What Pokémon Games Could and Should Be (But Sadly Aren't) (Series Comparison and Retrospective)

Given the announcement of Pokemon Legends Arceus, what are your hopes for the game and the future of the series?

I don’t quite understand when the whole “children are incompetent” mentality started to develop in these games.

the whole "it's for kids" thing... I was able to beat Cynthia when I was like 10. kids like a challenge too ffs

Even tho Hoenn was a lot of water, i remember it as one of the few games that actually made me use the map to see where the F i was, as a kid finding the little gap to reach sky tower and find rayquaza was amazing not to mention the bike control to pass through, reaching the tower with half team almost dead because all the random enconters and then try to catch that green beast, amazing video man!

“Difficult battles help with creating memorable moments” Yeah, my many attempts at Volo’s final battle is definitely burned into my memory now… I’m never going to forget the pain and suffering I went through battling that guy and that damn Giratina 💀

"We have to make the games easy for children!" Seriously. I beat pokemon soul silver when I was 6 and barely knew how to read, why does gamefreak think kids are so stupid? fr tho its just a bit of trial and error instead of this handholding shit up until the 8th gym

You’d think a 92 billion dollar franchise would be able to produce an exceptional game.

I would do anything to make Pokémon games revert to the pixel style. It's timeless, unlike the modern uncanny 3D models devoid of soul, unattractive and inconsistent textures, and suboptimal rendering. I don't think anyone would complain if GF doubled down on pixels, either. A pixel art style can still be successful with a modern audience. Undertale and Stardew Valley spring to mind.

Scarlet and Violet were so close to being great again. The open world and the nonlinear gym progression along with the added titan and team star battles had the potential to lead to amazing new experiences for pokemon fans but it was too rushed. The story battles didn’t scale and the overworld was glitchy and unfinished. If the game had been given more time in the oven I truly believe it would have been one of the best games in the series. I love it as is, but it is still disappointing to see Game Freak rush it

"the bare minimum", is a good way to describe pokemon right now

I don't understand the "it's for kids" argument. Getting my ass kicked in pokemon emerald was so much more fun than snoring through Kalos's gyms

It would be really cool if you could interact with your Pokemon to participate in minigames to train their moves. Y'know, training, like a trainer. They could also make pokemon that aren't the common critter analogues (such as snakes, rats, birds, fish, you get the idea) be a lot more rare in the world. Where you have to actually go exploring in the areas they prefer in order to track down and find them. Actually training their moves like I said (or something like that) could make up for a lack of potent wild pokemon to battle. More trainers and the ability to re-battle them would be good for experience as well, especially if they grew stronger each time. Heck, another idea is non-gym leader trainers getting stronger when they defeat you. There could also be ways to track down and battle strong common pokemon as well, such as the further from civilization you get, the stronger the pokemon are. With towns even being at risk of being cut off (as something some random person says and perhaps happening in the game at some point to some town you find in your travels as just a little side adventure) by strong pokemon. Some could say this all would make the game tedious, but I'd argue that running around in grass, beating up the Pokemon that appears, and repeating this for hours is a lot more tedious than various minigames. Especially if they reduce the move pool (but still have a ton of moves) and create a minigame for each of them. Not necessarily the same thing but say unique to type and what kind of move. Like, bullet seed and bubble and bubblebeam could be based on the same training minigame but flavored for grass and water respectively.

I was between 4 and 6 years old when I played Pokémon Red and I have SO many clear memories of it, and just thinking about this game gets me so excited. I played maybe half of Shield two months ago and have absolutely no memory of it. I randomly stopped playing it just because I didn’t cared about anything in this game and didn’t even think of it until now. It’s so frustrating to have all this material that could create great games and stories and to just have it repeatedly stuffed into a boring story that leads nowhere just for the sake of putting new pokemons and legendaries there because that’s what’s always been done..

Nintendo also need to realise that half of the player base are kids from the 90s that are adults now.

“ Kids are stupid” also kids: beat Pokémon platinum in Japanese

I have never seen anyone else mentioning it before, maybe I missed it, but I have always thought that HMs were a good solution, but they shouldn't take move slots, and should be like Let's Go techniques, even before they were invented. So you still need a Pokemon that can use Fly, Cut, Surf, Flash, but it should be your Pokemon, adn you don't need to remove an attack slot. Like when Ash used Charmander to light up the cave. Your Pokemon are the ones who should be helping you on your journey. I wanted it to happen since before Let's Go. It's weird how they can program HMs, program techniques, but can't program a combination of both. Like, you already have a running animation of Ursaluna. Why can't you make it into a rideable Pokemon?

I think having depth of story in children's media is great, as long as it prompts questions as opposed to imposing answers. Having a narrative isn't the issue with the weaker Pokemon games. The problem is the intrusive hand-holding and oppressive rail-roading, which the designers sadly use the narrative to do.

How I would describe my experience with Sword and Shield: I'm 17 and on my senior trip. I'm trying to explore the art museum across the street but the teacher keeps pulling me aside and telling me to stay with group and look at gravel.

I always hated that whole "It's for kids" excuse. First of all: Kids are pretty smart. Second: So what? That means it's okay if it's bad? Why?

Why bother improving the game when it will sell well anyway? The future of good pokemon games lies within the modding community.