E3: Pokémon Crystal hands-off impressions

[05.23.01] » Pokémon Crystal was at E3 2001--and we weren't there.

   Though the crowding at Nintendo's booth this year is already legendary, there was one place a cramped gamer could always go to catch his breath: the Pokémon Crystal area. Gamers couldn't wait to give Nintendo's "new" Game Boy RPG a wide berth. The best way to visualize Pokémon Crystal in the U.S. is to take Pokémon Gold/Silver and add network support. Next, take away the network support. Voila! You've got Pokémon Crystal. You can now play as a "girl" instead of a "boy," giving your 16x16 pixel sprite an entirely different appearance. The GIA was unable to confirm reports of a few additional monster animations, as we did not play the game. We have standards.

   In related news, a Nintendo representative at Wednesday's press conference said that uninspired sequels that added little or nothing to the original title were killing the games industry.