[spinkle]

It really is that good and gets better as you play it, and nothing ever feels repetitive about it because as you progress it just gets crazier and crazier. I haven't had this kind of fun in a videogame in a long time

Same here, and you're exactly right. It might be the most fun I've ever had playing a video game, as a matter of fact.

Absolutely love the gameplay, you can pick it up and do amazing things with it instantly.

Also true...I typically read manuals before I play games, but I wanted to see how user-friendly it was before letting my little cousins try it so I went right to playing the game. I felt guided and comfortable the whole time. (though the camera control still feels a little misguided at times)

And YES, the graphics absolutely rock. I have a widescreen CRT and run my games at 480p (for those of you who don't know, yes you can get crt tvs that run progressive scan) and it looks smooth and ultra sexy... which is totally unlike the screenshots you see on the net which show all the jaggies, ugh. Screenshots don't do the any justice, it really has to be played to be appreciated and those who doubt Wii's capability should take a look. The detail in the textures in that game are brilliant. There was one moment when I just stopped for a moment and said "holy crap, that actually DOES look like glazed porcelain i'm standing on."

that's great to know; I've never seen Wii graphics in HD resolution, so I was kind of concerned that they wouldn't be able to withstand the transition. It really is the textures and lighting that make the game so deeply impressive.

Only if you're really into Pokemon, intend to catch them all, train a kickass team, hone your skills and learn new techniques to defeat other human pokemon trainers, etc... then yes. Otherwise if you're just the casual pokemon player, then no... it's not.

Actually, that does sound like a good time. I really enjoyed Diamond once I got more familiar with it and it took me a long time to lose interest...and that only really happened because I spent too long berry farming and not enough time training, haha. (and I think my urge to work on my FF3 game also interfered a bit) My national 'dex isn't too impressively full, but it's definitely a start. On second thought, I guess it sounds like I fall into the casual category... XD