Monster Brain Crystal
Score: 80% Developer: Pelican Accessories
Function: What options do you have if you want a cheat device for all of the Pokemon games but you don't want to spend the price of a game on a Gameshark? Until now the answer was nothing, but Pelican Accessories has heard the cry of the Pokemon crowd (Pika?) and risen to the challenge with the Monster Brain Crystal. Monster what? Brain. Yeah, I said Monster Brain Crystal. I don't really understand the name but I sure love what it does. It has a simple job and it does it well. The Monster Brain Crystal allows complete control over every facet of the Pokemon games, from attacks to HP to colors to badges to items to stats to... well, everything! And it allows you to save up to 30 game files as compared to the single one allowed on the game pack.
Performance: The Monster Brain Crystal works by interrupting the data transfer between the game pack and the Game Boy. What good is it to do that? Well, while interrupting the data transfer, the Monster Brain Crystal throws in codes per your instructions. Want to start with 99 Master Balls? Or maybe every Pokemon? Or max money? Well they're yours. With the Monster Brain Crystal everything in any of the Pokemon games can be modified through a simple menu interface that comes up before the game starts. Another bonus is if you are using a non-color Pokemon game with a Game Boy Color or Advance, the Monster Brain Crystal will colorize the game to make it look almost like it was made with color. The colorizer is controlled by an external button on the front of the Monster Brain Crystal that resets the game when pushed, and switches between the color and grayscale modes. After the game is reset with the desired color pallet, you can enter the colorizer menu and further tweak each of the colors to your liking. If you happen to have a friend that wants to get into Pokemon but doesn't have a game, you can lend them yours without fear of your save being erased. The Monster Brain Crystal allows more than 30 saves - you could even lend the game to your entire class.
Features: Change Pokemon- all 251, including 100 new Pokemon Gain access to ultra rare Pokemon such as Togepi, Celebi, Mew and more Add items: Potions, Pokeballs, Masterballs and more Add techniques to your Pokemon including Attack, Defense, Speed and Experience Change the amount of money you've earned Activate Gym Badges Memory for more than 30 game saves
Drawbacks & Problems:: The Monster Brain is not a small device by any means. The bottom half is the size and weight of a normal Game Boy game but the top half, where the brain (sorry for the pun) is housed is about four times thicker than a game and is quite heavy. Unfortunately, the way the Monster Brain was made, it sticks out and makes the Game Boy top heavy requiring you to either develop a new way of holding the unit, or rig up some sort of tripod device with a complex counterweight system with pulleys and hydraulics and the like. (It's easier to just move your index fingers up for more support.) Also when the Monster Brain was plugged into my Game Boy Advance with my light and battery accessories attached, the whole unit looked more like an engine part than a portable gaming unit. Although the menus are easy to navigate, they're animated to come up from the bottom and bob up and down for about three seconds before you can select any of the options, costing the gamer precious seconds of gaming time. While the colorizer is a great feature, it is prone to crashes and Pelican knows it- they even say so in the book. Crashes won't happen unless you push the colorizer button at the wrong time, but when they do you have to start all over.
-Joe Guys, GameVortex Communications AKA Joe Labani
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