In the meantime why don't you take a look at the stuff already on my pokemon page.


News: THE BOOTLEG POKEMON GAME
We couldn't believe our eyes. It was a new Pokemon game.
Upon closer inspection, however, the tell tale signs of a
pirated cart soon became apparent. There weren't any
Nintendo or Gamefreak trademarks, nor were there any
English instruction on the packaging. Everything printed on
the box was in Chinese. The literal translation of the title even
made us laugh. It said "Monster Go!Go!Go!", and we couldn't
help but snigger at the insane title that the Pirates had used.

Probably a Chinese version of Pokemon Red or Blue we
thought, but the salesman was adamant that it was a totally
new platform game. We still couldn't believe it, as there is no
news anywhere of Nintendo ever developing a GB Pokemon
platform game. This time, it was the salesman who laughed,
as he popped the cart into a Color GameBoy and showed us
the opening screens from the game.

Opening Screen (first image)
To say that we were totally freaked-out would be an
understatement. Our eyes popped, and our tongues did an
Ally McBeal. There he was, Pikachu, jumping daintily around
the screen catching electric rods as Meowth and Bellsprout
tried desperately to deter his efforts. Better still, the game was
using a Super GameBoy palette that was exceptionally
colorful. The animation too, was well programed, and Pikachu
looked exactly like Pikachu and moved exactly as you would
expect an electric rat to move.

With bated breath, we paid the money and bought the game.
We wanted to buy more, but unfortunately, it was the last one
left. Seems that nearly every Pokemon fan in Singapore had
bought a copy. Feeling an elation that can hardly be
described, we brought the game home and settled down for a
serious bout of Monster Go!Go!Go!

The Realization
We were still skeptical about the game after playing for nearly
an hour. It was truly a new Pokemon Platform game that was
fun and enjoyable, but somehow, I felt as though I had played
the exact same game before but with different characters.
Val, ever, analytical, decided that we do a ROM check.

Using our trusty GB Xchanger, we downloaded the ROM to
our computer and ran some test using the GBList utility from
Marat Fayzullin. The first thing we did was to check who had
developed the game. Lo and behold, it was Infogrames!
Suddenly, everything clicked into place, and I realized why
Monster Go!Go!Go! seemed so familiar. Monster Go!Go!Go!
was actually Infograme's Smurf 3!

The Reincarnation
We were surprised, but un-startled. Pirated carts from Hong
Kong and Taiwan are famous for this kind of devilish
re-programing, as is evident from the other weird titles we've
seen on the GameBoy like Sonic The Hedgehog and Super
Mario 4.

In essence, Monster Go!Go!Go! is a reincarnation of Smurf 3,
but with added Color GameBoy and Super GameBoy
support. All the Pirates did was to remove the Smurfs and
add some Pokemon. They also made some cosmetic
changes to the background scenery and character sprites, but
everything else, like the platform levels and game mechanics
remain the same.

Although we don't know much about game programing, we
must admit that the Pirates did put some effort into the
construct of Monster Go!Go!Go! The game played well, the
controls were excellent and the animations were amusing.
Moreover, the novelty of seeing our favorite Pokemon
characters like Pikachu and Meowth in the totally alien setting
of a platfrom game, made it even more enjoyable.

Pokemon starved as we are, we are hesitant to condemn
Monster Go!Go!Go! despite the fact that it is illegal. We had a
hell of a time playing it, and we enjoyed it tremendously, and
hopefully Nintendo will take the cue and produce an official
Pokemon Platform game. Until that happens, Monster
Go!Go!Go! will remain in our Color GameBoy.


Thanks to EAGB