130 of 134 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the better pokedex compared to Nintendo Power's version, June 19, 2007
This review is from: Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Pokedex: Prima Official Game Guide Vol. 2 (Prima Official Game Guides) (Paperback)
Initially, I bought the Ninento Power Pokedex because I thought it would be a safer bet to go with the 1st party guide. However, even without comparing that pokedex to this version, Prima's, I was unhappy with it.
Both the Prima and Nintendo pokedexes are designed as a 2nd book to the walkthru books. Some of the comments of those guides mention that they don't go to the later parts of the game (after beating the Elite 4). Those parts are addressed here. However, I did not focus on the guide as I really just wanted a Pokedex reference.
Nintendo Pokedex:
2 pokemon per page vertically arranged
large size picture of pokemon
basic stat info
icon image (w/ male/female versions if needed)
evolution path (text only)
list of moves showing: number, name, category, type, contest, AP
Prima Pokedex:
2 pokemon per page horizontally arranged
medium size picture of pokemon
basic stat info
icon image - front AND back (w/ male/female versions if needed)
evolution path W/ images and text
list of moves showing: number, name, type, class, power, ACC, PP, ranges, DA (direct attack)
black footprint and relative size to trainer image
text description from both Diamond and Pearl... nice
how to obtain the pokemon right on the page... CRITICAL, imo.
Just based on that, you can see that Prima put a lot more information per page on the pokemon... Yes, some of it is fluff but, imo, a pokedex should be a reference. And for true pokemon fans, that fluff is very nice. Having how the descriptions differ from Pearl and Diamond is interesting especially if you have only one version of the game. It just seems like Prima put that extra effort into this.
Some comments regarding the Nintendo Pokedex:
1. The list of pokedex in the front is based on Pokemon number and not alphabetically. (There is a alphabetic list in the back pages.)
2. The attacks listed w/ the pokemon do not show Attack, ACC, and PP. Instead, you need to flip to the back to look them up in the charts unless you have memorized them... I haven't nor do I plan to.
3. How to get the pokemon is not as well laid out. You have to reference either the Game Guide (volume 1) or use the back of the pullout poster/map.
Basically, Nintendo's pokedex really makes you work to get the info and is very clearly designed to reference the game guide.
Some comments regarding the Prima pokedex:
1. Table of Contents is Alphabetically arranged.
2. List of moves/attacks are better organized and available right on the pokemon page. (There are reference charts/lists in the back of the book as well.)
3. Sinnoh map is a 2 page layout - I prefer this over the pullout poster from the Nintendo pokedex b/c it's easier to use.
4. Lots of little interesting information like all the Pokemon arranged in boxes (as in the game) to show what it would be like if you did, indeed, Catch Them All.
5. Pull out poster of all the Pokemon images.
6. Unown pokemon... Prima's shows all the different Unowns.
So, as a reference, the Prima Pokedex is definitely more convenient to use. Also, the Tips sections in the Prima guide is much more in depth (eg Capture Guide). This is not that big a deal to me but, if you're interested in that, it's there.
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Finally, if you need a pokedex for the previous pokemon games, I suggest Prima's 10th Anniversary Pokedex if you can still find it. Nicely put together (in some ways better than this pokedex). Only problem I had with that pokedex was that it didn't have the names of the Pokemon in the evolution path. In the few cases where the immediately following pokemon wasn't the next evolution step, I had to start flipping pages to find it. It also has a very nice list of how to get the pokemon in previous pokemon games (GC, GBA). By the way, Prima, if you're reading this, go back to the spider web chart for the power of the pokemon used in the 10th anniversary pokedex... much better visually to see how strong the pokemon are than a bar chart.
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25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All the information other guides have been missing is here., May 27, 2007
This review is from: Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Pokedex: Prima Official Game Guide Vol. 2 (Prima Official Game Guides) (Paperback)
What I have to praise about this product is not what it has so much as what other published guides have been missing. Specifically, the previous Diamond and Pearl guide from this same publisher was missing a lot of information regarding pokemon that previous guides about previous pokemon games had included, such as pokemon statistics and move lists.
With so many new pokemon in the latest games, and the new wi-fi battle network, not to mention Pokemon Battle Revolution coming for the Wii in the US in late June, anyone who wants to be competitive would benefit greatly from this guide.
Finally, this guide has one more thing the previous guide lacks, and that's any information at all about what to do in Pokemon Diamond/Pearl after becoming Pokemon Champion. Even casual pokemon players, therefore, have a use for this guide.
If you have something against Prima, Nintendo has a similar guide that may not have a poster, but is a dollar cheaper and may be more accurate. I haven't seen the Nintendo version of the guide yet, however.
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