generation V review written by Blaster (because he was the only one he could get in contact with that has either played the game, or has a more balanced view of the game) here: http://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com...

Pokemon Generation 5: What many dub as the racist games

You know, using that as the title, it reminds me of one line used in the intro song for the first Black and White anime season, "It's not always Black and White". How fitting when you see some of the more bat crap crazy ideas currently getting attention.

Continuing from where we were in February, and because no one I know thinks they can be unbiased when talking about this generation, this one's going to be a written review. No one but yours truly for this, as we tackle Pokemon Black Version, Pokemon White Version, and the direct sequels Pokemon Black Version 2 and Pokemon White Version 2 (which I'll be referring to as Black, White, Black 2 and White 2 for the remainder of this review).

Pokemon Adventures Red/ Green/ Blue Arc: It's Kanto as you always imagined it

I hope you like Pokemon, because you're going to see a lot of it in the next few months. So to kick start the spa... I mean content, lets take a look at a part of the franchise that, while it gets more attention then some, its nowhere near as known as the main three, being the games, TCG and anime. The franchise has had several Manga incarnations, but the one that many bring up is Pokemon Adventures. I get the feeling some are going "But its the first of the month, why is this not a comic review?!" To answer that, its pretty simple. I see comics and manga the same way as I see western animation and anime, in that they're basically the same except for a few changes. The main differences between them? Manga are normally longer then standard comic books, in that Manga are almost small novel sized, where as comics, before getting their complete arc releases, tend to be no bigger then a magazine, being generous. Manga also tends to mimic the anime art style, but to my knowledge, primarily stay black and white, in that there is no colour in them outside of the front and back covers. Are there more differences? Yes, but most of them are culture based. Yes US, there are more countries in the world then yours, or was the .au in the web address for this site not enough of a clue? I know I don't talk with an auzzie bogan accent but still.

Pokemon Go: First Impressions

Everyone that ever played a core Pokemon game probably imagined what would it be like if Pokemon were real. Thanks to the advances in technology, we have that in a free to play smartphone app called Pokemon Go. How it works is that your phone locates you via GPS tracking and wild pokemon spawn a little aways from you, so you’ll have to go out and find them. It’s basically an improved Pokewalker from when Heartgold/SoulSilver came out. Although instead of it being a pedometer where you can cheat steps in by shaking it, you have to physically move your location.

If you live near a town, you’ll probably notice little blue markers by some locations. Those are called Pokespots. When you get close to one, the Pokespot will grant you items when you interact with it on your phone. People can use lure modules at pokespots and they’re marked by swirling cherry blossoms near the pokespot. Lure modules lure nearby pokemon towards them. Don’t get confused with the incense which only work for you.

Some locations can become gyms too. When you pick a team as you reach level 5 (either Red, Yellow, or Blue), you can take on these gyms. You can either take a gym of a different team or you can add a pokemon to the gym of the same color as you. When you add a pokemon they will stay at that gym, but if they lose while you’re away, they automatically come back to you even if the gym is far away.

Pokemon Go uses AR to show a pokemon in front of you using the phone camera. I find it easier to catch pokemon with the AR off, plus it saves battery. When you catch a pokemon, you get some candy of that species. Catching even weak pokemon is good because you need plenty of candy to level up and evolve some pokemon. Pokemon will have CP meaning Combat Points. The higher the Combat Points the stronger it is. There is no cap on CP from what I can see.

My personal experience with this app was quite fun. My friends would go on these outings to various locations like the park or the beach. There’s a town walking distance from my house with a lot of pokespots, so I usually go there for some items and some pokemon catches. After that we go to the beach and catch some wild water type pokemon as well as Dratini.

The amazing thing about Pokemon Go is how active it is. When you go out on let’s say an afternoon, a surprising amount of people play it. You can probably notice at least one person playing it and most likely have a stable conversation with them. The team system makes your neighborhood into, as my friend puts it, a socially acceptable gang war. People yelling out encouragements for their teams and trash talking other teams, all in good fun of course. Although the experience can depend on what kind of neighborhood you live in. As the loading screen with the Gyarados says, always stay aware of your surroundings.

This game is of course without its faults. The game tends to lag when catching pokemon. Sometimes the screen would glitch and you can’t press anything, usually what happens when you use battery saver. Most of the time in certain crowded areas, it would kick you out saying that the servers are busy. It’s very important to carry an external battery charger while you go out, this game tends to drain a lot of phone battery. Though that’s to be expected when you have the app open as you travel.

Pokemon Go is a fantastic idea that needs a lot of polishing. I can forgive all the faults because it’s still in beta. It’s playable for the most part, it’s basically a free early access game for everyone. Currently it’s very active and has scheduled updates from the company for various bug fixes. You can’t ignore how much of a phenomenon despite how buggy the game is. Various news stories on mainstream networks, and a surprising amount of how many people play the game never picked up a core pokemon game. It’s a great way for people to get introduced to the franchise. It’s still a great time to at least try it out. It’s free to play so you’re not really losing anything by downloading it. Pokemon fan or not, it’s a good introduction to the types of pokemon you can meet. It’s still an amazing experience and I highly recommend going out with friends to play together.

-keybug55

Nanoblock Eevee and Mewtwo sets: Sprites given life

On the few times I get genuine free time, when I don't have to do things for my paid job or work on content here, one of my hobbies is LEGO. I have tubs and trays of LEGO pieces from many different sets. I'm no stranger to these kinds of toys. Recently, I saw two little Nanoblock sets based on Eevee and Mewtwo, which I picked up to give myself a bit of a challenge. For you see, while I do have a lot of LEGO, I don't have much of anything else in those kinds of toys. Tried K-nex, but wasn't a thing I got into, but I can't remember why. I think it might have been bad instructions for the set itself. I had two Mega Blocks sets, one being a little orc gate and another being a robot. I do however remember that the robot had QC issues, or I tried mixing it with my bionicle sets due to issues with the possibility in comparison. Nanoblocks, were new to me entirely as I don't normally get things that are designed to be built, and just sit there. So, how well do these nano block sets hold up?

A few others that have been made, but I'm only focusing on Mewtwo and Eevee, as they're the ones I actually own

Well, starting off with the looks, they do their job well. If you get the angle right, they are basically sets of the Heart Gold/ Soul Silver overworld sprites, and at this size, they do look very cute. As I said though, these basically just sit there, they don't do much else. Granted, they don't need to.

However, I do need to stop the praise there. While I cannot speak about the rest of the sets Nanoblocks has put out, I get the feeling some of what I'm about to say applies to more then just Mewtwo and Eevee. For one, the design for some parts seem to focus more on the look rather then the tolerances of the pieces. This mostly applies to Mewtwo, due to his ears, arms, and cord on the back of his head (while building) are a nightmare. There is not enough friction in these locking points at times, and made worse when you're putting weight on a (to use a lego term) one stud lock. I actually had to modify Mewtwo to better secure his arms, and to add better feet. Mewtwo, thanks to its tail, is very back heavy, and with no heal spurs of any kind means its going to topple over a lot. Eevee is also easy to knock due to piece position, but that's limited to side to side. The instructions on these were also, while not the worst I've seen, could have been better, as they feel like they were running out of budget and had to limit the instructions to a page. Add to this the tiny pieces which a 1x1 piece is barely bigger then a small birthmark on the palm of my hand, and I can see people getting frustrated very quickly. Finally, while I am still tossing up whether to call it a benefit, or an issue, there were a lot of spare parts for both of them, and combined with them being hallow for the heads (no I'm not making an airhead joke), and you get the feeling you've skipped steps, but that might be my Lego experience talking.

If all you want is to have these, or other sets being on your desk at work, or to put on your book case, then these will fit that role well. On looks, they do their job well. Its getting to the completed build, and keeping it complete, that issues start showing up. I dread to think of things like the Eifel Tower as Nano blocks if build issues like with Mewtwo are common. Come Wednesday, Ghostbusters II, and next Sunday:

Mediaholics Cinema: Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea

Welcome to the Mediaholics Cinema. Tonight, we are airing Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea. Do note, THIS DOES NOT SHOW THE ORIGINAL MOVIE. This is a commentary on the movie.

Mediaholics Review: Pokemon Generation 1 review

... /Episode 0 of the podcast... we're working on it...

We wanted to be, the very best, like no one ever was. To catch them was our real test, to train them was our cause. Now after 20 years, two critics, who are barely any older then the franchise, analyze Pokemon Red, Green, Blue, Yellow... Fire Red, Leaf Green, the tcg, the anime and pretty much anything Generation 1. How well does it hold up after 20 years, 16-18 main series games and more.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky: Now with 70% less random tangents

Sooner then I expected, but here is the review of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky.

Thanks to keybug for joining me, you can subscribe to her channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Keybug55/featured
Thanks to Falsely Profound for doing the thumbnail, link to the image can be found here: http://blaster5426.deviantart.com/art/From-Rescuers-to-Explorers-by-Falsely-Profound-559709586
Link to her Deviantart here: achyfi.deviantart.com

A video on random tangents, and maybe a review of Pokmeon Mystery Dungeon: Red and Blue Rescue Team

Late last year, someone I met on Twitter asked if she could join in for this review. Now to those who may be asking, "How do you convey two people in a text review?", my answer would be badly/almost impossible if you saw my review of the five Ace Attorney games (trust me, it works better as a script). So, a new solution was made, and what you are about to see is the first ever Video Review on this site.

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: May the trumpets be herd, for Hoenn's Out

To say that I was hyped for this game is a understatement. With Pokemon posts taking up a decent chunk of the content here, its safe to say that I'm a Pokemon fan and if you've read my review of Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, then you'll know that I'm a Gen III fan boy. So of course I was excited for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (which for the rest of the review shall be referred to as ORAS). After playing it for just over a week, how well does it show off the strengths of Hoenn and how faithful is the remake? Do note, spoilers are plentiful here (unlike the IGN review).

Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald versions: Care for a tropical holiday?

On this day in 1995, I was born. On this same day in 2005, I received what would be the first of many games in this series: Pokemon Emerald version. And it is for that reason why I held this review back an extra day, to coincide with the 9th anniversary of me picking my first starter Pokemon.

Pokemon Generation III was a weird time for Pokemon. A large chunk of its fan base left the series as they thought they were to mature for it or they were "Pokemon'd out" due to the last two generations, while at the same time, a brand new wave of fans started to play the series. If you ask any older Pokemon fan, they'll tell you they either came in during the hype of Pokemon Generation I, or during Generation III more often then not. There were people who hated Generation III during its prime, but what about 9-11 years later? As with all my reviews, no nostalgia goggles here, time to pick apart Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire and in particular, Pokemon Emerald version.

As with Generation I and II, the formula for completion is still pretty much the same: Get starter Pokemon, defeat 8 Gym leaders, stop people who are trying to do evil things, defeat the champion and congratulations, you're done. However there are a few new things to this (for their time) along with gameplay that newcomers would find archaic. This is the list of new features from Bulbapedia:

Top 10: The sounds of Pokemon

To make up for not having a post on Wednesday (to be explained later, trust me there's a reason). I figured there should be something to make up for it, so here are my Top 10 Pokemon songs from just the games, but remixes from the anime are allowed. Yes there are a lot of Battle themes here as I prefer those over the other tracks, not that they are bad. Do note that these songs loop so you don't have to see the full video (assuming you actually play these videos...).

10. Battle Gym Leader (Kalos) from Pokemon X and Y

Pokemon Zeta and Pokemon Omnicron: Don't you just love fan games?

Forward: I’ll be changing the format of this review slightly because I couldn’t phrase is any other way. This review is also very long, one of the longest I've written so far.

Ah fan games, a small portion of the gaming community that is more often than not shunned. Fan games are exactly what the term sounds like, their unofficial games based on franchises made by fans of said franchise. I’ve played a few fan games over the years, mostly Sonic games which have been, more often than not, quite good. However I haven’t had a lot of luck with Pokémon fan games. While I have played a few, the ones I remember are Pokémon Quartz version, which I barely got into, Pokémon Platnium for the Gameboy Advance, where I found a game breaking bug that meant I stopped playing it, a few rom hacks like Blaze Black (which I recommend if you want that harder challenge) and Snakewood (a rom hack of Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald where Hoenn is infested with zombies...not as good as it sounds, trust me) and recently, Pokémon Zeta (alternate version being Pokémon Unicron Omnicron), which as you know, is the subject of this review. I will openly say that I haven’t finished the game, and I do acknowledge that some of the points brought up in this review could be a result of the development software used, RPG Maker. The game itself is also in “Open Beta” so there is a strong chance these issues could be resolved in the future.  For the purpose of this review, I played the Open Beta 1.4.9 and I will be bringing up comparisons to the main series due to the nature of this game being a fan game.

The actual first impressions: Pokemon Omega Ruby and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire

Yeah, this has probably been a long time coming but i wanted to finish off the Transformers Marathon before i delved into these, and seeing as I've been promising this one for longer then the others: my thoughts on Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the remakes of Generation III.

Fans have been wanting these remakes since the release of Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver and for a good reason. Contrary to the belief of Generation I fans, not everyone started with Pokemon Red and Blue, in fact the second major wave of fans was in Generation III, people around my age were starting to play the games for the first time. For myself, while the first game I ever played was Yellow on my cousin's Game boy (it might have been a GB Colour but i don't remember off the top of my head) when I was 5, but the first game I ever owned was Emerald version for the Game Boy Advance (GBA Wide is still the best, regardless of its lack of back light) on my 10th birthday, so yes, I started my "Pokemon journey" when I turned 10 years old. The other major reason for fans wanting the remakes is that all the regions would be either directly connected to, or need a extra step to sync it to, the Pokemon Bank. At the moment, to transfer a Pokemon from Ruby/ Sapphire or Emerald into X and Y, you would need to transfer it to a Generation IV game (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heart Gold or Soul Silver), then to a Generation V game (Black, White, Black 2 or White 2) and then to the Pokemon bank to send it to X and Y. I don't know about others, but i personally hate the Gen IV-V mini game so the less I have to do that pain, the better.

I'll run through the list of what we know based on the trailers and Corocoro leaks we've gotten up till now (8th of July as of writing this, no i don't keep a large backlog at the moment...)

The Graphics and Aesthetics: Its obvious that this is running off of X and Y's engine, and seeing as this was most likely being developed at the same time as X and Y, I'm not surprised. From the screenshots that we have (thank you Serebii), it looks like the only major changes to the world is more detail in the X and Y assets, which isn't a bad thing, I liked the way X and Y looked

The character redesigns: The character designs... I'm still getting used to as a whole. I don't outright hate them, a lot of them look great. I love how Team Aqua looks now (Archie in particular looks great, but he reminds me of Riku's D-mode from Kingdom Hearts I and Chain of Memories, though that could just be me). The other members of Team Aqua look great and feel more like Pirates then they ever did in R/S/E. Team Magma on the other hand, I'm not as sold on. The grunts look fine, and Maxie has been growing on me, my issue is Courtney and Tabitha. Courtney looks like she was a Team Flare reject now whereas before, she looked like a bad ass (though that might because of how she was portrayed in the Adventures Manga, where she was a bad ass...). Tabitha on the other hand "GO ON A F&(@%^* DIET YOU FAT ASS!!! Another character that looked awesome in R/S/E, now looks like he was in Mcdonalds for 3 days and ate nothing but cheeseburgers, why?

Steven Stone: he hasn't changed (in terms of design), it is believed that he will serve as the way for the player to use Mega Evolution in the game, which I like the idea of as it fits his personality and love of stones.

Brendan and May: More characters that have been growing on me since their reveal. They look nice and admittedly, its probably my nostalgia for their Emerald designs that are holding me back from loving these new designs. They're more tamed then the redesigns Blue/Green/Leaf and Kris got in Fire Red/ Leaf green and Heart Gold/ Soul Silver respectively so i am grateful about that.

The New Mega forms and Primal Forms: (all of these are based on their abilities and design, I'm not including stats)

• Mega Sceptile: I love how Mega Sceptile looks in this and the loss of its tail leaves during battle is a nice touch. I'm not a fan of it having Lightning rod as its ability but that's because i don't see it being used often in battles (personal opinion, don't hate me for it)
• Mega Swampert: First: "Do you even lift bro?" (I couldn't help myself...). Design wise, slowly growing on me, its not the worst Mega form I've seen but it also isn't the best. As for its ability, I DON'T SEE HOW A BULKY THING LIKE MEGA SWAMPERT COULD MOVE FAST, REGARDLESS OF WHERE HE IS AND THE WEATHER (its Swift Swim)
• Mega Diancie: I'm not making a opinion yet about Diancie as i haven't used its regular form so I don't know how this improves it.
• Mega Sableye: "I wonder how long it will be until Link comes to get that Rupee" (...I'll stop now...). Design wise, it looks good when comparing it to Sableye's original design and one thing i would personally like to see with it is that the gem its holding and the eye gem colours change depending on which game your playing. Red in Omega Ruby and Blue in Alpha Sapphire. I do like the fact that it has Magic Bounce, which means that Mega Sableye could make for a viable lead pokemon if your opponent loves using Hazards.
• Primal forms: At this point in time, I get the feeling that its a redundant form of Mega Evolution and that Mega Aerodactal will get reclassified as Primal Aerodactal.
• Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre: Both of them look great, I love the way they look. My big problem with these two is Primal Groudon's typing: Ground/ Fire which means that it has a 4x weakness to water, so unless Groudon gets a massive buff to its defensive stats, then Groudon won't be winning to Kyogre any time soon...

As for the new map: I love it, but i was never going to hate it. I love that the sea routes between Mossdeap, Sootopolis, Ever grande and Pasifilog look great and looks like it will have more exploration in it then the originals (less empty).

That's it for now, my impressions on all the information we have so far on Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. I might do another if we get another substantial info dump before release but otherwise, wait for a review (as I will be getting a copy of the game, preferably at launch). The next impression latter this week: Hyrule Warriors.

My personal favourites when it comes to Pokémon

So what to do when there isn't a impressions to do for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire? A list of my favorite Pokémon...

While most people would do just a top 10, after nine years of playing the games, its hard to come up with just ten. What might be a favorite Pokémon of mine in a region might not be in my top ten but it still deserves to be mentioned. So instead, I've done a top 10 of each region, this is a Top 60. This thread has been updated since posting (last update 30/9/2014), Original post (19/5/2014)

The Kanto region, a favorite for most Pokémon fans because of its age. And its here that we start.