I'm really feeling it!
I'm really feeling it!

The Perfect Pokemon Game

Illustration for article titled The Perfect Pokemon Game

So I finally got around to watching the Pokemon X and Y trailers, and I realized something - I just don't care. As a kid, I was obsessed with Pokemon. My first game was Yellow, and I invested more time into Gold than I can remember. My favourite game in the series was Emerald, and I enjoyed playing Pearl with my ex when it first came out.

But despite my long history with the series, I just don't care about Pokemon anymore. I skipped Black y White, and its cash-ins. X y Y look like the same tired shit we've been seeing for years. While each generation of Pokemon may add bells and whistles (to the point where it's now this amorphous blob of JUST bells and whistles), the fundamental game is still the exact same thing as I played in the late 90's. The game hasn't actually evolved (lol), just made a series of lateral moves, deathly terrified of any modicum of change that might alienate its devout following of shut-ins.

So that got me to thinking: If a perfect Pokemon game existed, what would it be like? Here's a few elements I'd love too see for a true evolution of the series:

1. Pokemon Snap built right in. Pokemon Snap was one of the best games on the N64, period. It was so much fun to watch Pokemon behave in ways we'd never seen in a game before, and capture them in their candid moments. Imagine if Pokemon Perfect had a photography element, kinda like in Dead Rising? You could take pictures and have them evaluated by a sub-community of PokePhotographers around the world!

2. An open world. From here on, I'll add elements that would work especially well in this sort of setting... Imagine a huge, open space, where Pokemon roam like wild animals, You can catch these Pokemon, battle them, watch them, ignore them, or, in the case of the most aggressive ones, run from them. The world could be very diverse, with Pokemon lounging in regions that make sense. There's no reason why the full roster (excluding legendaries) could not exist in this world.

3. Make it an MMO! What keeps the Pokemon community going? The meta elements. So why not make it a full-blown MMO? You specialize in whatever suits your fancy - wanna be a photographer? Do that. Wanna be a Pokemon trainer and challenge other players and NPCs? Do that. Want to study Pokemon travel and breeding habits to keep the community informed? Do that. There's no reason why such an incredible fictional world should be restricted to just fighting. :D

4. Event Pokemon and swarms. This already exists, but imagine it in an MMO setting - every 8th Tuesday, a large herd of Qwilfish invade the Western coast. Every night at 9pm, Digletts and Dugtrios gather in a specific cave to socialize. By doing events like these, you can include the full Pokemon roster without making the whole thing too routine. In terms of legendary Pokemon, they should be made truly legendary - maybe a map coordinate pops up for all active players, and the first on to arrive gets the chance to battle Lugia. Maybe a rare item drop unlocks a cave that houses Regice. There's so many cool and creative ways to do this, I can't possibly type them all!

5. HD graphics. This is probably going to happen eventually, but I want to have a believable Pokemon world. You can make it cell-shaded, you don't need hyper-realism, but I'd love to see Pokemon move and breathe and sway exactly like you'd expect them to. Every Pokemon should be amazing, and seeing a Pokemon you haven't encountered before should be like staring into the face of a wild bear and/or red panda.

6. When you battle, you control the Pokemon, not the trainer. This is pretty straight-forward - take control of your Pokemon, with its move speed, attack, etc. pertaining, in real time, as they should to the stats. A Jolly Tauros should zip along the map, and a Lax Snorlax should move like molasses in winter. The four attacks are mapped to the face buttons. Simple stuff. :D

So that's my thoughts. I'd love to hear yours, so if you have any ideas of your own, add them in the comments below!


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