Rants and Raves
As a Pokémon fan for over ten years now, I have quite a lot to say about the series. In this section, I share my more philosophical ideas and critical thoughts of certain aspects of Pokémon. There's no right or wrong here. The things I say here certainly are both critical and debatable, but not meant to offend anybody, so I apologize in advance.
- No love for the Newer Pokémon?
- Pokémon: Marketed just for Kids and Tweens?
- 5 Things I'd like to see in Pokémon games.
No love for the Newer Pokémon?
When the first generation of Pokémon came out, they were just epic in terms of their appearance. I mean, you have Charmander and his evolutions (especially Charizard) that's much loved. You have Mewtwo who is seen as this uber dominant Pokémon that everyone had to have on their team back in the day. And of course, you have the iconic and much loved (and sadly also hated) Pikachu. You'd be hard-pressed to find a fan who hasn't liked at least one of these said Pokémon at some point. There's tons of great ones of course; some even very clever (for example Hitmonlee (after Bruce Lee) and Hitmonchan (after Jackie Chan).
As time has gone by though, I've kind of found it hard to love some of these newer Pokémon (like the Diamond and Pearl generation). I don't know if Nintendo is running out of ideas or what, but I think the character designs have been questionable on some of the later Pokémon.
Take Nosepass for example. I mean...really? It's um... hard to think what the designers were trying to make Nosepass resemble. Maybe one night (after maybe one too many drinks of Saki perhaps?) the designers thought: "well we already have Geodude for a rock Pokémon, but.. uh.. he has no nose. Let's go slap one on a rock and call it a Pokémon!"
Maybe it's because I'm so attached to the first generation Pokémon that I am being critical of Nosepass (who is a third generation Pokémon). But then after thinking about it, it occurred to me:
When the designers came up with Geodude, it just felt right the way name went along with Geodude's somewhat human-like appearance. I think it's the arms, or maybe the expression he has, you know? It just goes with the name Geodude. On top of that, Geodude gets great stats as a Golem and looks, you know: cool (at least in my opinion).
For a while, Nosepass didn't have an evolution, oh but the designers thought it was best to come up with one:
Et voila, Je vous présente: ...Probopass. Right..I shudder to think what they were really trying to accomplish here. Looks to me like they slapped a red hat on a Nosepass, made his nose even bigger, and...grew him a beard? Good. god.
I know it's sounds like I'm just bashing poor Nosepass/Probopass here, but there's been some Pokémon I've really liked from these latter generations. Take Plusle and Minun for example. Some people will say that they're just a copycat of Pikachu/Pichu's cute looks. But, let's face it: they're both pretty darn cute if you ask me. And the whole plus and minus thing is cool too with their abilities.
What can I say? I love the original 151 Pokémon by far the most. Maybe in my mind now, I'm overly critical of the newer Pokémon because I want them to have that same sparkle; that flair the originals pull off so darn well, you know? As the generations go on, the designers create more and more radical Pokémon far different from the originals. Am I glad they're constantly discovering and expanding the Pokémon world? Of course, for it adds more and diversity with all the characters. Really though, it just seems now that the designers are now just out to market more and more Pokémon characters, rather than to create quality one's.
Pokémon: Marketed just for Kids and Tweens?
Okay, I'm not going to lie: it's pretty obvious that Pokémon is geared towards the younger audience with it's colorful cutesy appeal to children. With everything from things such as the anime, trading cards, plushes, figures, apparel, halloween costumes, and even Pokémon rain ponchos; things that bear this "kiddy" image can be pretty discouraging to older fans who've "been there" since the beginning. As an older fan: myself and other peers my age may feel a little awkward being a fan at times. I mean come on, it's clear that Pokémon (or at least Pokémon USA's marketing strategy) employs this ultialtaianism producing the most good with it's products for kids and tweens. Oh, and when I say "kids and tweens", I'm talking fans in 7-13 year old range by the way.
What really bothers me is just the lack of acknowledgement to the older Pokémon fan base (I'm talking fans roughly 14 years and older). I'd be hard pressed to find a Pokémon fan that hasn't felt awkward playing the games, watching the anime, etc. I mean, I remember when Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games came out the first day. I was waiting in line for it; 18 years old surrounded by kids half my age with their parents. Maybe it's just because older fans don't openly admit they even like Pokémon in the first place? I'm not the only adult Pokémon fan out there; I know. I don't know about you, but when I was in Middle and High School, to even mention Pokémon was taboo and you'd be humiliated for it. I guess that just goes to show that's how people perceive Pokémon: for kids. And anyone in their teens and up who do like it would be looked down upon by their peers. A lot of that deals with peer pressure which affects teens; wanting more mature themes such as "shoot-em-up" games like Halo or Grand Theft Auto. Eh, yeah it's no surprise that peer pressure can socialize their peers to like these more mature themes and cause them stay away from something like Pokémon. Peer pressure and teens though is a whole other rant, so I'll leave it at that.
For Pokémon USA, there's a lot more censorship imposed in this country in contrast to Pokémon Japan. The Japanese anime is slightly different in the notion that things like nudity and sexuality for example are morally permissible there in contrast to the US where it's inconceivable. I get it, and that's fine. After all, anything objectionable in the anime for example wouldn't fly with Pokémon USA's (and the FCC's) protocols.
So, let's suppose that older Pokémon fans got their way and Pokémon could be marketed towards an older audience. I have to wonder what other fans would want to change to make Pokémon more "mature"? Perphaps we'd want more aggressive-like Pokémon with fangs, claws, blades, etc, and less cutesy Pokémon like Pikachu, Pichu, etc. Maybe we'd want to have really "violent" Pokémon battles with blood, gore, and death? Eh...personally I'd pass on that. It just wouldn't be, well... Pokémon. Satoshi Tajiri, creator of Pokémon, always wanted Pokémon to be this non-violent environment; wether in the games or anime. Also, wouldn't it seem like fighting to the death and/or inflicting serious harm would really defeat the strong morals of friendship, strategy, and teamwork Pokémon teaches? It seems to really defeat a great strong point that Pokémon does so well.
Okay, so yeah I personally would defiantly not want any extreme mentioned above. As I write this rant spontaneously, I realize that I'm creating more questions/problems than solutions. I guess Pokémon may just be better off being marketed the way it is. After all, it's been a worldwide phenomena around the world with fans the way it's been marketed both in and outside Japan thus far. I think this all comes back to what I talked about the second paragraph: the way society sees Pokémon. It's been around for over 10 years now and so many people: fan or not, see the audience Pokémon's geared towards. So basically, should Pokémon change the way it markets it's products?, the real question is: "Is society going to change it's greater perception of Pokémon?" The answer: probably not.
5 Things I'd like to see in Pokémon games.
Throughout the generations, there's been tons of great new features (breeding, night/day system, animated sprites to name a few) added over the years. However, a lot of additions or changes are not really dynamic changes in my opinion. Here's five things I'd like to see added or changed with future Pokémon games:
- Multiple Save Game Files
- 3D Battles
- A Non-Linear Story line
- More Touch Screen Interaction
- Better PC Box Organization
You would think as technology has evolved with greater processing power, graphics, and storage capacity that we could have more than one save game file. This has never been the case though. It would really add to the replay value and wouldn't make us feel so guilty every time we want to start a adventure and leave our old Pokémon to be erased from existence.
The forth generation Diamond/Pearl/Platinum games has shown that the developers have the capabilities to create cut-screens in 3D, so why not make battles that way too? Sprites and 2D attacks just don't offer the appeal that they used to. I think it's a strong possibility that we could see 3D battles in the next generation of Pokémon.
Embark from your hometown, beat 8 gym leaders, become the Pokémon champ. Seems like thats all I can focus on when I play the games. It's not till after I beat the Elite Four and the credits roll when I can then focus on completing side quests and capturing all the Pokémon. Some more choices of things to do in the main story would be nice. Maybe like deciding a certain thing in the main story would perhaps impact the rest of the story based on your decision; consequence-based decision making I suppose. It would add more replay value to the game by allowing players to make a different choice the next time they start a new adventure.
This is something I'm sure the next generation of Pokémon games will have. Other than a few notable things like making Poffins, and using the Poketch, there isn't a whole lot of touch screen interaction. You can use the D-pad and A,B,X,Y buttons for pretty much everything else. Yes, I know that you can select battles moves and commands and scroll through your items with the touch screen but it's just far too much more effect in my opinion. It's all about the ease of use and: buttons > touch.
The Pokémon PC Box Concept has changed a good bit from the beginning. Instead of scrolling through Pokémon names and manually switching boxes to catch more Pokémon, we have a graphical user interface with the Pokémon's icons, automatic box switching, moving Pokémon and items, and even box wallpaper. One thing I've found frustrating though is organizing these boxes. You can move your Pokémon and held items one at a time with the Move Pokémon function, but this is very cumbersome. There should be a way that we can organize the boxes based on, type, alphabetical name, or the Pokédex number of the Pokémon. This would make our lives easier finding the Pokémon we want fast.
