Pokemon Trainer's Guide

Brian Brokaw | J. Douglas Arnold | Mark Elies

1 A book for specialized tastes....
(This review is based on the old version of this book, before inclusion of Yellow information.)

As other reviewers of this book noted, it's not the best guide to Pokemon Red and Blue out there -- the walkthrough is choppy, the layout is amateurish, the translation is holey, and it could've had more information. However, it has two great redeeming qualities (at least in my eyes) that no other book can offer -- the reasons for me buying the book at all:

1) It contains information for Japanese versions, which I happen to own. (This may be a handicap for everyone else, it was a strength for me.) More specifically, it contains monster location information for the "3rd cart" (which isn't Yellow, by the way), aka the nonexistant "English Green", or the Japanese Blue version -- plus a map to Mewtwo for the Japanese Green and Red carts. (The Japanese Blue cart actually uses the American map!)

2) It has actual percentages for monster locations, not just the unhelpful "common" versus "rare" that other books use, for each of the three versions. This way, I can check exact probability and decide which version to catch the monster in (and then trade to the other).

These two strengths only rate it three stars because the rest of the weaknesses are just too bad, especially in the translation department -- some Pokemon names are left in Japanese (Rakki for Chansey, Spectre for Haunter, Tamatama for Exeggcute, etc.) -- and the mechanics department: Where the versions differ for trading and other aspects of gameplay, only one version's information is presented, not all of them. Plus, I would have liked a PokeDex by number and not by name (it could have a name-to-number conversion chart to compensate), an item function chart, and a explanation of each attack move.... for things like these, other guides are far better.

2 Certainly the worst of all the Pokemon game guides.
Those accustomed with the Pokemon videogame franchise should at least know that there is a relatively measureless collection of guides to decide from, which basically means there's bound to be a few rotten apples in the group. To put it bluntly, buying a game guide from a small and rather pathetic publishing group made up of about five or six people, called "Gamebooks.com" isn't necessarily a wise choice if you happen to have a rather obsessed Pokemon fan friend/and or child that can't seem to get past battling a certain monster or trainer and could use a well-written walkthrough.

This guide is not only confusing to read but the cheaply put together layout and poorly cut-and-pasted, official Pokemon graphics could give Helen Keller an eyesore. The walkthrough is done in a strange order that will easily mislead younger viewers, as pointed out by other customers. Information is inaccurate and contains "mess-ups" which should have been edited out in publication.

The cover illustration.. well, is irritatingly crappy to say the least. I'm not sure if it was Mr. Mark Macdonald that was too lazy to actually do research on what certain Pokemon look like, the illustrator smoking a little too much of an illegal substance, or perhaps avoiding a rather stupid copyright infringement lawsuit. Not only will children ask about what the hell is on the cover, but they may question if you bought the right guide and complain about how they refuse to read the guide simply because the cover lacks the authentic look of real Pokemon.

After much frustration I bought the book by Prima guides (Professionals who actually KNEW what they where writing about) and was relieved because the guide was simple and straightforward, easy to read, contained ACCURATE information, and no hassle about what the hell was on the cover.

Interesting how people have decided to sell book for about $ 0.17, obviously reflecting the book's worth.

3 This book is outdated.
This book must have been written a long time ago, becuase it only has Pokemon #1-151 (Mew is spelled Myu) and only has information on the Red/Blue/Yellow versions. There are three versions that don't have guides, and they are the gold/silver/crystal.

4 Interesting But Be Warned!
Be warned that this guide isn't accurate as it should be. For example, on one page it states that you have to win the Rainbow Badge to get the Bulbasaur from the Pokemon Collector in Pokemon Yellow. You only need the Cascade Badge which you get in Cerulean City.

Another problem is the sequential order they use for the walk through which makes following it difficult and confusing. It would be better to have a step by step walk through rather than one that was so confusing as to mislead the readers.

Besides these problems plus the map of one of the areas in the game being somewhat hard to read, the book is a fair read but my suggestion is that the buyer should be ware.

5 Tom's Review
I bought this book for my daughter for Christmas. We used it constantly when she played Pokemon Snap. Now we use it when she plays with Gameboy Blue/Red/Yellow. I like the extensive use of pictures. I also like the alphabetical listing of the Pokemon instead of the 1-151 number system. Highly recommended!

6 David's Review
I think the book is good because I needed a little help on Gameboy sometimes. It helps you get from place to place on the Pokemon Gameboy walkthrough.