Pocket Monster (Famicom)

This article is about the Famicom. For the Mega Drive/SNES of the same name, see Pocket Monster (Mega Drive/SNES).

Pocket Monster (Famicom)
Console	Famicom
Sound engine	Super Game (Konami)
Alternate names/hacks	Super Pocket Monster, Panda World, Super PoPos Adventure, Pocket Amethyst

Pocket Monster is a pirated platformer; it's made by Super Game and Sugar Softec in 1997. It is unrelated to the Mega Drive/SNES pirate, aside from being a platformer based off the Pokémon franchise.

Overview

File:PocketMonsterGameplay.png

Pocket Monster's gameplay. Note that the background graphics are stolen from Athena and modified.

This is a simple platformer starring Pikachu. Unlike a standard NES game, the B button jumps instead of A, which in this game is used to run and do an electric shock, which clears any enemy on the screen. The player can also jump on the enemies like in Super Mario Bros. Pikachu can take three hits before losing a life, with the amount of hits left represented by a Pokéball counter on the top right corner of the screen. There are a total of four worlds (Velbt, Woods, Tableland and Motte) which are split into three levels each, as well as a single-screen boss battle at the end of each. This game has a debug mode enabled by default, allowing the player free movement while paused, and to skip to the next level by pressing Select. In some places, the player can fall partway into the ground, although this doesn't have any implications. The music also glitches slightly at points.

The background graphics are mostly ripped and slightly modified from Athena and Adventure Island II. Some of the enemies are also taken from various games, with some of them based off Pokémon. The music is seemingly original despite having the sound engine ripped from Konami games while the sound effects are taken directly from those games. The ending is Pikachu dancing with an "End" message at the top of the screen.

Ending screen.

Other versions

Panda World

This game was later hacked to make Panda World, which plays very similarly aside from different level layouts and the electric shock attack was replaced with the ability to throw snowballs, of which the player has a limited amount. Instead of Pikachu, the player controls a Tarepanda and this time around the debug mode now requires a cheat code to activate. Some of the background graphics are ripped from Mega Man 6 and the music is reused from Pocket Monster.

Pocket Amethyst

Just a simple title screen hack.

Super Pocket Monster

Another hack of this game was made, called Super Pocket Monster, which is only known to exist on a 76-in-1 multicart. This hack changes the logo and removes the debug mode entirely. However, the collision detection seems to be broken in this version, as Pikachu falls through the ground as soon as the stage starts, killing him instantly. It's possible to make progress by jumping as soon as he hits the ground, but even with this trick the game is still essentially unplayable.

Super Popo Adventure

This hack is based on the Teletubbies, and involves the main character going through levels to collect items for the rest of the cast. It is only known to exist on 150 in 1 Real Game.

Gallery

A 3-in-1 cart featuring Pocket Monster.

Trivia

• The background music was later reused in "Poke Tetris", a Tetris clone featuring Pikachu developed by Nice Code.
• This game may have been developed by Super Game as it uses the same sound engine as their previous titles.
• 'Velbt' might be a mispelling of the word 'Veldt', which is some sort of wide field in southern parts of Africa.
• The dancing sprite of Pikachu seen in the ending is also used in Puckman Pockimon, when there are credits in the machine but only the first player is active.
• The Tarepanda from Panda World appears on the front page of this Wiki.