The cast of Pokémon you actually control is limited to just Pikachu and the Black/White starters, but the Pokémon that you can befriend are a nice mix from all the games and even the ugliest have been animated to be unbearably cute.

Regardless of gameplay there’s just enough fan service to keep most Poké-maniacs sated. Thus the adventure begins to find out about the mystery that is Wish Park and possibly even save the world along the way. Something about the area isn’t quite right though, and all the Pokémon in the area seem to be under some sort of trance. Apparently this free cake isn’t so free and to get to Wish Park they require ten of your precious berries and once handed over you are granted entry to this wondrous and magical place. At this point you are introduced to the currency of the game ‘Berries’ which can be earned by doing just about anything in the world. Piplup, being my kind of Pokémon thinks that free cake sounds like a great idea and suggests that the two of you should definitely check the place out. You start being led by your pal Piplup to go play on the beach with the other Pokémon, when you overhear about a magical place called ‘Wish Park’ where apparently there are games and free cake all the time. Once again we join Pikachu and his pals in a robust and colourful world where Pokémon live in peace and intend to play their days away in the sun.

The controls themselves are simple and easy to remember and really quite good for younger players as long as you can get past the thumb cramp of the D-Pad.

Shaking the Remote will activate another attack or a speed boost depending on context and the B trigger centres your camera or targets the nearest Pokémon. The 1 and 2 buttons are used as confirm and cancel buttons, as well as attacks, sprinting and jumping. PokéPark 2, much like its predecessor, uses the Wii Remote held in a horizontal fashion to control Pikachu and his pals in the world. I do think that it’s nice of you to allow for some games to only require a Wii Remote, but I would’ve slapped a Cleffa right in the face if it would mean that I could use a thumb stick for this game. Please, thumb sticks are one of the great steps forward in console gaming, they’re comfortable, allow for fluid movement and the Nunchuck has a rather nice one available for use. The very first thing I want to say about this game is more of a prayer I want to send to the great Nintendo gods on behalf of all that is good in the gaming world. When Oshawott saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.

Codes for pokepark 2