Who would have guessed that, in 1996, the face of gaming
would change forever? And to add to the madness, that the charge
would be led by a pack of mutant monsters? You all know what I'm
talking about: Game Freak's biggest and brightest star, Pokémon.
Originally called Capsule Monsters, the pitch to Nintendo crashed and
burned. But after some quick re-branding to Pocket Monsters, Nintendo
took on the project. The world didn't know what hit it.
The two versions, Red and Green, became an
overnight success in their home country of Japan, the craze going
global with the release of Red and Blue in the West. The madness
cooled but never quite left and, to date, twenty one released
games(including Green) in which you play as a trainer leaving home to
embark on their Pokémon journey after getting such a beast from the
local professor, with a rival always one step ahead of you. They
would then encounter other trainers to battle and wild Pokémon,
which could be weakened and captured. You level up your new friends
and watch them grow stronger and some even evolve into new creatures.
You'd then mix
and match them constantly to make the toughest team as you take on
the eight Gym Leaders of that region. Then you'd move up and hit the
best of the best, the Elite Four. After they've been laid out, you
face the Champion (usually your rival). After that, trade with your
mates to fill up your book of monsters, the Pokédex.
And then....what? It's the same rigmarole, rarely with any driving
story to immerse yourself in. Sure, some enter contests, others
replay it or invent new challenges but most just let the games gather
dust. I'm one of the latter. For me, the story has grown a little
stale. So you, yes you, get to listen to me explain my issues with
Pokémon as it stands today! Ready? Your own adventure begins!
My
main issue with the series today is its bulk. That's right, Pokémon
got fat. Really fat. It has more spin-offs than the original 'Red'
layout. You have Mystery Dungeon, Snap, Stadium, Video Trading Card
Game,even a Pokemon Typing Adventure! Oh, and those are just the
video games. There's trading cards, the good old animé, manga, those
Pokémon Centres in Japan....Do you see what I mean? It's become a
corporate giant. Screw Godzilla, it's a great Pikachu they should be
afraid of! Oh wait...they already have those in parades. Well, damn.
The series needs to be stripped back to what it originally was: cute
little monsters that you trained and swapped with friends. Stop
expanding, please, and just focus.
That
leads on nicely to my next issue. You remember being a kid, I'm sure.
If you grew up through the Pokémon boom, you remember the first 151.
God, they were glorious, weren't they? Took me years to collect them
all (minus Mew), and by the time I had finished that, new games had
arrived! Gold and Silver! Cool, they were continuing the colour
theme! And look, I can trade over relatively easy and even evolve
some of my already maxed-out creatures! So I went through the process
again, I enjoyed it just as much and I loved battling Red. And just
as I reached the end of that,
another came out. I'm sure you can see where this is going. I was
stuck in that loop a long, long time. Collecting them at first was a
pleasure but, as they reached number 500 it had become a chore. A
chore I no longer wanted to complete. I'd stopped trading and
battling with friends. It now became a streamlined affair. Get the
best, beat the Champion, wait for next game. They should have taken
Gold and Silver, hunkered down and fine-tuned what they already had.
New graphics, new parts to explore, story continuation and stopped
throwing more and more 'Mon at us....Is that so hard, Game Freak?
The
next point is more of a personal gripe. All these Pokémon Contests
that they're sticking in, and all those other gimmicks. More and more
of them. Yeah, I get you're trying to make the lifespan of the game
greater and appeal to larger audiences. But you know what? It isn't
working! Sure, some people will do them but I have yet to meet
someone who picks up a copy of your game and thinks 'Time to make my
Scraggy look fabulous!'.
We want to duke it out with friends, make that more accessible!
Because you said you streamlined it but you haven't. That interface
is still tricky. A seven year old could use the Link Cable. Point out
a seven year old who can use the Global Link Network. Go on. I'll
wait.
Okay,
this is my last point. I swear. The story, Game Freak, the story!
You've come so close in the past. Yeah, Red and Blue didn't have a
great story. But it didn't need to, it was the first of its kind. Now
it needs a hook, something we can sink our teeth into. Plot-wise, I
feel it peaked in the 3rd
Generation. Team Magma and Team Aqua, they knew what bad guys were.
They think
they're
doing good when, in fact, they're going to just make things worse.
After that, we got Cyrus who wanted to control Time/Space/Dimensions,
but to do what with was very loosely covered. Then you have Black And
White. N was deep, he was interesting! He was a Pokémon activist!
There was so much potential for expansion on that, for you as the
player to doubt yourself and the choices you were making. Building on
the lore, that's what it needs in my oh-so humble opinion. And no,
Black 2 and White 2 didn't sort out what I just said about N so hush.
If
what I just listed could be implemented into the games, as is my hope
with Pokémon X and Y(What even is that?) , then we could have a
winner on our hands. The classic formula but with added depth, honed
and focused to a point. A manageable number of Pokémon that won't
leave grown men like myself a gibbering, raging wreck. If Game Freak
can sort themselves out and get what the public want into production,
they may just save their beloved Pikachu before it's too
late.
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