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Gotta bootleg 'em all!
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Powermon (파워몬스터, 威力寶貝) is a Korean/Taiwanese Pokémon PC platformer released in 2000 by ID Software (not to be confused with the ID Software of Wolfenstein, Doom, Rage, Commander Keen, and Quake fame). This game is quite notable compared to other bootlegs due to its use of pre-rendered 3D graphics. In Powermon 3, Pikachu's in-game model was updated, being given pink cheeks and slightly better animation. The Taiwanese port was licensed by BerrySoft (草莓軟體, sometimes StrawberrySoft), a company known for their licensed Taiwanese exclusive MegaMan games.
While not much is known about the development of Powermon, it can be inferred there are at least 5 games in the series: Powermon, 2, 3, and two compilation disks: 1+2 and 1+2+3. Unlike its later counterparts, Powermon is the only game in the series to have been made in Mandarin while the rest of the series were all made in Korean.Powermon 1, 2, and 3 gameplays can be seen here, here, and here.
Why It Has NO Power and Can't Catch 'Em All
- To get Pikachu out of its Pokeball, it's a bootleg Pokémon game. Pokémon is a copyrighted piece of media, and making money off of it, without consent, is obviously illegal.
- As you can see here, they even copied the Pokémon logo! It looks exactly like the Pokémon logo, but with, "poké", replaced with, "power".
- Horrible graphics, with the Pokémon's models looking uncanny and somewhat creepy, especially Jigglypuff.
- Also, the textures are really blocky and undetailled, even for a bootleg game.
- GODAWFUL controls, since they are clunky and unresponsive.
- The designs of the Pokémon are horrible and creepy, especially their faces that look creepy.
- The game has nothing to do with Pokémon whatsoever apart from the characters. It's just a horrible platformer that is here just to waste your time.
- Horrible grasp of source material. One example is the playable Pikachu being able to fly, not with balloons like in the original games, but with its ears.
- The Taiwanese box art's text in the bottom can be translated to "Korean super popular cartoon animation book family contribution". What the hell does that even mean?
- Awful soundtrack that sounds extremely repetitive and very annoying, due to it being too loud and ear bleeding.
Qualities That Have Power and Can Catch 'Em All
- While horrible and creepy, some designs look nice, such as Charmander and Pikachu.
- Both versions' box arts don't look too bad, especially the Taiwanese version.
- The game can be ironically funny to play due to how horrible it is.
- The logo looks pretty nice, despite it being a bootleg version of the Pokémon logo.
- The sequels have improved a bit, but not that much.
- Pokémon games didn't get an official release in South Korea before 2002. It's to expect that bizarre rip-offs would appear.
- Pokémon games also didn't get a release in Taiwan until gen 4 (Diamond and Pearl in 2006), Once again, these games were to expect.
Trivia
- Some PCs run the game extremely slow, not even reaching half of the speed it is supposed to run at. A video of how the game should played can be seen here.
- The crab enemy looks slightly similar to Dwebble, a Generation V Bug/Rock Pokémon that was introduced in 2010.
Download
You can download and play the Taiwanese version here and the Korean version [1].