Pokemon Colosseum was the first GAMECUBE Pokemon game, a title that had all the fanboys and fangirls of the world drooling like brain-dead monkeys at the promise of it's release. The game was released in Japan on November 21, 2003 and was released in North America on March 23, 2004. It was then released in Europe on May 7, 2004 and finally in Australia on June 24, 2004. It was the spiritual successor of the Pokemon Stadium games.

The story begins with a guy named Wes (who you control) planting a bomb in the hideout of Team Snagem (the bad guys), and quickly escaping as the place explodes in a massive burst of flame. As he is leaving, Wes manages to swipe the miniature “Snag Machine” (used to steal other Trainers' Pokemon), leaving the larger version completely annhilated. Shortly afterwards, the local news network reports that the entire Snagem hideout has been reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble. It mentions that the large Snag Machine has been completely destroyed and that the smaller, more mobile version is missing. The newscaster ends on the hopeful note that this may be the end of the crime organisation...

I found this game absolutely great. There was a decent (if somewhat short) plot, good music and absolutely beautiful in-battle graphics that made me drool. There was one thing I really didn't like though, and that was the pretty pathetic out-of-battle graphics. Sure, there were more than enough things to cancel this out, but still... Anyway, another thing I enjoyed (and yet at the same time, hated) was the process of capturing and “purifying” Pokemon. I like it because it was a challenge, but I hated it because it was so boring. Despite this, however, the reward for doing this was worth it: Ho-oh. A pokemon only obtainable in 3rd or 4th gen by event. This meant that for Australians and people of other such countries could only obtain it through this game, because, of course, THERE HASN'T BEEN A POKEMON GIVEAWAY EVENT IN AUSTRALIA SINCE THEY GAVE OUT MEW! But anyway, this game was great and I would recommend it to any of you.