Pokemon Platinum

The Pokemon series is surprisingly full of creepy stuff, from its morbid Pokemon designs to its eerily discordant Lavender Town theme. Pokemon's disturbing side is well-represented by its Ghost-types, with dolls possessed by pure hatred, ghosts posing as balloons to drag children to the underworld, and plenty of Pokemon that will steal your soul if you look at them the wrong way...

It’s been 15 years since Pokemon took Japan’s islands by storm, and since then the numerous species of portable critters have become beloved across the globe. The franchise has become a monster of its own, laden with various product tie-ins and spin-offs. While we’re certainly all aware of the main Pokemon titles – and more likely than not, spin-offs like Pokemon Ranger, Pokemon Stadium, and the not-very-beloved Mystery Dungeon titles that somehow keep getting released – there have been a lot of Pokemon games that simply haven’t made much of a blip on players’ radars...

This week we get in the Halloween spirit with an ode to Ghost-types, chat about the recently opened Dream World on the Japanese Pokemon Global Link site, and sing the praises of the best Pokemon-themed rap to date.

Download link inside!

There aren't many things that everyone in the world goes through in life. Being born is one of those things. But, strangely, this most natural of bodily functions is very rarely tackled in video games. Maybe it's because babies come from a part of a woman that you just can't show in a game (unless you're rendering character statues in Resident Evil 5, apparently). Or maybe there just aren't enough virtual clean towels and hot water to go around.

So, clearly, when a game does tackle this subject, it's almost always memorable. So here are the top 7 births in gaming.

What's the deal with Poliwrath? Seriously, a tadpole Pokemon that remains a tadpole even after its third-stage evolution? Really?! Did it really not occur to anyone on the Pokemon design team that tadpoles turn into frogs until Gold and Silver?

We ponder this and more on today's episode - download link inside!

In the beginning there were Poke Balls. And Great Balls, Ultra Balls and Master Balls, too. Oh, and also Safari Balls, but you could only use those in one small area. As the number of Pokemons has expanded, so the variety of tools required to catch them all has increased, to the point where there’s now a different type of ball for every six (and a bit) monsters from the original Red and Blue versions...

Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver is out in the UK today, so we thought we'd celebrate by pitting some tiny Pokemon against some of gaming's biggest and baddest bosses.

What creature could possibly take down Poseidon's Water Horse boss in God of War 3? Could a tiny Pokemon really beat Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid? Sure - if you know which type to use.

After a little math, Pokemon site Bulbapedia has revealed that in order to unlock all the routes on the Pokewalker you’ll need to walk 1000 miles. While Usain Bolt may be wondering what the big deal is, that’s a huge distance to cover. How long is it exactly?