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Learn With Pokémon Typing Adventure Nintendo DS Nintendo Review

Review for Learn With Pokémon Typing Adventure on Nintendo DS - on Nintendo Wii U, 3DS games review

There have been many attempts at mixing educational content with that of regular entertainment forms, yet the video game forays have been lacking the majority of times, either due to a lack of actual fun or missing the mark on the learning side and coming across as condescending. Mario is Missing is one of the most infamous cases from way back in the SNES days, but that is not to say there are no good examples, with the Learning with the PooYoos WiiWare titles being extremely pleasing. Learn with Pokémon Typing Adventure comes from Genius Sonority, the team that was founded under Hiroshi Yamauchi's Q Fund that helped bring new developers together to help Nintendo bolster its internal game production line. Having been founded by a key person formerly overseeing Dragon Quest games, the company has worked on the likes of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors, and even 100 Classic Book Collection. Does the team's expertise help to make this type of game appeal to the masses or is it tapping up the wrong tree?

Typing games can be fun, as anyone that played Typing of the Dead can attest to. However, they can also be extremely mundane and repetitive. Fair play to Genius Sonority, though, as the team has attempted to ensure Learn with Pokémon Typing Adventure has adopters entertained for as long as possible with plenty of typing exercises. Sadly, though, the handy little wireless keyboard that comes bundled in the package will undoubtedly be returned to its box post haste.

The justification behind Typing Adventure is that players are enlisted to the Elite Typists' Club, under the guidance of Professor Q. Werty and his assistant, Paige Down. Overlooking the cheap typing-related puns, the mission is to work through automatically scrolling levels tapping certain letters, numbers, and symbols as quickly as possible, without making any mistakes, in the hope of catching as many specimens with Typing Balls as can be done in the time allotted.

Screenshot for Learn With Pokémon Typing Adventure on Nintendo DS - on Nintendo Wii U, 3DS games review

Tap various amounts of letters of Pokémon names as they bounce on-screen, pick up bonuses by hitting certain keys are specific times, and take on boss battles, deflecting projectiles with more key depressions and going in for the kill by spelling their full name in the end. Repetition is indeed imperative to mastering the art of typing skilfully, but despite Genius Sonority's best efforts, the tasks at hand are anything but engaging. The most ardent of Pokémon fan is not going to be drawn in by the menial typing tasks available, and those hoping to brush up on their skills in the hope of bettering themselves in the workplace are not going to overlook the wealth of other, more serious, options out there (many of which are free online) that make use of a full-size keyboard, simply to do lessons with static Pokémon images leaping all over the place. Whilst the heart was there to make a worthwhile impact on the 'edutainment' scene, Genius Sonority's talent should have been put to better use than on Learn with Pokémon Typing Adventure.

Screenshot for Learn With Pokémon Typing Adventure on Nintendo DS - on Nintendo Wii U, 3DS games review

Gameplay

As a general typing aide it proves to be rather the intriguing product, but is actually held back by the small keyboard included that causes cramped hands for some owners, the limited nature of the in-game activities, and the sheer lack of real incentive to spend a large amount of money on something readily available for free online.

Graphics

Compared to the Pokémon series in general, this is a definite back-step, with very little in the way of impressive aesthetics throughout.

Sound

The main tune that plays for almost the duration of the game starts to grate extremely quickly, and mixed in with all sorts of annoying sound effects that are repeated far too often, it can be quite painful on the ears.

Value

Sticking with this until the end will definitely require more than a modicum of patience and only the most dedicated of budding typists will persevere…yet anyone in that category would immediately be put off by the subject matter and the excessive cost compared to other, readily available, alternatives.

Cubed3 Rating

Whilst Learn with Pokémon Typing Adventure is a bold move by Nintendo, it seems an extremely pointless one, falling between two potential markets -- those that love Pokémon but have no desire to learn typing from a young age, and others that want to improve their typing skills but either are not familiar with all the Pocket Monsters in the series or would much prefer a more professional set of lessons. Genius Sonority's talents should have been used for a full-on RPG rather than this misguided attempt at tapping into a new market.

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Also known as

Battle & Get! Pokémon Typing DS

Developer

Genius Sonority

Publisher

Nintendo

Genre

Educational

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  4/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date TBA   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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Reader comments - add yours today Comments on this Review

Staff Member

What? I never knew that this was developed by Genius Sonority. What a huge waste of their talent, I loved both of their 3D Pokémon RPG's on the Gamecube. A real shame the Wii only got Pokémon Battle Revolution because their RPG's were a nice departure from the main series on handhelds. Here's hoping they'll get to work on one for the Wii U.

 
Staff Member

I quite enjoyed Dragon Quest Swords as well!

It's really disappointing that Genius Sonority was never given a chance to develop upon its RPG mechanics being slotted into the Pokémon Stadium series.

Two weeks on the market in the UK and it's dropped to No.23...which isn't saying much as it started at No.21! Smilie That probably means it only sold a few hundred copies each week Smilie

Why did NoE pick this up over the many fantastic DS games it's overlooked?!

Adam Riley < Operations Director :: Senior Editor :: Cubed3 Limited >
Word of Adam | The Voice Realm Profile | Voice123 Profile | AdamC3 on Twitter
Staff Member

Was thinking of getting this for a spare wireless keyboard and maybe a speed-typing tool, will pass unless I find it for cheap, shame.

Typing of the Dead with a Keyboard, now that is what we need! Smilie

Click here for awesomeness.
Staff Member

The keyboard looks nice enough, but actually I felt for anyone with bigger hands it was far too uncomfortable.

I've seen some reviews praising the fact that it may be possible to use it with other products...Personally, I feel that has absolutely nothing to do with the game, so why should it matter?

Adam Riley < Operations Director :: Senior Editor :: Cubed3 Limited >
Word of Adam | The Voice Realm Profile | Voice123 Profile | AdamC3 on Twitter

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